Photovoltaic

Solar energy’s comforting power has been recognized since the days of the Neanderthals settling down in a sunny spot inside their cave and resting their backs against a rock that had been warmed by the sun.

In recent years, both environmental and financial factors have spurred the uptake of solar power as we search for technological advances to make buildings not only our shelter but also our power-generating plant. Solar panels do a great job of generating electricity, but they suffer from space limitations since, in most cases, they’re limited to buildings’ roofs. They are also not generally considered to be an attractive feature of a building.

Enter BIPVs (Building-integrated Photovoltaics). These dual-purpose building materials (e.g. shingles, cladding, windows) seamlessly incorporate photovoltaics to realize a building’s maximum potential for generating electricity while concurrently being building materials that maintain (or improve) a building’s aesthetics rather than detract from it.

Michigan University developed the first transparent photovoltaic cells ten years ago, but its efficiency rate was below 5 percent and it only transmitted about 30 percent of light. Since then, advances in design and materials have improved both the efficiency and transparency of solar glass, which has significantly opened up their usefulness and increased the adoption of BIPV windows.

Building Integrated Photovoltaic Window Manufacturers

Stellaris Corporation

Stellaris Corporation has developed a clear window that uses the same cells as 90 percent of solar panels, which they state can generate almost as much annual power as a non-transparent high-efficiency solar panel. They claim that their windows can harvest five times more electricity than competing technologies. In addition, the design of the windows limits the amount of direct summer sunlight and lets the sun through in colder months to reduce your heating and cooling costs.