Making Solar Power at the Office?

The best thing to put behind the tube is a reflective surface to throw the upwards light back into the room, a mirror can be close to 100% efficient at that simple job.

Converting electricity to light and some back to electricity back to power said light is preposterous nonsense we expect from people with no physics education or even common sense. These things amount to perpetual motion machines which don’t work. Every stage has losses, and fluorescent tubes are only about 20% efficient, the rest is produced as heat but its the best we have right now.

And as others have said, solar cells are never really transparent, and even when they absorb some photons and convert to electricity they also block other wavelengths and convert that to heat.

In general even using solar cells in the office is just plain lazy because the power outlet is literally available a few feet away. There are no cheap efficient solar cells available that warrant use of artificial light. If light is leaving through windows, then use reflective blinds. If light is entering the windows, turn the lighting down.

The best thing to put behind the tube is a reflective surface to throw the upwards light back into the room, a mirror can be close to 100% efficient at that simple job.

Converting electricity to light and some back to electricity back to power said light is preposterous nonsense we expect from people with no physics education or even common sense. These things amount to perpetual motion machines which don’t work. Every stage has losses, and fluorescent tubes are only about 20% efficient, the rest is produced as heat but its the best we have right now.

And as others have said, solar cells are never really transparent, and even when they absorb some photons and convert to electricity they also block other wavelengths and convert that to heat.

In general even using solar cells in the office is just plain lazy because the power outlet is literally available a few feet away. There are no cheap efficient solar cells available that warrant use of artificial light. If light is leaving through windows, then use reflective blinds. If light is entering the windows, turn the lighting down.

Love the idea of it above the fixture. Hive mind, thanks.

The idea of putting the material below the light seems feasible if the “transparent material” is truly transparent … OR simply place the film ABOVE the bulb.

The light transmits all around the flourescent tube and IF the film is transparent or nearly so, it would have no effect on the amount of light reflected from the top of the light fixture.

Interesting idea and great thought, but I agree with John R. It would require more energy to light the room in this manner. A better idea, put transparent photovoltaic solar panels on all of the windows and roof and use hybrid solar lighting.

It is a physical impossibility for a PV cell to both capture a photon for power and pass it through unaltered for illumination. Fluorescent lights are designed to only emit visible light and although the cells may appear transparent, they must necessarily reduce the number of illuminating photons, (or minimally change the wavelength as the fluorescent light does), passing through to produce power. You could still collect energy on desktops, etc. but a cover or reflector on the fixture itself is necessarily defeating the purpose of having a light in the first instance.

It is a physical impossibility for a PV cell to both capture a photon for power and pass it through unaltered for illumination. Fluorescent lights are designed to only emit visible light and although the cells may appear transparent, they must necessarily reduce the number of illuminating photons, (or minimally change the wavelength as the fluorescent light does), passing through to produce power. You could still collect energy on desktops, etc. but a cover or reflector on the fixture itself is necessarily defeating the purpose of having a light in the first instance.

solar is good energy,it has good future

My understanding of “transparent” as quoted by their research means that light passes through the film without losing any intensity.

My understanding of “transparent” as quoted by their research means that light passes through the film without losing any intensity.

Great post.. thanks

Placing these on windows to capture both incoming light and light that would otherwise escape the office might be an interesting application, but capturing light that would otherwise be used for illumination is counterproductive. As others have mentioned, there are more efficient ways to do that.

As for the test results, besides comparing against cells that aren’t designed for indoor use, are also based on 1″x1″ substrates. Fine if you’re powering a calculator, but for serious power production at low cost you need much larger substrates. Retaining efficiency during scale-up to larger substrates is not trivial.

Stupid idea. Like putting a wind generator on top of a car. The solar panels would only make the room darker while capturing but a small fraction of the light’s energy. It would save a LOT more energy to simply put the blinds up on the windows at night to reflect the light back in.

The purpose of office lighting is to light the office. Wouldn’t it be more efficient to reduce the office lighting to what is neccessary (saving power) and power the devices directly? Office lighting is not “FREE” nor renwable like the sun.

“great application”? This only makes sense if the wavelengths you absorb are beyond the visible as the purpose of the fixture is to illuminate the area and your cells would likely counteract that fuction. In addition the cost would have to be less than and energy production greater than just using energy saving LEDs.

In order to calculate the cost effectiveness we need cost, absorbtive wavelengths and energy output data, please?