Archinect - News

German study finds broad social acceptance of integrated PV panels

2024-11-22T07:40:00-05:00

New findings produced by the Institute of Psychology at the University of Freiburg and German Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems have shown the proven social acceptance of building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPVs) in different urban conditions.

According to techxplore.com, which first reported the news: "The conclusions showed that the acceptance of integrated photovoltaics in urban areas is generally very high and that PV on modern buildings is viewed more positively than on historic buildings."

Additionally, the study found that colored PV panels that match their buildings’ roof or facade design increased their rates of acceptance. Andreas Wessel, a PhD student and co-author of the study says: "The study provides initial insights into the social acceptance of PV systems on and around buildings. It confirms that the acceptance of PV systems can actually be increased through good visual integration with colored modules, especially for historic buildings."

Dubbeldam's Shift House stands out through a unique push and pull of interior volumes

2024-06-27T11:29:00-04:00

In Toronto, Dubbeldam Architecture + Design has completed a new residence distinguished by projecting and retracting volumes and the way it offers occupants a meaningful relationship with the outdoors.

Called Shift House, the 3,200-square-foot home’s façade is also highlighted by contrasting cladding. Western red cedar fills the voids left by the retracted volumes, providing a striking contrast to the predominantly charcoal gray exterior.

Photo: Shai Gil

The house is spread across two stories, and its layout consists of an interior grid of six staggered volumes that shift in and out to shape the exterior envelope. The resulting interplay of solids and voids across the structure’s façade allows opportunities for greater light transmission, additional views, and access to outdoor space.

Photo: Shai Gil

Permeability and openness were the primary design themes for the house. The transparency of the front of the home, in addition to its glazed rear elevation, blurs the bou...

SOM completes lush, high-end residential tower in Mumbai

2024-06-21T15:46:00-04:00

Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill (SOM) has announced the completion of a new high-end residential tower that provides a lush oasis amidst the bustle of Mumbai.

Called Carmichael Residences, the tower addresses an increasing demand for high-rise living. It sits in Tardeo, a neighborhood known for its historic bungalows and expansive gardens. The building is distinguished by a western red cedar façade that is accented with plantings. It also embraces passive design strategies inspired by the architecture of the region.

On the street level, a driveway winds toward an elevated and private lobby surrounded by curved glass.

The lobby offers a serene atmosphere through the presence of gardens that feature scented flowers, running water, lush plantings, and finishes made of locally sourced granite and western red cedar. These natural elements ascend to the parking levels, which are shrouded in plantings.

“This development adds a new residential experience for the neighborhood,” said SOM Partne...

Snøhetta's green, mixed-use AIRSIDE development opens in Hong Kong

2023-11-11T11:21:00-05:00

Snøhetta’s AIRSIDE, a LEED Platinum-certified, mixed-use development in Hong Kong, has officially opened.

Located at the site of the former Kai Tak Airport district, the approximately 1,912,424-square-foot project merges into the surrounding urban landscape by creating direct access between pedestrian transit areas, retail spaces, and elevated landscapes. The development comprises an approximately 699-foot-tall tower with a second tower and its base in a continuous form.

The building mass comprises five interconnected volumes that gradually step up from the Kai Tak River, which lends the 699-foot-tall tower an inviting presence at ground level. The building’s sculpted forms create a series of human-scale urban spaces at this level, in addition to rooftop gardens. Landscaped plazas contribute to further integrating the development into the surroundings and creating an engaging pedestrian realm.

An expansive elevated garden sits atop the podium containing the building’s central atr...

Detroit pitches solar energy plan targeting vacant land across the city

2023-07-06T12:06:00-04:00

A new plan Mayor Mike Duggan is pitching would fill vacant land in the city, provide clean energy for the city, and give money back to community groups. After some consultation with solar companies, the plans should start to take shape this fall. Starting July 1, neighborhood groups will be able to submit a community interest form. If they need assistance with the proposal, they can request help from a solar energy expert.

The plan puts the Motor City squarely in line with Chicago, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, and New York, whose attempt to power 250,000 homes by 2030 is still lagging. France also just commenced its own plan targeted at parking lots in the country at the beginning of the month, despite previous road bumps there.

Vacant parcels across Detroit have long been the subject of various renewal proposals. As of last September, there were a total of 62,781 registered in the city's Land Bank database. A total of 16.75% of the city's 88,800 overall acreage is considered vacant, according to statistics published in 2019 from Data Driven Detroit.

