The Australian company Dyesol have been working with Professor John Bell and Queensland University of Technology research department on transparent solar cells that can generate energy while acting as windows.

From ENN.com…..

The solar cells contain titanium dioxide coated in a dye that increases light absorption.

The glass captures solar energy which can be used to power the house but can also reduce overheating of the house, reducing the need for cooling.

Professor Bell said it would be possible to build houses made entirely of the transparent solar cells.

“As long as a house is designed throughout for energy efficiency, with low-energy appliances it is conceivable it could be self-sustaining in its power requirements using the solar-cell glass,” he said.

While transparent, the cells have a slightly red hue to them. I can’t wait for this sort of tech to be publicly available, sadly that’s still a couple years off according to Dyesol in this case. This is just great stuff. Imagine if all your windows were generating solar power for you. Even if it wasn’t enough to power 100% of your needs, chances are you’re house has windows, so if it can be done for a reasonable cost, it would make a lot of sense to install this sort of thing in most cases, since the energy production is basically just a great bonus. After all, you need windows either way (well, most people anyway….), so why not lower your energy cost, even if it’s just a little?

Given some time to increase efficiency and such with these transparent solar cells, this could be just the sort of thing that could push solar technology over the edge into wider public use. In the next 5 years, solar power is going to explode into the mainstream if the massive amount of great new advancements recently are any indication.

As an added note, it also just so happens that last month the UK branch of Dyesol received $5 million from the Welsh Assembly Government for the development of application process of incorporating Dye Solar Cell Photovoltaic technology onto steel sheeting. Definitely a company to watch in the near future.

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