A breakthrough in transparent solar cells - "normal" windows can now do double duty!

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2008/04/09/1207420470306.html

Professor John Bell from the Queensland University of Technology is conducting research that aims to increase the amount of power the cells can generate.

"When you put the cells in a window form they don't face the sun, so you automatically lose a little bit of efficiency," Professor Bell said.

However he is hopeful that the glass will one day be able to generate the same amount of power as a traditional solar panel.

The cells have a faint red tinge, which results in a soft glow inside the house; the glass is completely see-through.

By using the glass in wndows, a home could generate its own electricity and reduces its carbon emissions by at least 50 per cent.

Professor Bell estimates the average home would require about 10 square metres of the glass to generate its power needs.

"As long as a house is designed throughout for energy efficiency, it is possible it could be self-sustaining in its power requirements using the solar cell glass."

There's the usual beat-up that this is someone's Research-in-progress, and this could be a call for more research funding, but nonetheless it's a technology that we could REALLY use, once it's mature.

OTOH, it goes against all the OTHER pronciples of good house design - one should NOT have large areas of glass facing the sun, since that traps thermal IR in the house and you get a literal greenhouse. Still, I'm sure that when and if this product is commercial, we'll find uses for it - like free-standing glass walls/screens in the open sunshine, that still offer views through them from the normal house windows...