Slashdot Mirror
Clear Solar Panels Double As Projection Screens
EnergyEfficient writes "Metropolis Magazine has an article about a company that is producing transparent solar panels. The panels 'can generate 3.8 watts of electricity per square foot, an above-average level of efficiency.' They come in a thick version that can be used for glazing buildings. Imagine if all those glass skyscrapers could also produce power! As an interesting aside, they can also be used as screens for projection TV units."
"I know, we'll make a solar panel that lets the light just go right through it! What a great idea!
Is it fascism yet?
Most glass is mounted vertically so it will only be good in the mornings/afternoons.....
Unlike horizontally mounted stuff which is good at night?
The point is that you can use it with projector TVs. The light from the projector creates the power to run the projector, duh! I'm running over to walmart to buy one for my for my fan powered sailboat right now.
Gee, imagine what they could do with OPAQUE ones!
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
"The first is simply to make more efficient use of natural light!"
Heh. Where I work, our computer screens light the room.
"Derp de derp."
Are you saying that ALL computers, including the Linux boxes will be powered by Windows.
Arrrrgggghhhhhhh
it is only after a long journey that you know the strength of the horse.
speaking of things passing overhead, that sound you just heard, a sort of cross between a whistle and a rush of wind, was the sound of a joke passing you by. as a slashdot coward, doubtless you were unfamiliar with the subject matter...
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Why don't we just install a "Spaceballs" style solar glass enclosure around the earth at 26000 miles from the center? Just high enough to keep the geostationary satellites inside (wouldn't want to lose our tv). The surface area should be about.
t ml#IntlConsumption m l . html (seems accurate)
131,657,416,704,000,000 sq/ft
and cost
$5,924,583,751,680,000,000
in raw materials (maybe we could get a bulk discount)
we should also try to cash in on a "free installation"
The output of such a sphere would be
500,298,183,475,200,000 watts continuous
Or (for sake of easier calculation in an already complicated process) if only half of the sphere received light at any given time
250,149,091,737,600,000 watts continuous
250,149,091,737.6 kW continuous
250.15 Petawatt continuous
Power demand in 2002 for the entire world
13,747,393,531.8 kW continuous
0.0137474 Petawatt continuous
sure every living thing on earth would probably die and we would enter a perpetual ice age from the lack of light and heat but, you could throw away the sunscreen and with all that extra energy maybe we could string up some halogens or something along the inside! We could also sell advertising space on it.
All conversions made with http://www.onlineconversion.com/
Power consumption data from http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/total.h
Geostationary orbit data from how http://octopus.gma.org/surfing/imaging/howhigh.ht
Radius of the earth from http://www.page.sannet.ne.jp/ikenoue/e-mode/earth
Output and cost from RFTA
If you think that my math is wrong then check and let me know, too tired to think anymore.