Solar panels and solar power-generating windows are a couple of things people have come up with to take advantage of the Sun, but now a team of engineering researchers from Michigan State University (MSU) have proposed the use of transparent solar panels. Combined with rooftop panels, our reliance on fossil fuels could be greatly reduced and we’d be close to meeting the United States’ high electricity demand.Highly transparent solar cells represent the wave of the future for new solar applications,” said Lunt. “We analyzed their potential and show that by harvesting only invisible light, these devices can provide a similar electricity-generation potential as rooftop solar while providing additional functionality to enhance the efficiency of buildings, automobiles and mobile electronics.”
The solar-harvesting system uses organic molecules developed by Lunt and his team to absorb invisible wavelengths of sunlight. The researchers can “tune” these materials to pick up just the ultraviolet and the near-infrared wavelengths that then convert this energy into electricity .Moving global energy consumption away from fossil fuels will require such innovative and cost-effective renewable energy technologies. Only about 1.5 percent of electricity demand in the United States and globally is produced by solar power.
But in terms of overall electricity potential, the authors note that there is an estimated 5 billion to 7 billion square meters of glass surface in the United States. And with that much glass to cover, transparent solar technologies have the potential of supplying some 40 percent of energy demand in the U.S. – about the same potential as rooftop solar units. “The complimentary deployment of both technologies,” Lunt said, “could get us close to 100 percent of our demand if we also improve energy storage.”
Before they can even be considered, they need to be more efficient. Compared to solar panel’s 15 percent efficiency, transparent panels are only 5 percent efficient. Despite this, Lunt states that transparent panels are only about a third of the way into their full potential after five years’ research. Going forward, work will be done to improve the panel’s capabilities, though they’re not expected to outperform or replace the traditional solar panels we’ve become accustomed to.Currently, according to Lunt and his team, only 1.5 percent of electricity in the U.S. is generated by solar power. Transparent solar panels, however, could account for 40 percent of electricity, provided its used on the 5-7 billion square meters of glass surface in the country — something that’s unlikely to happen anytime soon.
EmoticonEmoticon