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posted by martyb on Sunday July 02 2017, @09:39PM   Printer-friendly
from the wha-a-bright-idea! dept.

Smart windows equipped with controllable glazing can augment lighting, cooling and heating systems by varying their tint, saving up to 40 percent in an average building's energy costs.

These smart windows require power for operation, so they are relatively complicated to install in existing buildings. But by applying a new solar cell technology, researchers at Princeton University have developed a different type of smart window: a self-powered version that promises to be inexpensive and easy to apply to existing windows. This system features solar cells that selectively absorb near-ultraviolet (near-UV) light, so the new windows are completely self-powered.

"Sunlight is a mixture of electromagnetic radiation made up of near-UV rays, visible light, and infrared energy, or heat," said Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo, director of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, and the Theodora D. '78 and William H. Walton III '74 Professor in Engineering. "We wanted the smart window to dynamically control the amount of natural light and heat that can come inside, saving on energy cost and making the space more comfortable."

The smart window controls the transmission of visible light and infrared heat into the building, while the new type of solar cell uses near-UV light to power the system.

"This new technology is actually smart management of the entire spectrum of sunlight," said Loo, who is a professor of chemical and biological engineering. Loo is one of the authors of a paper, published June 30, that describes this technology, which was developed in her lab.

Source: Princeton University

Journal Reference: Nicholas C. Davy, Melda Sezen-Edmonds, Jia Gao, Xin Lin, Amy Liu, Nan Yao, Antoine Kahn, Yueh-Lin Loo. Pairing of near-ultraviolet solar cells with electrochromic windows for smart management of the solar spectrum. Nature Energy, 2017; 2: 17104 DOI: 10.1038/nenergy.2017.104


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  • (Score: 2) by mhajicek on Sunday July 02 2017, @10:08PM

    by mhajicek (51) on Sunday July 02 2017, @10:08PM (#534268)

    In Soviet Russia Windows uses you. Everywhere else too.

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