Academic and commercial research is ongoing on technology that will make windows into energy generators, according to Computerworld. Solaria is taking strips of existing photovoltaic cells and sandwiching them between layers of glass that are made into windows. There are two benefits: The cells collect energy and the strips tend to dampen the sun’s impact on the interior temperature, which reduces air conditioning costs.
SolarWindow Technologies is using organic photovoltaics, which vary in color. The company, which will announce its products in a couple of weeks, suggests its technology can supply 20 percent to 30 percent of a skyscraper’s energy.
Phys.org goes into technical details about luminescent solar concentrators. The story says that the idea is that nanosized particles in the glass – semiconductor quantum dots – will absorb some of the passing light.
