There is another exciting development in technology news concerning solar energy! On July 10, 2008, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced the development of "solar concentrators," which operate to take energy from sunlight that strikes a window and concentrate it at the edges of the pane, where solar cells would be located.
The effect of the new solar windows would be to increase efficiency of traditional solar panels by up to 100%. The new solar panel glass would be best suited for office buildings with large areas covered by windows. Similar to solar paint, special dyes that absorb light is "painted" onto a pane of glass. When UV light strikes the panes, solar energy then is pushed out to the edges and collected, where it can be harnessed on much smaller surface of solar cells.
The solar windows such as these would be a more cost-effective way of utilizing renewable solar energy, than larger, more expensive solar panels. The future will still have to wait, however. It will be about three years before solar panel glass will be available for installation and use.
New system will deliver about twice as much power(100% more!) than regular solar panels.
For more information, watch the following MIT video in which Mark Baldo discusses MIT's solar concentrator.
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