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Film Turns Windows Into Solar Panels
itwbennett writes "At the Ceatec electronics conference in Japan this week, 3M is showing film that turns windows into solar panels. Although the product only generates about 20% of the electricity of a traditional solar panel, it will cost about half as much, is much easier to install, and takes up no additional space. 'An average person could go to the store, buy some of this, and then bring it home and install it themselves,' said Yasuhiro Aoyagi, a senior manager in the company's construction markets division."
It's about time someone found a good use for Windows.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
An average person could go to the store, buy some of this, and then bring it home and install it themselves
Only if the average person happens to also be an electrician, or at least someone knowledgeable enough to plug a small power plant into their house's electrical system without ending up a "Dumbass Killed Tonight In Apparent Electrical Fire" headline on their local news.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
...and the linux version will be much more powerful and configurable
So finally we can turn a useless Microsoft product into some energy generator...
Video of some good progressive thrash music
"The film blocks or absorbs about 80 percent of visible light and over 90 percent of infrared light, so it also acts as a sunshade"
Thats pretty dark. Now you don't have to live in the basement
Where is the other 30% of my money going? I assume the "costs half as much" is considering installation costs, and the space taken up by solar panels on my roof is vertical space...
Sooo a researcher came up with a similar (or same....) product which you could literally paint on to a surface and it was dirt cheap! A few years later 3M comes out with fancy plastic strips of the stuff and it will cost 1/2 as much for 1/3 to 1/4 the efficiency. Nice to see the $/watt ratio isn't being allowed to shrink /SARCASSSSSSMMMMMMMM
... who misread this as "Film turns Windows Into Solaris"...
Excellent idea, I wouldn't mind a new house with built in window shades that generate some power, but I have one question I didn't seem to see the answer to... How do you get convenient access to the power generated by a houseful of these shades? They say an average person could install it, but I don't see average people wiring these up themselves.
> 'An average person could go to the store, buy some of this, and then bring it home and install it themselves,'
This is really a selling feature? Anyone can go to amazon.com, buy any one of a number of solar panel kits, get it delivered to their home, and install it themselves, with the panels inclined correctly to maximize exposure to the sun (unlikely using existing windows, which have different design considerations) and get the full output of a solar panel, not just 20%, and never have to leave their home. (Speaking from personal experience.)
Mind you, it might be interesting to build a house designed to maximize the use of the technology, for instance, big skylights that are also solar panels. But a film for existing windows? There are better solutions.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Normal solar panel takes 10-15 years to pay for itself. If it only produces 20% of a normal panel it won't be worth it unless it costs about 20% of a normal panel
Come down from what level? No price is mentioned. No date is mentioned when the product will be delivered.
To keep a short story short: Come back once the vapor has desublimated.
Solar panels are quite expensive, with at least a ~10 year payback. But at least they last 25+ years. A system that is 40% as cost efficient will need to last even longer, and it's hard to see any window film making it through 25 years. Plus you can orient panels at approximately the right inclination. There's not much you can do with the orientation of your windows.
Maybe there's an application here for small system for locations off the grid, but honestly, a small panel seems like a better deal.
Now keep those damn kids and their baseballs away from my windows!
...Coming to a theater near you! Rated NC-17 for violence and disturbing sexual imagery.
"Our country is not nearly so overrun with the bigoted as it is overrun with the broadminded." -Archbishop Fulton Sheen
See? Windows is much better for the environment. No one turns Linux into solar panels.
Why not create a version that can be applied to blinds. That way when you want the sun, you get the sun, and when you don't, you capture the energy from the sun.
If you create the blinds yourself, the cable that runs the side of the blinds could be used to transport the power between each blind and if you added a motor, you could have automatic blinds (possibly with a timer).
Half the price and 20% of the output of a typical solar panel? Doesn't make sense. So now it only costs you $10K but it will take 50 years to pay for itself.
80% less for only half the price? I'm sold! ...wait, wut?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ5sL5niW2w
So costs half as much for 20% of the output. or in other words is about 150% less economically viable than normal solar panels.
If you convert light to electricity that means it won't pass through the window, thus destroying it's original function. You will end up using the generated electricity to power the lightbulbs.
The payback on normal solar panels is already in the 10-15+ year category for most installs. This tech costs 150% more on an output basis, so 25-40 year ROI? of windows are also far more prone to being broken then a solar panel installed on your roof hmmm think I will give this one a pass.
Combining Larry Elson with Steve Ballmer would form s material that could rend the very substance of space-time itself!!! Stop this madness before the universe is destroyed!!! There are some things that mere mortals should not even contemplate!!!
Why is Snark Required?
Paragraph 2 says: "still allows for high visibility."
Paragraph 6 says: "The film blocks or absorbs about 80 percent of visible light"
I am not an engineer - but can you actually prevent 80 % of visible light from getting through and really claim there is "high visibility" ?
