Developing solar windows
All buildings have windows, and if they could be utilised to produce power then homes and businesses could not reduce their energy costs, but also their carbon footprint.
That is what Professor Michael Gratzel of the Lausanne Federal Technology Institute is researching, and earlier in the year won the Millennium Technology Prize of £660,000 for his innovative low-cost solar cell that could be utilised in windows in the future.
Speaking at the prize-giving in June, Professor Gratzel said that the inspiration for his unique windows came from natures – namely in the way that plants use photosynthesis to capture sunlight and turn it into energy.
As such, he designed a solar cell that replicated the process of photosynthesis. Gratzel did this by developing an ultra-thin solar cell that, when hit with light, converted it into energy. As the cells are dye-sensitized, they are an fordable way of creating energy from the sun and have the potential for companies to create windows that generate electricity or solar panels that can be moulded into clothing, cars or anything you wanted.
Sunlight is converted into electricity in Gratzel cells with help from nanotechnology. The film in the panels are so small that they don’t scatter light, enabling for it to be harnessed. Theses nano-crystal films lie at the heart of Gratzel’s technology.
More on the Desertec Sahara project.
