Solar Energy with a View

Researchers develop transparent solar concentrators.

Until recently, research into creating solar energy around plastic like materials that emitted light have yielded poor results. They were inefficient in generating solar energy and they were highly colored, which made them impractical for most commercial use. But a team of researchers at Michigan State University developed a solar concentrator that when placed over a window creates solar energy while allowing you to actually see through it.

The researchers developed organic material that is tuned to pick up certain wavelengths of ultraviolet and the near infrared wavelengths without absorbing or emitting light, which results in them being transparent. The absorbed wavelengths is then guided to the edge of the plastic where it is converted to electricity by thin strips of photovoltaic solar cells.

Although the transparent solar concentrators currently have low efficiency rate of converting solar energy it has significant promise. This material can be incorporated into windows of office buildings, cell phones, and cars, allowing solar harvesting to occur without obstructing your view. This will be a significant step in helping us reduce our consumption of non-renewable resources.

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