Clean Energy: Using Windows to Generate Power

This is a great invention:
If a new development from labs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) pans out as expected, someday the entire surface area of a building’s windows could be used to generate electricity using solar power — without interfering with the ability to see through them....

Using Windows to Generate Power

Well, as an engineer, I can tell you windows are a bad thing . Only home builders and engineers can tell you that windows are the main reason why houses get cold and hot during the appropriate times of the year. Yes, you can observe this phenomenon with cars too! (leaving your car out in the sun will make it searing hot inside the car). So, to fix it, the homeowners should either a) have no windows in their home or b) try to reduce the heat entering or leaving by putting layers of window panes in homes (you see this in new homes).

Same goes for cars. Car owners will put a tint on their car to try to reduce the heat entering or leaving the car.

Saying this, I can finally say that using windows to generate powers are ok. They are looking to do it with solar power. Again, if you really want to save big bucks on your energy bills / gas bills, remove all the windows in your home !

Then how do I allow natural light to enter my home? Wouldnt I need to leave all the lights on 24/7 if I took out all the windows from my home?

Lets agree that there are less than 0.0001% of the human population on Earth that would be willing to go completely windowless.

Now we can focus on how this new technology can add free power to our household electricity needs. MIT is an education center, so is this a technology that was developed by their research arm, or is it simply one of their students graduation projects that mmay never see the light of day?

Also FYI, the link you provided, I did not eve read anything about MIT or windows, it was about Scottlands industrial output, possibilities for renewable projects and government backing?

I did find this though using google

(Nanowerk Spotlight) 'Smart' windows, or smart glass, refers to glass technology that includes electrochromic devices, suspended particle devices, micro-blinds and liquid crystal devices. Their major feature is that they can control the amount of light passing through the glass and increase energy efficiency of the room by reducing costs for heating or air-conditioning. In the case of self-powered smart windows the glass even generates the energy needed to electrically switch its transparency

Source

Was this about what you were referring too?

reply to post by DYepes


The O.P. has linked the wrong page.

Try [url=http://www.renewableenergymagazine.com/energias/renovables/index/pag/pv_solar/colleft//colright/pv_solar/tip/articulo/pagid/15193/botid/71/]THIS[ /url]


OK I can't get the link to work. Scroll down to the bottom of the "Scottish" page and it's there.

Windows. I thought maybe this thread would be about simply opening windows to let in cool air and close&cover windows to block heat from entering. I have neighbors who seem to use windows only for seeing through, as they constantly are running A/C or heater.

Anyway, good to see more development along the lines of solar energy usage.Someday, our current structures will seem as primitive as caves for dwelling.

Good Lord, we need to move into the 21st cen! We could have been there already 30 years ago, if it weren't for govt & corporate decisions to keep us out of alternative ways to produce energy and to not press for conservation and alternative construction. For those who believed the status quo was preferable, get out of the way and return to your cave.

yes yes Its about time somebody with proper funds got this one going. This idea is something I've had tossing around the ol' noggin occasionally. Hopefully they will be successful in creating a highly efficient photo-voltaic window, as it would open the door for many other things that I hope I am not the only one that has thought about. Such as photo-voltaic shingles, paint/siding, sidewalks, fences, and pretty much anything that is just sitting there absorbing all the energy of the sun naturally.

Originally posted by DYepes
Then how do I allow natural light to enter my home? Wouldnt I need to leave all the lights on 24/7 if I took out all the windows from my home?

Easy.

Use external cameras and large flat panel displays to simulate windows and an outside view.

This would have the added advantages:

* no energy transference - in or out of your home.
* simulated windows would only be "one-way" - no one could see in your home from the outside, enhancing security.
* the flat panel displays could also have other functions as TV/movie/computer displays at night, or other times when you do not need the window function.

I'd do it if I could afford it ...

reply to post by centurion1211


It is all about saving money in the long run, friend. You may pay a big price up front, but the savings will exceed the cost of the system you have thought up of. Or you can choose to just live in a windowless house hahahaha.

reply to post by consciencious observer


Oh, but they do already have solar powered of all of those things listed! They sell shingles commercially now..
www.spheralsolar.com...

lol, as amusing as that would be, I think i'll stiick to good ol fashion windows. Gonna wish we had them if the power ever dies for whatever reason.

Originally posted by DYepes
lol, as amusing as that would be, I think i'll stiick to good ol fashion windows. Gonna wish we had them if the power ever dies for whatever reason.

No, I think if the "power dies", you'll still be a lot warmer or cooler as the case may be than you would in a house with windows.

Hey actually your right. I just realized that. I need natural sunlight though, thats why I enjoy being out in 80-90 degree sunshine for hours on end. I dont even bring the thermostat below 80 in the summer. That would just be spoiled.

reply to post by antwerp


Hey guys,
sorry that the link does not work. Its my first thread....
I will try to do it again now!U sing Windows to generate Power

reply to post by antwerp


Ok, I think it works now, at least for me it does.

Thanks everybody for your responses!

Originally posted by centurion1211

Originally posted by DYepes
Then how do I allow natural light to enter my home? Wouldnt I need to leave all the lights on 24/7 if I took out all the windows from my home?

Easy.

Use external cameras and large flat panel displays to simulate windows and an outside view.

This would have the added advantages:

* no energy transference - in or out of your home.
* simulated windows would only be "one-way" - no one could see in your home from the outside, enhancing security.
* the flat panel displays could also have other functions as TV/movie/computer displays at night, or other times when you do not need the window function.

I'd do it if I could afford it ...

Not going to help much with the energy question is it? After all, energy is the whole point of this.

How much energy do you think it's going to take to run all of these cameras and flat screen monitors in place of windows?, How are people going to escape from a building that has a fire or intruder blocking the doors?

I see what you're saying, but it's not the best idea.