New York City Skyscrapers as Seen Through High-Performance SolarWindow™ Module |
Topics: Alternative Energy, Green Energy, STEM, Solar Power, Materials Science
Science TIME: It’s called SolarWindow, and it involves spraying clear windows with transparent, electricity-generating coatings. The breakthrough, according to developers New Energy Technologies Inc., comes because previously “the collection of electricity was possible only through use of a metal contact, which blocked visibility and limited transparency.” The coatings use the world’s smallest functional solar cells, which measure less than a quarter the size of a grain of rice.
W-I-I-T-F-M -- What this means for you:
- Your smart phone charging from its face in a matter of minutes in the sunlight.
- Office buildings generating and storing their own power, greatly reducing the cost of operation.
- Ditto for your homes and thus, your heating and cooling expenses.
- Your electric car, bus, train or plane could be self-sustaining.
- It would make camping out in the woods rather interesting indeed.
What's exciting is reducing what has become a ubiquitous term: carbon footprint. Even if you're not a tree-hugging member of Greenpeace, I've never seen an instance where anyone went to war over sunlight.
Company Site: SolarWindow
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