Transparent solar panels might be the key to solving the energy crisis and can revolutionize clean and renewable energy. Currently, solar panels are only placed on rooftops in small quantities, which absorb the sun’s rays at an irregular angle and are not very efficient or in solar farms, which utilize large areas of land. Photovoltaic glass can change all this. These solar panels can be placed just like windows in cars, buildings and homes, and potentially as the front screen of smartphones. Just imagine a skyscraper with dozens of floors and thousands of windows. These skyscrapers utilize a massive amount of energy, and most of it comes from coal and other fossil fuels, whose burning has a terrible effect on the earth’s atmosphere. Now imagine that these windows were solar panels, almost the entirety of the building could be powered by solar energy without the use of any extra space. These transparent solar panels were first created by researchers at Michigan State University in 2014 and were perfected in 2020 by European scientists and engineers. Once my amazement at this invention passed, a doubt crept into my mind.
If the solar panels would absorb the light rays from the sun, how would the light and heat enter the rooms, where the transparent solar panels would replace regular windows? The solution created by these scientists was one of the most ingenious feats of engineering I have ever seen. The solar cells selectively harness a portion of the solar spectrum that is invisible to the naked eye, while still allowing normal visible light to pass through. Eventually, when the cost of these solar panels reduces with mass production and perfection of used materials, these windows of photovoltaic glass could replace regular windows, powering houses, phones and maybe even electric cars for a fraction of the cost of the energy obtained by fossil fuels. This masterpiece of science could be a massive stepping stone in the boycotting of fossil fuels and the age of renewable energy, and while it might not be perfect, innovations in this kind of technology is what humanity needs to protect the planet.
Photovoltaic glass
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