News that came out last week from the the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) literally sheds new light on the possibilities of harnessing sunlight to convert it into power. “Imagine windows that not only provide a clear view and illuminate rooms, but also use sunlight to efficiently help power the building they are part of”, says the report.
The name of the baby is ‘solar concentrator’. According to research leader, Marc A. Baldo, “Light is collected over a large area (a window, for example) and gathered at the edges”. Unlike existing alternatives such as covering a roof with expensive solar cells, the cells only need to be around the edges of a flat glass panel. Besides, the focused light increases the electrical power obtained from each solar cell “by a factor of over 40,” Baldo says.
And to make the new technology even more appealing, it will be cheap. The system is simple to manufacture, and the team believes that it could be implemented within three years – even added onto existing solar-panel systems to increase their efficiency by 50 percent for minimal additional cost.
