The morale of homeowners has hit an all time low with yet another breakthrough development in energy-efficient window technology. Window glazings had homeowners doubling their morning coffee intake, and multiple-pane windows with argon gas fillings had homeowners running off to work on Sunday mornings. But finally--solar concentrators have some homeowners hitting the snooze button and calling it quits.
Engineers at MIT have recently developed a solar technology (known as "solar concentrators") for glass surfaces that may allow for a substantial 40% increase in solar cell power generation. The glass pane is painted with a layer of dye molecules (color choice to the buyer's discretion) that harvests sunlight across a variety of wavelengths. The sun's energy is then absorbed by the glass, and then is efficiently transported at different infrared wavelengths to the edges of the glass pane. The concentrated energy is then collected by solar cells that rest along the edges of the glass surface.
Not only does this technology increase the potential energy output of solar cells, but it also reduces the surface area needed for those pricey silicon solar cells as well. This cost effective energy development is likely to be applied to the windows of homes, where a portion of sunlight entering a home will be collected for solar energy conversion.
MIT has launched the company Covalent Solar to develop and market the product for wide-spread use. Jonathan Mapel, the co-founder of Covalent Solar, provides an explanation of the technology in a video.
::MIT Press Release
::Covalent Solar
::MIT's Technology Review
::Energy-Efficient Windows Guide
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