A solar-powered media façade that ‘consumes only as much energy as it produces’

2023-07-06T11:32:00-04:00

A team comprising iart, AMDL CIRCLE, and Michele De Lucchi has created a ‘zero-energy media façade’ for the Novartis Pavilion in Basel, Switzerland. Combining PV panels and LEDs, the façade is described by the team as “illustrating the potential of organic photovoltaics in architecture.”

Photo credit: iart – studio for media architectures

Photo credit: Laurids Jensen

The façade features 10,000 diamond-shaped solar modules with LED lights embedded within that shine outwards as well as inwards onto the pavilion’s metal shell. The reflection of the metal shell creates a shimmer through the semi-transparent solar modules, resulting in a multi-layered membrane for displaying content.

Photo credit: iart – studio for media architectures

The display only consumes as much electrical energy as it is capable of producing through carbon-based organic solar modules that were custom-made for the project. The modules were ideal for the pavilion’s dom...

New York City is still slow in meeting its 2030 solar pledge

2023-04-14T17:48:00-04:00

New York City has pledged to reach 1,000 megawatts of solar energy by 2030 — enough energy to power 250,000 homes, according to the Mayor’s Office of Environmental Justice. But state data shows that its current pace of installation will land short of that goal, leaving officials and advocates looking for ways to break down barriers to installation.

As Gothamist reported, 90% of the city’s energy grid is derived from fossil fuels. The effort to counteract this with rooftop photovoltaics is being stymied by the building codes and cost of installation, despite remarkable gains in solar capacity overall.

A proposed new program called Public Solar NYC could offer solutions, along with a slate of regulatory changes. The city’s tax burden is notoriously tough on low-income families, adding to the frustration that the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance's Daniel Chu and others feel as the deadline draws near.

“Most of the power plants in New York City are located within environmental justice communities with overwhelming numbers of affordable housing or NYCHA projects,” he told the blog. “They are currently missing out on the opportunities that other folks in wealthier communities and non-disadvantaged communities can take advantage of. We need to prioritize disadvantaged communities in the process of transitioning out and building t...

France now requires all large parking lots to be covered by solar panels

2022-11-11T08:43:00-05:00

In France, solar just got a huge boost from new legislation approved through the Senate this week that requires all parking lots with spaces for at least 80 vehicles – both existing and new – be covered by solar panels.

Starting on July 1, 2023, parking lots that have between 80 and 400 spaces will have five years to comply with the new measures. Those with more than 400 spaces will need to comply within three years, with at least half of the surface area of the parking lot needing to be covered in solar panels. Parking lots that accommodate trucks carrying heavy goods or parking areas in historic or protected areas are exempt from the measures.

This move is part of French President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to multiply the amount of solar energy produced in France by 10. The initiative also aims to double the power from land-based wind farms. As reported by electrek, the government claims this plan could generate up to 11 gigawatts, which can power millions of homes.

Underfunded public schools are looking to solar upgrades as a source of much-needed cost savings

2022-09-20T09:00:00-04:00

As solar energy gains traction across the country, one beneficiary have been schools, particularly those in cash-strapped districts contending with dwindling tax bases. The savings in electric bills from schools with solar panels often topped millions in each district, and many have been able to adopt the technology without shouldering any costs up front.

According to White House statistics, energy costs rank second to only teachers' salaries on a list of the largest expenses the approximately 130,000 public schools across the country are faced with annually. Their emissions are equivalent to the CO2 output of about 16 coal-fired power plants, making K-12 solar upgrades one of the more salient provisions included in the recent Federal Infrastructure and Inflation Reduction Acts.

Some districts that have already installed solar panels are seeing immediate savings as a result of the rising energy costs related to inflation and the war in Ukraine. At least 30 states have some of the basic framework that allows for the third-party ownership agreements often necessary for their installations to be enacted. Advocates say it isn’t nearly enough, but the 8,400 schools that do have solar installations offer a dramatic tri-fold increase when compared to statistics from 2014.

New first-of-its-kind office tower in Melbourne sports an integrated solar façade

2022-06-07T17:55:00-04:00

Australia’s first office tower with a “solar skin” is expected to be built next year in a landmark moment for the construction industry and decarbonisation efforts. The eight-storey building at 550-558 Spencer Street in West Melbourne will cost $40m and has been designed by the architecture firm Kennon on behalf of Dr Bella Freeman.

