If you look closely, you may notice that some buildings are installing solar-powered windows. With scientists focusing on putting see-through solar windows on the fast track to a wider market, innovations for solar windows are popping up more and more.

Take the concept of spray-on solar coatings. Rather than replacing entire windows to offer solar power, scientists are crafting alternatives. For instance, New Energy’s technology joins a growing list in the achievements of solar inks and sprays.

Such spray-ons have the potential to lower the cost of installed solar energy, a rate that has been dropping faster than ever.

For solar system costs in your area, click here.

New Energy dubbed their own creation the SolarWindow, which is designed for transparent glass in both commercial and residential buildings.

Federal scientists have been working in agreement with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to create a more efficient prototype, increasing the number of working solar cells that contact the surface area.

Other technologies look to increase the size of the windows and develop less expensive coating materials (the largest window so far is one square foot).

This will all be done through these innovative sprays and films. The University of Texas is working on solar paint that simply sprays onto the surface, while start-ups like Innovalight have engineered a solar ink “tattoo” that can be applied directly to windows.

Recent employment stats show that the private sector is catching up on investment in future solar enterprises. In the meantime, companies with breakthrough technologies have had to rely on the public sector investments to see their ideas through to production.

This is only the same story that has been told for generations: the fossil fuel industry has always relied on the public sector to deliver fuel.

The NREL is an example of an ambitious program to help solar start-ups get up and running, merging private interest with federal support, to help create more green jobs as well as increasingly lower the cost of solar energy.

With the power of the federal government, its money and often its incentives, private laboratory work can get the funding and attention it needs to bring fast-paced innovations and continued solar improvement into the national consciousness, and allow for more affordable and accessible renewable solar energy.

Home solar power is a beautiful thing. An already sound investment, state and federal incentives continue to bring costs down every day. Most homeowners are surprised at what they can save on new systems (and if you’re curious what it would cost you, you can get an estimate here).

But large, utility-scale solar has a lot of growing to do. Many critics of industrial solar argue that costs of manufacturing are still too high for solar energy to compete with coal, nuclear or natural gas on a national level.

University of Michigan researchers, however, may have found an alternative way to harness photonic energy from the sun, and although the technology may not be perfected or deployed for years, it has given environmentalists new hope that clean, reliable energy sources are not so far off.

Professor Stephen Rand described the university’s latest discovery in a recent press release. He explained that the power of magnetic energy may be the key to realizing solar’s full potential. Essentially, they learned that light passing through non-conductive materials creates magnetic fields over 100 million times stronger than previous theories had predicted.

Says Rand, this level of magnetic energy can generate similar power to that of traditional electricity. It is a discovery that could lead to the development of new technology without the need for solar cells, semiconductors or a number of other key components used in today’s solar panels.

The team also cautions that sunlight must focus on these cells at an end intensity of 10 million watts/square centimeter. Sunlight isn’t this intense on its own, but the university and their partners are working on alternative materials that could generate the magnetic energy at lower levels of focus intensity.

It could take years before the tech is fully refined and the new solar cells are deployed in any number, and these cells will most likely be installed first in military facilities, government buildings, and universities before they become available in American homes.

Are solar cells truly an efficient way to replace power lines? Time (and research) will tell.

Photo by Rob Baxter via Flickr

Offshore solar power? The concept may seem a little strange, but an Australian solar power company by the name of Sunengy has not only built a prototype for floating solar panels—they’ve been given the go-ahead in India to build an entire off-shore solar plant.

This one-of-a-kind solar plant has its fair share of advantages over traditional facilities. According to Sunengy, the Liquid Solar Array (LSA) technology offers reduced costs because the panels don’t require the use of pricy supporting structures.

The lenses are also able to track the sun easily throughout the day, and won’t be damaged if submerged underwater. In fact, the water helps cool the cells, which in turn increases cell efficiency and lifespan.

Hydropower currently supplies 87% of the world’s renewable energy, although its availability depends on whether water is available or not.

But according to Phil Connor, Sunengy Executive Director and Chief Technology Officer, this LSA installation would not only match the power offered by a hydro dam using only 10% of its surface area, it could also provide an extra 6-8 hours of power each day.

Sunengy is pairing with India-based Tata Power to get this pilot plant under construction by August of this year. If all goes as planned, they hope to market the technology to hydropower facilities, mining sites, and small villages and communities that rely heavily on diesel power generators.

Perhaps one of the largest upsides to the LSA technology is that finding open land to build on is no longer an issue. That will undoubtedly spark much interest in the future.

The people behind the technology are Highview Power Storage engineers, and thanks to their know-how, storing energy from a utility-scale solar energy system or wind farm may be as simple as converting that energy into liquid air.

At least, that is what their pilot project aims to do. Under the name cryo-energy systems, it also explains itself without much need for detail. That is, Highview engineers use excess energy from renewable resources to run cooling units that bring the temperature of air down to -320.8 Fahrenheit (-190 Celsius).

At that temperature, air is a liquid and can be stored in tanks just like propane, though a lot more safely. When it’s time to use the energy, the highly cooled liquid air is heated and allowed to expand into a gas again. This steam-like gas is then used to drive turbines connected to generators.

