Solar Panels could replace windows

Is Solar Power going to give the UK the energy it needs for the 21st century?

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Mark
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Solar Panels could replace windows

Post by Mark »

Transparent solar panels could replace windows in the future. Here's how:
https://interestingengineering.com/inno ... -heres-how

Still at an early stage, but a couple of interesting case studies....
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PS_RalphW
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Re: Solar Panels could replace windows

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For large buildings with glass walls, these could make sense if the price is right. For ordinary houses you would need the windows bigger to offset the lost light from that absorbed in the pv conversion, and this would increase heat loss in winter. Also, the overhead of wiring and electronicS to collect and use or store the electricity would make house scale installations uneconomic.
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Mark
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Re: Solar Panels could replace windows

Post by Mark »

I was thinking along the same lines.
Would probably have to be windows that don't need to be opened/closed....

More suited to commercial/public buildings than domestic ?
kenneal - lagger
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Re: Solar Panels could replace windows

Post by kenneal - lagger »

Most modern houses built since the 1920s have windows larger than absolutely necessary so losing a proportion of the light coming in won't make much of a difference.

The roof would usually offer a larger area for panel installation and if the roof is oriented wrongly so probably are the windows.
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