Yule Heibel's Library tagged solar_power →  View Popular, Search in Google

I want smart windows on my house. I want a smart house.
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On Thursday, New Energy Technologies announced a new complementary conductive wiring system that will transport electricity over glass windows laid out in a fine grid-like pattern that’s virtually transparent. United States Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) scientists collaborated on the technology.

Architectural glass has can be found on many modern buildings. Apple has become renowned for encapsulating its stores in massive glass panels, and large glass windows have shrouded skyscrapers for decades. The business concept behind New Energy’s system is to retrofit these conventional glass structures.
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smartplanet windows solar_power energy glass

Could this move solar panel use into the mainstream? I hope so:
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The film is 3M's answer to demand by solar-panel makers--particularly manufacturers of certain thin-film solar cells--for an alternative to glass. Glass has been the armor of choice because it's cheap, weather-resistant, and durable enough to last decades. The vast majority of the solar panels made today rely on glass as the top cover. But glass also adds weight and bulk to solar panels, and it must be packaged carefully to keep it from breaking, adding to shipping costs. By replacing glass, the new film can do away with the need for supporting racks, which is particularly useful on roofs that can't bear a lot of weight. Blending solar panels into roofs also can overcome aesthetic objections by homeowners.
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mit_techreview solar_power green_technologies

Toward smart skins for buildings?
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Windows that absorb or reflect light and heat at the flick of a switch could help cut heating and cooling bills. A company called Soladigm has developed methods for making these "electrochromic" windows cheaply, making them more viable for homes and office buildings.
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mit_techreview solar_power eco green_technologies windows

New breakthrough in making solar cells:
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Researchers at MIT have unveiled a new type of silicon solar cell that could be much more efficient and cost less than currently used solar cells. (...)

The design combines a highly effective reflector on the back of a solar cell with an antireflective coating on the front. This helps trap red and near-infrared light, which can be used to make electricity, in the silicon.
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thinfilm mit_techreview solar_power electricity

Great news for solar power. What I found quite funny, although it was surely unintentionally so, was the use of the word "graduate" in Treehugger's article: "It's a rare treat when a promising one graduates to the commercial level." Why? The process (Konarka's advanced photovoltaic technology) started with Dr. Alan Heeger and the late Dr. Sukant Tripathy, "an internationally known polymer materials scientist, provost at UMASS Lowell and founder of the Plastic Innovation Center."

One word: plastics. The Graduate.

solar_power thin_film polaroid konarka treehugger photovoltaics