In the lab at MIT: Windows that generate electricity
Solar enthusiasts have been waiting for years for that one earth-shaking development that would forever put their beloved photovoltaics (PV) front-and-center as one of the premier power sources on the planet. To date, much of success in solar R&D has been incremental increases in the efficiencies of how PV cells convert sunlight into electricity. But a fascinating technology is now under development in the labs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that could be a game-breaker -- transparent photovoltaic cells that can be applied as a coating to standard windows and allow light to pass through while converting the sun's ray into electricity.
The technology is in the early stages of development and has a ways to go before it could convert sunlight into electricity at better efficiency rates than today's conventional solar panels. According to an MIT press release, researchers have achieved an efficiency of 1.7 percent in the prototype solar cells, but they expect that with further development they should be able to reach 12 percent, making it comparable to existing commercial solar panels.
According to an MIT press release, "The key technology is a photovoltaic cell based on organic molecules, which harnesses the energy of infrared light while allowing visible light to pass through. Coated onto a pane of standard window glass, it could provide power for lights and other devices, and would lower installation costs by taking advantage of existing window structures."
About the Author
Jim Lucy Blog
Chief Editor
Jim Lucy has been wandering through the electrical market for more than 30 years, most of the time as an editor for Electrical Wholesaling, Electrical Marketing newsletter and CEE News. During that time he and the editorial team for the publications have won numerous national awards for their coverage of the electrical business. He showed an early interest in electricity, when as a youth he had an idea for a hot dog cooker. Unfortunately, the first crude prototype malfunctioned and the arc nearly blew him out of his parents' basement. Before becoming an editor for Electrical Wholesaling magazine and Electrical Marketing, he earned a BA degree in journalism and a MA in communications from Glassboro State College, Glassboro, NJ., which is formerly best known as the site of the 1967 summit meeting between President Lyndon Johnson and Russian Premier Aleksei Nikolayevich Kosygin, and now best known as the New Jersey state college that changed its name in 1992 to Rowan University because of a generous $100 million donation by N.J. zillionaire industrialist Henry Rowan. Jim is a Brooklyn-born Jersey Guy happily transplanted in the fertile plains of Kansas for the past 20 years.