MIT boffins create window into evolved solar energy

by Stevie Smith - Jul 11 2008, 10:47

Looking to push the efficiency levels associated with solar power as a viable energy alternative, a team of researchers working out of the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have created a method that subtly converts regular glass into efficiency-boosting solar collectors.

MIT team develops new glass-based solar-energy delivery system. Image: Rightee/Flickr.

More pointedly, according to this week’s edition of Science magazine, the MIT team has developed a special dye-film coating which, when applied to a glass plate, produces energy by channelling photons from the sun’s rays to a solar-collection element lined unobtrusively around the plate’s outer edge.“We think this is a practical technology for reducing the cost of solar power,” enthused MIT electrical engineer and team representative Marc Baldo in a related statement.According to the team’s explanation for the technology’s usage, once a glass pane is placed on top of a conventional solar cell panel, it functions much in the same way as a sieve, absorbing more light from the visible spectrum and pushing it to the pane’s outer-edge collectors. From here, the captured light is converted into extra electricity without ever compromising the usual flow of light passing through the pane to the conventional solar panel waiting beneath it, reports Boston.com.Based on the report published in Science, the MIT team claims to have successfully utilised its technology to boost the solar cell efficiency of certain panel types by as much as 20 percent. However, the team sees that figure being pushed closer to 50 percent as they progressively tweak and hone the system. In terms of widespread adoption of their energy-boosting development, the scientists believe that the technology could find its way into the solar industry by 2011 thanks to the lack of expense connected to necessary materials and also that existing solar panels would not require extensive modification.

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SpikeJul 12th, 2008 - 00:32:13

Wow, can't wait for this product to be consumer ready. In the meantime, we installed window film on our homes to block solar energy. It is the cheapest option compared to replacing windows or a new AC system. So far, it is blocking 60% of solar energy, and cutting 50% off our summer AC bills. We project payback for the window tint to be 2.5 years.

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