Semi-transparent solar cells that could be added to windows to efficiently harvest energy from indoor light as well as the sun have been developed by an international team led by UCL researchers.
Why not just put the solar panel next to the window so you don’t have to cover it at all? The more light a panel absorbes, the more efficient it is, which is kind of the exact opposite type of thing that you would want to cover a window with if you still want it to be a window. I’m not even going to bother addressing the inefficiencies of harvesting indoor light, other than to say it’s idiotic.
I mean, couldn’t you take a solar panel and make it like an awning above the window or something? Have a system where it can pull into the window to be flush with the building if you want.
You want to use solar panels to both collect solar energy AND provide shade to residents within the building? Sounds a bit too efficient for my tastes. Let’s put ugly brown tints on the windows instead and collect a fraction of the energy at 10x the cost.
Do you think there is an appreciable amount of IR, near IR, UV light that it could be worth it? I’m out of date, are we good at harvesting near-ir in photovoltaics? I remember hearing or reading about some frequency upconversion material solutions but it’s been a while.
Another problem that comes to mind is the fact that you often want to reflect non-useful-to-vision light rather than absorb it (and heat up).
Why not just put the solar panel next to the window so you don’t have to cover it at all? The more light a panel absorbes, the more efficient it is, which is kind of the exact opposite type of thing that you would want to cover a window with if you still want it to be a window. I’m not even going to bother addressing the inefficiencies of harvesting indoor light, other than to say it’s idiotic.
I mean, couldn’t you take a solar panel and make it like an awning above the window or something? Have a system where it can pull into the window to be flush with the building if you want.
You want to use solar panels to both collect solar energy AND provide shade to residents within the building? Sounds a bit too efficient for my tastes. Let’s put ugly brown tints on the windows instead and collect a fraction of the energy at 10x the cost.
That’s not a bad idea. Solar shutters could work also.
This seems more like an alternative to tinting films. So you can harvest the energy that would otherwise be lost.
The indoor light sounds pretty silly, I agree.
Do you think there is an appreciable amount of IR, near IR, UV light that it could be worth it? I’m out of date, are we good at harvesting near-ir in photovoltaics? I remember hearing or reading about some frequency upconversion material solutions but it’s been a while.
Another problem that comes to mind is the fact that you often want to reflect non-useful-to-vision light rather than absorb it (and heat up).
Is it required to absorb all light or just some spectrum or whatever that called?