Marc Baldo, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science (left) and Shalom Goffri, postdoc in MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics (right) hold examples of organic solar concentrators. (Photo by Donna Coveney at MIT, courtesy of NSF)
Some researchers say they’ve found a way to make every window
in a building gather solar energy. Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
Some researchers say they’ve found a way to make every window
in a building gather solar energy. Lester Graham reports:
MIT engineers say they can coat plastic or glass to redirect sunlight to the edges of a
window – to solar cells.
Instead of using a whole panel of expensive solar cells, the cells could just be aligned
just along the edges. The system could be used for solar panels, or could be used as
windows on tall glass paneled buildings.
Marc Baldo is the team leader at MIT.
“We think that this is a very practical and simple technology. It just relies on simple
coating processes. We have to develop techniques to, you know, manufacture and
integrate solar cells on the edges. But we’re optimistic that this might be useful within,
sort of, two to three year time frame.”
The researchers outlined their findings in the journal, Science. They say the focused
light at the edges really increases the electrical power obtained from each solar cell.
For The Environment Report, I’m Lester Graham.