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The solar window: features and benefits
Caring for our planet is becoming a challenge for society, where the main objective is to reduce polluting gases. As the need for renewable energy sources increases on a global scale, new solutions need to be created to enable that growth.
Despite the fact that solar panels are a great success, there are always many options to improve existing technology. And this is where the photovoltaic windows or also known as solar windows.
We have to bear in mind that not everyone can use solar panels at home. So finding creative ways to counter this problem can lead to some notable and necessary breakthroughs.
What are solar windows?
They are a type of windows that generate energy from the sun's rays. With different technologies, a window can be turned into a «Transparent photovoltaic panel», without losing the functionality it has always had.
Although there are already different techniques to achieve a transparent photovoltaic glass that generates energy; through liquid coatings, nanotechnology and other advanced techniques achieving translucent windows that generate energy.
Initially, some time ago we talked about the first transparent solar panels, where they had developed a transparent material that was capable of generating electricity through infrared and ultraviolet waves. But, the "boom" of the solar window, began with the article published in the journal Nature with translucent solar crystals.
Currently, we can obtain MORE THAN 40% of the electricity through solar windows
But… Can I buy a photovoltaic window today? The answer is yes. Although there is still a path for this type of solar sheets, glass that is less transparent than a normal window (70% transparency) is already being sold all over the world, but with a more than acceptable capacity to generate electricity.
In cost and price, according to information we have reviewed, it increases between 18 to 20% in building carpentry. Taking into account that we are talking about occupying a large part of the facade - the building's envelope with semi-transparent solar panels.
Y, What is the price of transparent solar panels? Well, according to a telephone consultation to a Spanish company; The most transparent glass of medium quality (Solar sheet), of almost one square meter, is around 116 Euros (Double glass), and with the best quality, it can reach 180 Euros with triple glass (Installation should be added, + VAT ).
From a street consumer perspective, it is still not very profitable or viable to use a transparent solar module for a home, but if we talk about hotels, institutions, industrial warehouses or office buildings, here the return and energy savings can be very important.
What kind of options do I have if I want to use transparent solar panels in a project? The photovoltaic glass for; facades, curtain walls, roofs, skylights, pergolas, railings, etc. Come on, we have carpentry adapted to all kinds of holes.
We want to provide a real idea from a Spanish manufacturer about what we could buy if we want to apply transparent solar glass panels in a project:
From a real construction and already finished, they have used solar foils for windows in the building. For example, we have to move to the Instituto Canario Superior de Estudios (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria)
It has a system of photovoltaic glass louvers made of amorphous silicon vertically integrated into the façade. It is a triple laminated glass of almost 3 meters long and half a meter wide, which has a medium degree of transparency and has been combined with inactive glass, to give the building a unique aesthetic.
A successful aesthetic and that shows that the elegant design is not at odds with taking advantage of the building's envelope to produce electricity thanks to the transparent solar panels in the form of solar glass if they are used in carpentry.
What are the advantages of photovoltaic windows?
The solar window may be an innovation that promises for the future of the energy sector since there are several benefits that they could bring us on a day-to-day basis.
Advantages and characteristics of solar windows:
- They allow the passage of light and no extra space is needed: as is the case with solar panels.
- Availability of sizes and shapes: They have a range of sizes, even in special measures or shapes and can vary in colors or transparencies according to the need of the project.
- Easy placement and installation: They can be installed in various places: windows, facades, car windows, mobile screens, tablets … It adapts to any type of exterior carpentry, and even for interior.
- They contain filters: reducing the heat input inside homes or buildings. This allows us to have better insulation and efficiency, saving, for example, in air conditioning in summer or in heating consumption.
- Saving electricity: solar sheets can cut the need for external sources of electricity by up to half.
But here it is not all, great advances are happening in innovation …
4 innovations that can improve solar windows
Every year there are important technical advances and from this section we want to show some points to highlight that will improve the functionalities of the solar window.
1.- Liquid coating for any surface
In this case, the American company "New Energy Technologies" is responsible for the creation of a type of liquid coating that could be applied to any transparent surface.
A coating capable of absorbing light and by means of conductors, which are connected to the window frame, the energy is extracted, either towards a battery or directly to a device that consumes energy or supplies it.
can generate power not only through the sun, but also in shady conditions
The most interesting thing about this coating is that it can generate energy not only through the sun, but also in shady conditions thanks to artificial light, allowing it to be used in almost any type of home or building.
On the other hand, Chinese scientists from the South China University of Technology, led by science and engineering professor Hin-Lap Yip, have been able to develop a new type of material that can block the sun and produce energy.
This material, very similar to the pigment used in newspaper printing or to darken windows, manages to block the sun and produce energy. "Being able to reduce the electricity bill to more than 50%".
2.- Solar smart windows
Smart windows work like blinds or curtains. Depending on the time of day, they regulate the amount of light or heat that passes through the windows of homes or buildings.
In addition, they offer different ways of use, such as summer, nap or winter mode. The entry of light is regulated, such as fixed awnings and heat. This type of windows are composed of a final layer of nanocrystals that change as a function of electricity that passes through them and allowing not only the light to be regulated efficiently, but also the temperature according to the location of the window itself.
Work is being done so that future buildings with large glass facades become real energy producers to save electricity.
This could be possible through the use of special glass that will allow the windows not only to control the outside light, but also to function as a photovoltaic panel.
3.- Organic solar cells
This new alternative to sicilium led by researcher Olle Inganäs from Linköping University, in Sweden, opens a path within an industry dominated, until now, by silicon.
Although this type of cell still cannot compete in terms of efficiency with silicon cells, the truth is that this method is advancing to enter the market.
The organic solar cells They offer several benefits among them, we can highlight their low cost in relation to materials and simplicity in terms of manufacturing methods: simple and fast.
4.- Hybrid solar panels
For a few years there has also been a type of plate that combines photovoltaic solar energy with thermal energy, also called hybrid solar panels.
Although it seems obvious and that it should have been launched almost at the same time as its two separate functions, we have had to wait more than 20 years for someone to dream about it, design it and make it come true.
Now, these boards are available, and there are even many installations already in operation. These panels are known as hybrid solar panels and they offer numerous benefits:
- Installation of a single panel with which it is possible to use the electrical appliances and obtain the sanitary hot water that is necessary.
- The installation surface is smaller compared to thermal and photovoltaic installations.
- They generate electricity and heat at the same time.
- Its purchase and installation has a lower cost, taking into account that to obtain the same benefits of a photovoltaic and thermal system, it is enough to purchase a single solar panel.
- They have a low cost of maintenance since the technology of the hybrid solar panel is as simple as in a traditional solar collector.
- It has a high degree of innovation, offering great versatility to those homes that decide to install this system.
- It considerably reduces the environmental impact.
- Possibility of using this system to heat pool water as a solution for many homes, in which we seek to heat pool water when temperatures are still low and a little more temperature is required.
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