The first-of-its-kind structure for Australia will be covered by 1,182 solar panels with the equivalent thickness of a conventional glass façade. The cladding is called Skala, developed by German solar energy technology company Avancis. The system utilizes a thin-film PV module that sits atop a network that channels the generated electricity into the building’s power supply. As reported by The Guardian, it has the ability to produce 50 times the energy of an average rooftop photovoltaic array used in residential housing.

When the building is completed, the solar skin will reportedly provide nearly all its energy needs. The addition of extra roof panels will cut almost all ongoing power costs, and after a few years, the site is expected to be carbon-neutral. While involved in projects in Europe, the technology is a first for Australia, given its strict building codes. It is currently undergoing a final round of testing before it can be approved, which would make Skala available to u...

Foster + Partners designs timber department store in Tokyo

2022-06-02T14:27:00-04:00

Foster + Partners has unveiled designs for a nine-story, timber-structure department store in Tokyo, presenting an elegant retail space that features several green-building practices.

Called the Shibuya Marui Department Store, the space is set to become a new showcase for sustainable lifestyle brands. Its design ensures the maximization of daylight and passive thermal comfort while using natural materials.

Image courtesy Foster + Partners

“We are delighted to be working on such a ground-breaking and sustainable project, which is a stone’s throw away from the world-famous Shibuya Crossing,” said Foster + Partners Senior Executive Partner David Summerfield. “A timber structure will significantly reduce the embodied carbon of the building, while simultaneously creating a warm and open experience for visitors.”

The department store is inspired by traditional Japanese building techniques featuring a timber structure that greatly lowers the building’s embodied carbon and offers a distinct...

California to build solar panels over canals following UC graduate’s research

2022-02-14T11:26:00-05:00

A consortium in California has announced its ambition to construct a network of solar panels over a segment of the state’s canal system. The project, named Project Nexus, will build on research by a UC Merced environmental engineering graduate, which we originally reported on back in May 2021.

The graduate, Brandi McKuin, was part of a team who demonstrated that covering California’s 4,000 miles of water canals in solar panels could potentially reduce water evaporation by 82%. This reduction would save 63 billion gallons of water per year, enough to irrigate 50,000 acres of farmland or meet the residential water needs of 2 million people.

Covering the entire state’s canal system in solar panels would also generate 13 gigawatts of renewable energy, equal to 17% of the state’s current solar capacity. The move would deliver half of the projected new solar capacity required by California ...

MVRDV-designed 'Sun Rock' offers itself an embodiment of Taiwan's carbon-free future

2022-01-18T16:48:00-05:00

One of Taiwan’s largest public utility companies is ready to make a bold statement about its intentions with a new operations storage facility from MVRDV called "Sun Rock" that will play a significant part in the country’s transition to a green energy economy. This is the firm’s second recent effort in the country behind the Tainan Spring adaptive reuse project that was announced in March of 2020.

Billed as a “manifesto in a building,” Sun Rock’s energy-saving effects are produced by a large dome and sloping southern front made functional by a series of pleats covered in PV panels that help the building generate up to a remarkable 1.7 million kWh of clean energy in a given year. The building includes a maintenance workshop, gallery spaces, roof terrace, and a special data display room that has all been made available to the public in an effort to showcase the shared goal of sustainability which defines both the country and firm.

Image: © MVRDV

“Of course, we aim to make all of our p...

Researchers have mapped every large solar plant in the world

2021-11-01T14:19:00-04:00

Researchers from the United States and United Kingdom have used machine learning to map every large solar plant in the world. The team behind the map sees it as an opportunity to consider the future trajectory of solar expansion and to inform decisions on what land uses can be best supplanted by solar farms by looking at historic trends. The findings were published in the journal Nature by researchers from the University of Oxford in the UK, Descartes Labs Inc in San Francisco, and the World Resources Institute in Washington DC.

A map of all the large solar facilities detected up to 2018 (lighter colors = more recent). Image: Kruitwagen et al, Nature via The Conversation

The map was made possible by the construction of a machine learning system which could detect solar facilities in satellite imagery; a system that the researchers scaled to a planet-wide search using 550 terabytes of imagery. To streamline their results, the researchers limited their search to solar facilities which ...

Featuring a gigantic solar panel-covered canopy, work begins on BIG’s CityWave bookend in Milan

2021-09-15T20:11:00-04:00

Construction has begun on BIG’s CityWave, the building that will complete Milan’s revitalizing CityLife development after previously being announced as a participant in 2019.

