Writer: Minal Jain

Hong Kong is famous for its towering buildings and magnificent sky scrapers. And what do most of these sky scrapers have in common, besides their height? All those glass windows! What if those windows could someday provide enough clean energy to power your rice cooker, your air condition, and your television?

As the need for Renewable Energy gains more and more momentum, companies are looking into new solar technologies that can be integrated into our daily lives using existing architectures. One such idea is the Solar Panel Window.

Solar windows use Photovoltaic glass which works on the same basic principle as solar panels that you see on roofs, but it is transparent. They are increasingly being incorporated into the construction of new buildings as a principal or ancillary source of electrical power, although existing buildings may be retrofitted with similar technology.

You would be correct in thinking that windows are supposed to let the light in, but won’t the solar panel window keep the light out? That has been the biggest challenge so far. Designers need to find the balance between letting light through, while at the same time capturing that light to use for energy production.

Many companies are taking on this challenge through different technologies. While some use small solar panels installed along the edge of the window, generating up to 8 to 10 watts of power that can charge your smart phone a few times a day; some others are using the technology of Quantum Dots, a semi-conducting nanocrystal, which could be embedded on transparent glass windows, trap light within the windowpane and then redirect it to a nontransparent solar cell mounted on one edge.

As governments get more serious on their carbon targets, these technologies are being adopted by various commercial estates, especially in the U.S and Europe.

The concept is still new and hopefully such windows will get more efficient in the future. So the idea that your window can also help cook your rice may not be too far-fetched after all. Another win for the environment!

Sources :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building-integrated_photovoltaics
https://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/renewables/the-dawn-of-solar-windows
https://www.power-technology.com/
https://news.energysage.com/

Image Source:
https://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/renewables/the-dawn-of-solar-windows

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