Fancy Your Window To Charge Up Your Mobile Device?

Windows are there on buildings for a very good reason – to let light in, and at the same time, windows which can be opened would also ensure that a room or building is well ventilated. However, in most modern skyscrapers and buildings, the air conditioning system that is turned on all the time would mean such windows would remain shut, with their sole purpose of providing a view to the people within. Having said that, what if windows could be used to harness the copious amounts of sunlight that hit them each day? Researchers at Michigan State University have come up with a fully transparent solar concentrator that is said to be able to transform any window or sheet of glass into a photovoltaic solar cell.

This will be decidedly different from the other kinds of “transparent” solar cells that have been talked about before (such as the one revealed by Sharp), as it is truly transparent in nature. Richard Lunt, the man who led the research, alongside his team have the confidence that this new transparent solar panel are able to be deployed easily and efficiently, and not only buildings will benefit, but also on mobile devices as their screen.

Right now, the efficiency of this discovery stands at approximately 1%, although they figure out that hitting the 5% should be a possibility.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Green
Tags: Science, Solar