Government Scientists Put See-Through Solar Windows on the Fast Track

April 5th, 2011 by Tina Casey

A company called New Energy Technologies, Inc. is getting a little help from the federal government to push its new transparent solar window coating out of the lab and into the hands of building owners. That help comes in the form of government researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, as part of an ambitious program to help start-ups and other companies get new solar technologies off the ground, create more green jobs, and lower the cost of installed solar energy.

New Energy’s New Solar Coating

The new coating, which New Energy calls SolarWindow, is designed for use on transparent glass in both commercial buildings and homes. Under an agreement with NREL, federal scientists have been working to develop a more efficient prototype, by increasing the number of working solar cells that contact the surface area. Other recent advances in the technology include increasing the size of the windows (the largest so far is one foot square), and developing less expensive coating materials.

Spray-On Solar Coatings

New Energy’s technology joins a growing list of solar inks and sprays that have the potential to lower the cost of installed solar energy. A couple of other examples are Innovalight’s solar ink “tattoo,” and a spray-on solar paint under development at the University of Texas. Scientists at other Department of Energy laboratories are also working on new see-through thin film solar technology that could be applied to windows.

Pesky Government Scientists

The latest employment stats provide a glimmer of hope that the private sector is finally starting to go to work in terms of investing in future economic enterprises. In the meantime, companies with promising breakthrough technologies like SolarWindow are relying on public sector investment to get their innovations into production. There’s nothing new here: for generations, the fossil fuel industry has relied on public sector support to deliver (relatively) cheap, abundant fuel, so it seems fair enough to help launch new low-cost energy technologies with equal, if not more, enthusiasm.

Image: Windows on wikimedia by Gryffindor.

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Tags: new energy technologies, NREL, spray-on solar power, window

About the Author

Tina Casey Tina Casey specializes in military and corporate sustainability, advanced technology, emerging materials, biofuels, and water and wastewater issues. Tina’s articles are reposted frequently on Reuters, Scientific American, and many other sites. Views expressed are her own. Follow her on Twitter @TinaMCasey and Google+.

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http://www.facebook.com/people/Bruce-Miller/100000952005408 Bruce Miller

Few seem to see super-insulation as energy saving. Even super-insulation technologies developed in the ‘Space -Race’ were lost, buried, in corporate darkness, evil corporate vaults – much as the EV-1! Google torrent, the documentary, “Who Stole The Electric Car”. See how dishonest, self-serving corporate interests hurt the American people. Now, question where the super-insulations have gone to.
Straw-Bale homes cozy and warm, even in -40 degree winter weather in Canada, take only a half-chord of hardwood to heat, all year round – Solar, through large windows, does the rest! Even while Yankee Doodle, in warmer latitudes pays high prices for oil, gas, electricity! Why? What happened to the Space-Age insulations that allowed the Moon flights for example? Suspicious situation here, for certain!
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Anonymous

“The Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Tower, in Chicago now has a 2-square-foot section of windows generating solar energy. The patch is a test ground for Pythagoras Solar’s cutting-edge new technology.

While they are featured on a south-facing and immobile structure, they are still about 14.1 percent efficient,…”

(That’s almost too good to be true. If anyone has any validating info….)

http://www.cleanenergyauthority.com/solar-energy-news/willis-tower-testing-new-solar-windows-032811/
http://www.facebook.com/marksthomas Mark Thomas

Great idea as long as it doesn’t make the windows cloudy.
- Tina Casey
  
  Thank you, Mark. That’s the problem in a nutshell, retaining the transparency while adding solar energy collection capabilities.
- Rshapiro2
  
  There is low light solar technology where the light emmited from the moon and the stars can generate electricity. Even on a cloudy day low light solar would be able to still sense and create electricity.