...and turns OSX into Moon Doors.
Next up: Film turns Linux into date preventer
Or Vista?
. 'An average person could go to the store, buy some of this, and then bring it home and install it themselves,' said Yasuhiro Aoyagi, a senior manager in the company's construction markets division."
Define Average
I heard about this and started to do the math.
" Aoyagi said a square meter of the material can generate about 5 volts at 7 watts under peak conditions, and can operate under far less sunlight than it takes to power a conventional panel, so it will be active for more of the day."
Picture one meter^2 that is not a small area people.
Next under peak conditions?
Peak conditions means point south if you are in the northern hemisphere and at an angle that is equal to your latitude. Most windows are vertical so unless you live at one of the poles you are not going to be close.
So let's say you will average half that and you have 10 meters of windows facing in the right direction and since your angle probably sucks. So let's be really generous and say that you will average half of that peak for 8 hours on a hot summer day. So we are talking about 35 watts for 8 hours. Or enough to run maybe one laptop.
Sky scrapers will have less window area on average per person and will have the problem of shadows unless they are the only building in the area.
Now the blocking IR is really cool and if it is cheap enough then it might be worth it just for that. Maybe make cooling windows where the glass powers a small Peltier cooler that chills the inside of the window while heating the outside. Triple glazed of course.
One of those things that sounds cool but I do not see the math working out well unless it is just super cheap.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
I've invented a solar panel that's 20% the size of a traditional solar panel, produces 20% of the power of a traditional solar panel, and I'm selling it at half the price of a traditional solar panel!
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
this stuff would be perfect as a contingency to leaving your lights on... let the car sit for a while and it'll charge the battery enough to start the engine.
Have gnu, will travel.
So.
A link to an article about windows without any pictures.
As a homeowner, I need to know how much light this will block, how much heat this will block. I need to know how the color and "texture" of the light will change.
Upholstery is expensive.
Flooring and carpeting are expensive. Wall coverings and window treatments are expensive.
Is the transparency good enough not to significantly impair a view for which I have paid a great deal of money?
Apart from a few special cases, this going to be mostly useless for well designed houses - main windows facing the equator with a small verandah.
In summer - when the sun is strong - you dont want to sun to be hitting your windows as it will cause unwanted heating. The small verandah blocks this because of the high elevation of the sun.
In winter - when the sun is weak - you want as much light into the house as possible to supplement heating. The low elevation of the sun gets past the verandah, but if the solar panels are absorbing some of that it will just drive up heating costs.
The numbers are going to vary depending on how much grid electricity costs where you are, how much electricity you use, how much sun you get, which panels you use, how much 12V DC stuff you run, how much you run through an inverter and which inverter you have. I probably left a few things out - batteries for one thing but not all installations have them.
Since reality is so hard to pin down you have to ask yourself where the confidence of the above post comes from. Is it ignorance and just parroting some specific case? Or is some petty little agenda being pushed to put those greasy engineers and smelly hippies in their place as mere consumers instead of rocking the boat? Either way the above poster IMHO deserves contempt.
Two decades ago some solar panels in the right place paid for themselves on installation if they cost less than getting a line in from the grid. It's not just about being green.
It's kind of too bad that the market for this will probably be very limited and it likely will not be successful.
This stuff absorbs 80% of the visible light that hits your window. That might be fine in places where the sun shines very intensely - it's about the same transparency and very dark sunglasses. However, I would not want this on my windows during already-dark New York winters!
The film already blocks 80% of visible light, but it would be complete if it was combined with electrochromatic windows.
Windows let light in, which you'd otherwise use electricity to generate. Although the film is see-through, it must reduce the amount of incoming light. I'm not an expert, but wouldn't the effectiveness of the film increase proportionately to the amount of light it absorbed without passing through? It seems like a window is not the best place to put a solar collector, even if it is easier than installing on a roof or other surfaces.
(Just kidding.)
How exactly would the average person go to the store, get some, and install it themselves?
Are they going to run the wire to the charge controllers? They are probably in the basement with the batteries, so as with most solar you're looking at a fairly major install. Except in this case it is on the windows so the wires are coming from every part of the house.
How about set their battery banks up properly ? Plan them out for winter vs summer in terms of sun time per day.
How about grid-tie ? Otherwise you're stuck with battery for some stuff, grid for others.
So MAYBE they could be trusted to stick it to the window. But then what? A solar install is a lot more than screwing down a solar panel.
It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
This guy has invented a film that takes up no additional space — it's two-dimensional! It must be horribly dangerous to install, imagine the paper cuts. Sinclair Molecule Chain, eat your heart out.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
If my calculations are correct (and they usually are) ... just install 5 layers of these to gain equal power production compared to a traditional solar panel!
Now, where's my Nobel!
Film at 11.
Thanks, I'll be here all day...
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw