Now it may not be all that “ cool ” to close that window in your room ,if you are serious about reducing your power consumption and going green at the same time. Researchers at MIT are currently investigating a technology that allows power generation by adding certain additives to windows in buildings. This process utilizes solar cells that are placed at the glass edges as opposed to spreading them across the flat surface of the glass. This allows reduction in silicon used in solar cells, thus lowering their costs. A further improvement is a method to force sunlight to window edges (where solar cells are placed), filter and concentrate it to generate power.
Silicon costs have been a major factor driving up the prices of solar energy. This approach eliminates requirement of large quantities of silicon in addition to doing away with supporting mirrors, lenses and trackers. However the quantity of power generated may not be adequate to prompt installation of this system. MIT researchers, however, plan to start a venture - Covalent Solar to further refine this technology and anticipate a commercial product within 3 years.
