It has been referred to by many as solar glass. It is the new material, which we had already talked about, on which Oxford Photovoltaics, a spin-off of the University of Oxford, is working, which has now obtained another two million pounds in funding to carry out its futuristic project.
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It has been defined by many solar glass. It's the new material, we had already talked about, on which the Oxford Photovoltaics, a spin-off of the University of Oxford, which has now obtained others two million pounds of funding to carry out your own futuristic project.
In fact, it would be enough to replace current materials with solar glass in the windows of buildings and skyscrapers to produce a large amount of energy. The colored and transparent glass solar cells will therefore be able to replace those currently in use not only giving a nice effect since the material is colored but above all they could generate electricity to the windows.
The new contribution was provided by MTI Partners. Thanks to it, the new transparent solar cells will be able to anticipate their debut on the market with an economic version, free of non-toxic and non-corrosive materials and customizable. In fact, the solar cells can be printed directly on the glass in a range of colors, ideal for use in glass and facades.
And the shopping? The funding will allow British researchers to refine the techniques and further reduce the cost, which is far from high.
“I asked myself, rather than install photovoltaic panels, why not make the building itself photovoltaic? " she said Kevi Arthur, founder and CEO. “If you decide to build a glass building, then you have already decided to pay for the glass. If a small surcharge is added to this cost, equal to no more than 10% of the cost of the façade ”, a large production of electricity would be obtained with a not too high expense.
Calculations in hand, dice Arthur that glass typically costs between 600 and 1.000 pounds per square meter. This means that the new treatment could increase the cost of making solar glass by 60-100 pounds (per square meter).
The technology works by adding a layer of transparent solar cells up to three microns to conventional glass to transform around the 12% of the solar energy received as electricity. The power can also be exported to the national electricity grid or used for the building's needs.
"Within certain limits you can print any color, there are a wide range of dyes, blues, greens and reds and so on, but different colors have different efficiencies: black is very high, green is pretty good and red is good. , but blue is less good, ”said Arthur.
You are spoiled for choice.
Francesca Mancuso
Read also:
- Organic photovoltaic: England believes (and invests)
- Solarwindow: photovoltaic panels in "spray packaging" on the window panes
- Transparent photovoltaic to produce energy from the windows
