Saturday, June 19, 2010

Solar Windows

I love solar cells. Getting your power from the sun, a source we need anyway (because no sun means no plants, which means no food, which means we all die), with no pollution and no work after the intial setup. Maybe you have to replace them in 20 years or so. Just one problem: they're expensive, and awkward to replace on your roof.
Discovery News is reporting that a Swiss scientist has made windows that function like solar panels, so homeowners can just pop them in and gain power. You needed windows anyway, why not get power from them?
It'll likely darken the window slightly, but that's probably a benefit, since it cuts the glare during the day, and at night it's hard to see out windows anyway.

3 comments:

Pawl Bearing said...

Very interesting

Pawl Bearing said...

There is a trend in hybrids and electric vehicles to have tinted Polcarbonate deck-lid panels. This would be a cool place to have them. If light goes through them, I don't see why light can't come out of them. Perhaps there could be some cool lamps hidden behind them to gain more area.

Professor Preposterous said...

What would power the lamp? No system is 100% efficient, so if you power the lamp with the solar-panel windows, the light will be less bright than the sunlight that hits it.

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