The Danish studio’s contribution to the €2.5 billion ($2.95 billion) development comes in the form of an East-West duo of low-rise office buildings connected by a sloping, solar panel-covered canopy that also gives protection to one of Italy's largest outdoor urban parks.

Image courtesy BIG

The development already showcases a trio of towers by Studio Libeskind, Zaha Hadid Architects, and Arata Isozaki, respectively. It was originally awarded to the group in 2004 and now has the added bonus of another big name in the form of Ingels, who will bring some variety to the site in the form of an uneven horizontally-oriented mass with greenspace and 11,000 square meters (118,000 square feet) of photovoltaics.

Image courtesy BIG

Per the architect: “Like a contemporary interpretation of the massive covered public space of ...

First solar road fails to live up to expectations

2019-07-24T15:17:00-04:00

The world’s first solar road in Normandy, northern France, which opened in 2016, has failed to meet expectations. The 2.8 square km of solar panels is in part damaged beyond repair and the 1km road did not produce the power the manufacturer Wattway had promised. Panels were worn out by traffic and joints between the panels were shattered.

After less than three years in operation, the high-profile 1-kilometer trial stretch of the world's first photovoltaic road in northern France has failed to meet expectations.

Instead of delivering the promised 790kWh per day, the first year's actual daily power output was only half that amount, with a total of 149,459 kWh during that year. Only 37,900kWh were generated since the beginning of this year.

According to Energy Reporters, the project's manufacturer, Wattway, which also installed dozens of other, smaller solar roads, admitted that "our system is not mature for inter-urban traffic."

World's largest single-site solar project goes online in Abu Dhabi

2019-07-09T13:16:00-04:00

Abu Dhabi is claiming the title of the world's largest single-site solar project, having hit the go-button on the Noor Abu Dhabi project this week, with a reported capacity of 1.177 gigawatts, eclipsing Dubai's Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park – for now at least. The United Arab Emirates doesn't have a great record when it comes to per-capita carbon footprint, but projects like this show that it's serious about addressing the issue head-on.

"According to the Abu Dhabi media office, the project has sufficient capacity to supply 90,000 people and is expected to reduce Abu Dhabi's CO2 emissions by one million metric tons, or the equivalent of removing 200,000 cars from the road," reports New Atlas.

New Tesla patent seeks to improve the look of its solar roof tiles

2019-01-24T13:56:00-05:00

As noted in a recently published patent application, Tesla is developing a system that would allow the company to improve the aesthetics of the solar shingles even further. [...] Tesla notes that in prior art BIPV roofing systems, the active solar portions of a roofing module end up being visibly different in appearance compared to inactive parts of the roof.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk introduced the glass solar tiles as part of the automaker's growing range of energy products back in October 2016.

Let's get technical: image from Tesla's patent application to improve the aesthetic performance of its solar roof tiles.

"Various embodiments provide a new and improved approach to manufacturing solar tiles as a roofing surface," explains the summary of the recently filed Tesla patent application. "Some aspects have improved aesthetics that reduce the visual differences between solar and non-solar portions of the roof and between active solar portions and other portions of a roof tile." Read the full document here.

Biogenic, bacteria-powered solar cells can generate electricity even under overcast skies

2018-07-20T15:00:00-04:00

Their cell generated a current stronger than any previously recorded from such a device, and worked as efficiently in dim light as in bright light. This innovation could be a step toward wider adoption of solar power in places like British Columbia and parts of northern Europe where overcast skies are common. With further development, these solar cells—called “biogenic” because they are made of living organisms—could become as efficient as the synthetic cells used in conventional solar panels.

While this isn't the first effort to build biogenic, bacteria-powered solar cells, scientists at the University of British Columbia claim to have discovered a novel, highly cost-effective, and much more sustainable way to use the photosynthesis capabilities of certain bacteria to convert light (even dim light) to energy.

"They genetically engineered E. coli to produce large amounts of lycopene—a dye that gives tomatoes their red-orange colour and is particularly effective at harvesting light for conversion to energy," explains the UBC announcement. "The researchers coated the bacteria with a mineral that could act as a semiconductor, and applied the mixture to a glass surface. With the coated glass acting as an anode at one end of their cell, they generated a current density of 0.686 milliamps per square centimetre—an improvement on the 0.362 achieved by others in the field."

More research is needed to turn this newly discovered method into market-ready biogenic solar panels.

...

