Imagine cities full of power-generating skyscrapers!
A solar window that potentially turns any skyscraper into a into massive power producer has just installed a pilot test in Chicago, at the landmark Sears Tower, according to Jetson Green. If the pilot goes well, the Sears Tower could end with a 2 MW solar power station, distributed vertically among its many windows.
Israel’s revolutionary Pythagoras makes window-integrated solar that really is a game changer. Their product is a solar window that is virtually as transparent as a normal window – yet it produces power on a square foot basis, that matches that of a normal solar panel.
By contrast, most BIPV (building integrated solar panels) are the very inefficient thin film panels that take twice the space to make the same power. Pythagoras uses traditional PV integrated into a glass unit (PVGU) in such a way that the window still lets light in, but it just has a linear texture created by the power producing strips.
Their PVGU is priced to deliver a 5-year return on investment – a calculation that includes both its solar power generation, and also the energy efficiency savings – it reduces building heating and cooling costs because it blocks direct solar radiation
making it the ideal day-lighting option.
Related stories:
Gonen Fink’s Pythagorean Theorem: a Skylight that Makes Electricity
Israel to Make Public Buildings More Energy Efficient – At No Cost to the Taxpayer
Pythagoras Solar Unveils ‘Solar Window’
Looks great. Did you see the video? http://bit.ly/f1jT6T