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Transparent Solar Technology Represents Wave of The Future | Solar Windows

Energy Harvesting Windows, Solar Panel Windows, Solar Glass Windows, Professor Richard Lunt, Green Technology Professors, Solar Systems Future, Energy Creating Windows

See-through solar materials that can be applied to windows represent a massive source of untapped energy and could harvest as much power as bigger, bulkier rooftop solar units, scientists report today in Nature Energy.

Led by engineering researchers at Michigan State University, the authors argue that widespread use of such highly transparent solar applications, together with the rooftop units, could nearly meet U.S. electricity demand and drastically reduce the use of fossil fuels.

“Highly transparent solar cells represent the wave of the future for new solar applications,” said Richard Lunt, the Johansen Crosby Endowed Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at MSU. “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.”

Energy Harvesting Windows, Solar Panel Windows, Solar Glass Windows, Professor Richard Lunt, Green Technology Professors, Solar Systems Future, Energy Creating WindowsLunt and colleagues at MSU pioneered the development of a transparent luminescent solar concentrator that when placed on a window creates solar energy without disrupting the view. The thin, plastic-like material can be used on buildings, car windows, cell phones or other devices with a clear surface.

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 (watch a demonstration of the process here).

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.”

Lunt said highly transparent solar applications are recording efficiencies above 5 percent, while traditional solar panels typically are about 15 percent to 18 percent efficient. Although transparent solar technologies will never be more efficient at converting solar energy to electricity than their opaque counterparts, they can get close and offer the potential to be applied to a lot more additional surface area, he said.

Right now, transparent solar technologies are only at about a third of their realistic overall potential, Lunt added.

“That is what we are working towards,” he said. “Traditional solar applications have been actively researched for over five decades, yet we have only been working on these highly transparent solar cells for about five years. Ultimately, this technology offers a promising route to inexpensive, widespread solar adoption on small and large surfaces that were previously inaccessible.”

The work is funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education.

Lunt’s coauthors are Christopher Traverse, a doctoral student in engineering at MSU, and Richa Pandey and Miles Barr with Ubiquitous Energy Inc., a company Lunt cofounded with Barr to commercialize transparent solar technologies.

More about Richard Lunt and MSU

Water Saving Shower Head | Save 1000’s of Gallons Per Year

This shower water conservation video is by Steven Harrell, who launched Tiny House Listings about 6 years ago. His website was instrumental and inspiration in Texas Tiny Homes formation in 2012. This video features a low flow shower head that can save thousands of gallons of water each year depending on the setting you chose. We have selected six water saving shower heads in our online store.  

Water conservation is so critical these days, but it’s also a requirement when living small, or off grid when water is hard to come by, and safely disposing it if your tiny and small home is not tied to a city sewage system, or if you are using a grey water filtering system. Texas Tiny Homes is looking at all the black and grey water disposal options for the new homes we are going to be build on our lots in Granbury, Texas and the less amount of water coming out the home the better. Water conserving shower heads will be an important and necessary feature in some of new home we build.

 

Backwoods Cabin | Built-in, Off-Grid Refrigeration

 

JC Desclos has several off-grid cabins up in New Hampshire and has created some interesting, how-to DIY video’s for cabin living. This video demonstrates his built-in icebox at one of his off grid cabins. The unit allows him to utilize mother nature to keep his food cold approximately half the year without any power or propane.

If you are planning on building one of our plans in states that get really cold half the year or longer having a built-in ice box like this would be a great way to cut down on your utility consumption, whether it be electric, propane or solar. It’s definitely something to consider.

 

Amazon | Camping World | Partners We Love

Special thanks to whomever purchased this product for their cows this week by first visiting our newly expanded, online store. Our goal with our new store is to facilitate our customers and friends by doing some of the shopping homework, and showcasing some products we like, have used over the years, that you may use when building one of our plans. If we earn a little commission from our partners in the process that is great too, it helps us cover our some of our overhead. I see our  new expanding online store as a win, win, win scenario.

Our customers and online friends have now purchased 49 items via our Amazon partnership since mid January, which makes me proud to do a small part in keeping the American dream alive.

 

When deciding which Amazon products to showcase, geared towards our clients/customers building one of our homes, we had no idea some of you would wind up purchasing items for your cows, trucks, or your diving trip, but all the items you see in this post were purchased because someone first visited our online store, and we thank-you for doing so.

 

 

 

 

 

We are also happy to announce we are now partners with Camping World, who offers a great line of Camping and RV gear.

Over the last half century, Camping World has become the premier one-stop-shop for everything RVers need to enjoy living and traveling in their RVs, as well as a vital source of products and services to help RV owners maintain and protect their investment. Along with over 10,000 RV parts and accessories, we also offer a full selection of new and used RVs for sale; RV and tow vehicle service and maintenance; collision centers; RV Spa detail and refurbishment centers; technical advice from knowledgeable experts, and hard-to-find parts.

Over the last half century, Camping World has become the premier one-stop-shop for everything RVers need to enjoy living and traveling in their RVs, as well as a vital source of products and services to help RV owners maintain and protect their investment. Along with over 10,000 RV parts and accessories, we also offer a full selection of new and used RVs for sale; RV and tow vehicle service and maintenance; collision centers; RV Spa detail and refurbishment centers; technical advice from knowledgeable experts, and hard-to-find parts.e uniquely positioned to serve the needs of camping and RVing families, whether they enjoy weekends outdoors in a pop-up trailer or live full-time in a custom coach. Our growing network of products and services gives you the security of a trusted, established name to turn to when you are ready to buy or trade your RV; when you need service, repair or professional installation; when you need ways to make travel more convenient or affordable, and when you need specialized accessories designed for the RV and outdoor lifestyle.

How To Build a Tiny House | eCourse

tiny home instruction, how to build tiny homes, tiny homes classes, tiny homes education, Dan Louche, owner of Tiny Home Builders, has been designing and building Tiny Homes since 2009 and has created an ecourse of how to video’s that will teach you how to build your own tiny home. Follow along with Dan Louche as he builds and teaches you how to build a tiny house from beginning to end. Watch as he explains and demonstrates each step along the way. The lessons are ordered and broken up into small, easy to learn segments. It’s like attending a workshop in your own house (without the travel costs), that you can then attend again and again as many times as you want.

Each lesson also includes a forum to ask questions and to interact with other users on that specific topic.

UNLIMITED SUBSCRIPTION

Get instant access to our entire online training course (currently over 7 hours of instruction) including access to our private forum to ask questions and interact with other users.

  • Watch on any computer, smartphone, or tablet
  • Never expires

To find out more click here