LafargeHolcim & Heliatek present photovoltaic concrete cladding system

2017-11-08T14:44:00-05:00

Photovoltaic (PV) concrete cladding is set to outperform rooftop solar, according to LafargeHolcim, which has developed a façade system with partner Heliatek. The team said that the photovoltaic energy-generating concrete facade has the capability to double the energy generation traditionally achieved by roof-based solar systems.

"A prototype of this new photovoltaic facade system will be presented at Batimat, the French construction fair in November, and a pilot project is planned in 2018," LafargeHolcim writes in a recent announcement.

How solar battery storage will affect microgrids and off-grid living

2017-08-14T17:32:00-04:00

In March, Tesla cut the ribbon on this groundbreaking grid-scale battery installation, a key test of the viability of energy storage in making renewable energy a more reliable part of the grid. With 50,000 solar panels and 272 batteries, the combined solar-and-storage plant provides enough energy to power 4,500 homes for four hours. If Tesla can help keep Kauai solar-powered around the clock with its batteries, then it can apply what it has learned elsewhere in the country, and around the world

In her Longreads/Grist piece, author Amelia Urry explains the changing nature of solar power challenges that off-grid dwellers as well as smaller, geographically isolated microgrids face now that battery storage on an industrial scale is becoming more lucrative.

The article tells the story of a young couple struggling to live off the grid on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, when at the same time, the local utility cooperative switches on its brand-new bank of Tesla batteries to store the abundant solar power it generates during daytime but couldn't offer during peak times in the early morning and late evening hours: "It’s not about getting off the grid. It’s about building a better one."

Tesla's 'Tiny House' goes on roadshow to promote its solar tech

2017-08-14T14:19:00-04:00

Tesla revealed today that it created what it calls the ‘Tesla Tiny House’ to feature its energy products, like solar panels and Powerwall. The company is bringing the house on tour using a Model X “to educate the public on how to generate, store and use renewable energy for their home.” The tiny house contains a Tesla mobile design studio and configurator to help home owners configure a solar plus energy storage system for their home.

Needless to add that the Tesla Tiny House itself gains all its electricity via a solar installation on the tiny roof.

The exhibition tour is limited to four major Australian cities for now, but the economic gain could be far from tiny — as the world's leader in capita penetration of rooftop solar installations (15% of households / 1.5 million households), Australia is a highly lucrative market for Tesla even though it hasn't started selling solar panels there.

IKEA starts selling home battery storage with its solar panels

2017-08-03T14:18:00-04:00

Ikea is now offering solar panels and home batteries to its customers in the UK. The Scandinavian furniture chain is partnering with solar firm Solarcentury for the venture, with prices for solar battery storage starting at £3,000 (about $3,970 USD). The home batteries are designed to work with existing solar panels, or as part of a new combined home solar panel / battery storage system that Ikea is selling.

The Swedish furniture retail giant first starting solar panels in the UK back in 2013 to grow on a (then) heavily subsidized green energy market but ceased sales in 2015 when the British government announced its plans of cutting solar subsidies by up to 90%. Just a few months later, IKEA returned with a new lineup of home solar panels, this time partnering up with the firm SolarCentury.

"An average solar home in the UK will typically consume around 40% of all the solar electricity generated, or even less if they are regularly out during the day," IKEA explains in a new statement. "The remaining 60% of unused solar electricity is sent back to the National Grid, at a loss compared to its value. This means that homeowners currently lose out on making further cost savings. By adding Solar Battery Storage, unused solar electricity can be stored and used at a later time, meaning the amount of solar electricity an average home can use doubles to 80%."

With the launch of its Solar Battery S...

A solar-paneled US/Mexico border wall?

2017-06-07T12:56:00-04:00

President Donald Trump floated putting solar panels on his planned Mexican border wall in a meeting with legislative leaders Tuesday afternoon, according to White House and Capitol Hill officials. It was unclear why Trump brought up the topic, but he presented the panels as a way to fund the wall, which is expected to cost billions of dollars, according to three people familiar with the conversation.

Of course, this comes on the heels of intense criticism of the President's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.

MIT startup creates camouflage solar panels

2017-02-24T14:17:00-05:00

Founded at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Sistine creates custom solar panels designed to mimic home facades and other environments, with aims of enticing more homeowners to install photovoltaic systems. Sistine’s novel technology, SolarSkin, is a layer that can be imprinted with any image and embedded into a solar panel without interfering with the panel’s efficacy. Homeowners can match their rooftop or a grassy lawn.

