Cheap Solar For Your Window Panes

A new company created by scientists working at MIT is working to commercialize a new solar dye technology that turns ordinary windows into solar concentrators. Basically, low-cost readily available dyes are painted on glass or plastic panes. Some of the light is absorbed and redirected through the pane to the edges, where solar cells turn the light into electricity. The focused light increases by 40 times the electrical power obtained from each solar cell.

This works on the same principle as solar concentrator that rely on mirrors or magnifying glass to concentrate a large amout of light on a small area, which decreases the need for expensive solar cells.

There area a number of exciting things about his new technology:
Unlike traditional solar collectors, these flat panels require no sunlight tracking abilities to keep the light focused
Cheap materials. The dyes used are already common dyes used in auto paints
Avoids what some see as unsightly rooftop solar panels, which are banned by many homeowner associations.
Could potentially turn the facade of a large building into one large, inexpensive solar collector.

On the downside, no information on the quality of the light that passes through the window. Perhaps we will no longer need to put on rose-colored glasses. We can just pull the blinds and look out the window.

Check out this demonstration video.
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