July 10th, 2008
This could be a window to our solar future
American researchers say they’ve developed a system of concentrating solar energy. It could be twice as efficient at turning sunlight into electricity. And it uses special paints. They could even be put onto windows. And the coatings add minimal cost while doubling efficiency.
Here’s how the AP describes the process: “The glass coatings absorb incoming light and then re-emit the energy into the glass, which conducts it to solar cells. The coatings can vary from bright colors to chemicals that are mostly transparent.”
The dyes or paints used in concentrating the solar power are organic compounds. Here’s link to the original publication in Science.
Significantly this work was funded by US federal grants. This research and development was done at MIT, not one of the myriad solar start-ups getting large sums of VC money.
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A newsman since 1969, Harry Fuller has worked for CBS, ABC, CNBC Europe, CNET and was founding news director at TechTV. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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