The product caters to the growing "aesthetic solar" market which tries to attract homeowners that are considering going solar but fear the aesthetic impact of the traditional, bleak-looking dark solar panels on their home's appearance. Just last fall, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed a line of glass, photovoltaic cell-embedded roof tiles that mimic (currently) four common roof covering styles.

Here a few more examples of Sistine's SolarSkin technology that allows—so the company claims—the panels to either completely blend in with the existing roof or display any desired image, like business logos or advertisements.

All images via Sistine Solar's website.

Refugee shelter takes top prize for the Beazley Designs of 2016

2017-01-26T20:13:00-05:00

Designed by Johan Karlsson, Dennis Kanter, Christian Gustafsson, John van Leer, Tim de Haas, Nicolò Barlera, the IKEA Foundation and UNHCR, the photovoltaic panel-powered refugee shelter "Better Shelter" has been named the Beazley Design of the Year, beating out the five other category winners to take the top spot.

According to a press release, 30,000 of the shelters, which only take a few hours to assemble from their two-box, fully equipped kit, are currently being used globally.

Say goodbye to clunky solar panels, and hello to Tesla's sleek new glass solar roof tiles

2016-10-31T15:09:00-04:00

While solar panels have been subsidized in many cities for a while now, the blocky, rectangular panels aren’t heavily implemented in part because they tend to appear as, well, an addition, rather than a constitutive element of home design. That's about to change, as Tesla has announced a (potentially) revolutionary new intervention in the development of self-powered homes.

At a press event at Universal Studios, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed a line of glass, photovoltaic cell-embedded roof tiles. And they look strikingly like old-fashioned roof tiles, coming in a four distinct styles: “Textured Glass Tile”, “Tuscan Glass Tile”, “Smooth Glass Tile” and “Slate Glass Tile”. From above, the glass is transparent to the sun. From street-level, the solar cells aren’t visible.

Tesla states that the tiles will cost less than traditional roofing when energy savings are factored in. Manufactured out of durable, long-lasting tempered glass, the roof tiles will “last longer than the house”, Musk ass...

Denver selected to host the 2017 Solar Decathlon

2016-03-15T13:56:00-04:00

Dr. Orr revealed that Denver won the bid to host this biennial event, in which student teams compete to design, build, and operate cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive solar-powered houses. [...] The competition is planned to be staged near a new development close to Denver International Airport. The area around the 61st and Peña Commuter Rail Station is positioned to become a national model for sustainable, transit-oriented, greenfield development [...].

Archinect coverage of previous Solar Decathlons:

How this new gigafactory may popularize residential solar power technology

2016-03-04T21:24:00-05:00

When production begins, SolarCity, already the leading installer of residential solar panels in the [U.S.] will become a vertically integrated manufacturer and provider...At a time when conventional silicon-based solar panels from China have never been cheaper, investing in a new type of solar technology is a risky undertaking. However, the potential benefits are huge. The new factory...could transform both SolarCity’s business...and the economics of residential solar power.

The MIT Technology Review profiles the upcoming Buffalo-based SolarCity factory and their ambitious plans that could potentially make solar power technology more widely available to consumers.

More news about alternative energy:

Cloud-harvesting skyscraper: renderings of proposed new sustainable Tokyo development

Michigan State University researchers develop completely transparent solar panels

Could 'quantum dots' be the key to turning windows into photovoltaics?

Turning Japan's golfing greens into solar farms

Could 'quantum dots' be the key to turning windows into photovoltaics?

2015-08-26T14:37:00-04:00

While wind may be one of the most economical power sources out there, photovoltaic solar energy has a big advantage: it can go small. While wind gets cheaper as turbines grow larger, the PV hardware scales down to fit wherever we have infrastructure. In fact, simply throwing solar on our existing building stock could generate a very large amount of carbon-free electricity.

But, as many homeowners already know, installing solar panels can be quite cost-prohibitive. New research might just have solved that problem by incorporating solar hardware into the most basic light filter used in architecture: the window.

According to a study, solar windows could filter out a portion of light and convert about a third of it to electricity. By utilizing a "diffuse cloud of quantum dots," the glass would still meet "the highest standards for indoor lighting."

The quantum dots are made of "copper, indium, and selenium, covered in a layer of zinc sulfide." They absorb a broad band of the solar spectrum but convert it to "specific wavelength in the infrared," which happens to be ideal for absorption by a silicon photovoltaic.

There would be a good deal of energy loss in the conversion process compared to a panel installed on a roof, but as Ars Technica notes, that's not really the point. Contemporary architecture tends to use vast amounts of glazing – by harvesting even ...