The pilot is currently operating at Scotland’s Slough Heat & Power and proving its viability. Not only is it four times cheaper than battery storage (at $1,000 per kilowatt (kW), as compared to $4,000 for 1 kW of battery storage), but it has reached the stage where a 3.5-megawatt (MW) utility-scale plant is expected to be up and running late in 2012, and expanded up to 10 MW less than two years after.

Not only is the system environmentally sound, delivering zero harmful emissions, but it is portable—simply pick up (or load) a tank of liquid air and go. The single drawback, the expense and difficulties involved in keeping the air below -190 Celsius, is one that science and engineering should be ready to solve. The ultimate goal, an efficiency rating of 70 percent, appears eminently doable, according to company spokespeople.

For more information on the technology and timeline, visit Highview Power Storage.

The material is Aerogel, otherwise known as “frozen smoke,” and despite its out-of-this-world appearance, the real world applications are endless.

Aerogel is considered one of the world’s lightest solids and is made from multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) that are each incredibly thin—several thousand times thinner than human hair.

While other scientists have managed to make batteries out of everything from coffee to water, Associate Professor Lei Zhai and Postdoctoral Associate Jianhua Zou have turned to Aerogel for its unsurpassed energy storage for capacitors and batteries.

Part of the Aerogel’s appeal is the fact that its carbon nanotube structure allows it to detect incredibly small changes in both pressure and temperature.

It’s so effective, in fact, scientists are considering using it in super-capacitors, which could increase the amount of renewable energy they are able to store in solar installations and wind farms.

Next up on their list of real-world applications to explore: robotic surgery. That’s right, scientists hope that Aerogel’s temperature and pressure-sensitive nature are perfect for creating robotic fingers capable of performing various surgeries. Clearly, the future is upon us.

The name of the company is Transphorm, and since its inception in 2007 it has been busy transforming the very nature of energy.

No bumps on solar cells, no cars that run on jellied jellyfish. Transphorm, emerging at the head of the class after three years of sitting in the back row, has discovered a technology that could ultimately capture some of the power lost in converting from alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC).

This is done by your regional electric utility, which transmits electricity in DC and delivers power to the plug-ins in your home as AC. Why? It’s cheaper, for one thing. It’s also safer, and the amount of power lost to heat during transmission is minimal.

Even so, there is always some loss, and this is the problem Transphorm aims to solve. Because, if it could, it would salvage one-tenth of the power the entire world uses (which is, not coincidentally, almost the same amount as is lost in the conversion process by inefficient transformers, rectifiers, voltage regulators, etc.).

According to the Energy Information Agency, or EIA, the world used 495 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) in 2007. Accounting for inflation of about 7 percent per year, that means that, in 2011, our Pale Blue Dot (thanks, Carl Sagan) is on schedule to use 523 quadrillion Btus. Ten percent of that is 52 Btus, or as much coal as all of China, India, Indonesia and other non-OECD Asian countries used in 2003.

Debuting Feb. 23 at a media event at Google’s Mountain View HQ, the Goleta, California-based power conversion wizard has raised $38 million in venture capital, $20 million from Google’s VC arm alone.

The funding will allow it to improve and market highly efficient power conversion devices (starting with an energy symposium in Texas in March). The plan is to tackle data centers and the EV and hybrid vehicle market first, then expand to the electric utility, solar panel, and other relevant venues later.

Increasing energy efficiency is one of the best ways of achieving that  “green energy” economy we all want and need. Waste not, want not, as my mother used to say, and this particular waste-not strategy benefits not only large power users (factories and control centers, for example) but also the smallest user, which means you and I. This is because the cost of lost power is built into the cost per kilowatt-hour charged by the utility.

Transphorm’s secret weapon? Gallium nitride, a material that has to be fabricated, making it initially more expensive but consistently more efficient than silicon. It is, according to CEO Umesh Mishra, “a miracle material.”

Photo Credit: Dave Matheson via Flickr CC

Our heavy reliance on oil and coal in the U.S. is proof that old habits die hard. But with new technology on the horizon for solar power, this would be as good a time as any to move on to greener pastures.

HyperSolar, a company located right here in our own backyard, may not manufacture solar panels, but they know a thing or two about how they work—and their goal is to make them better.

Using photonics, HyperSolar developed a film designed to move specific light spectrums exactly where they’re needed most to increase solar panel efficiency. By how much? A monumental 300%.

This new technology could cut the cost of solar panel installations in half, while simultaneously making it faster and easier to get a return on investment.

In addition, it could put the United States back on track to being a leader in the renewable energy game.

Solar power installations are expected to increase from 16 gigawatts to 1,800 gigawatts globally over the next 20 years, and it’s about time we jump on the bandwagon.

The U.S. must lead the way toward 100% renewable power by 2030 (or sooner).

Photo Credit: OregonDOT via Flickr CC

One way to make solar panels available to the masses is to find a way to significantly drop the price. That was the goal behind research conducted by scientists at the University of Oxford.

Their results may surprise you.

Using a great deal of ingenuity, the team found their solution in a metal oxide commonly found in toothpaste. Combining this ingredient with a dye and imprinting it onto glass, an instant solar cell is made.

Equally exciting is the fact that the glass can be produced in a variety of colors, broadening possibilities for architects, building designers and solar contractors alike.

While it may be a while before this particular product hits the market, researchers are convinced it could be the cost-effective solution many people are waiting for.

And with solar panels that are both cheap to produce and aesthetically pleasing, science can once and for all dispel the belief that solar is anything but.

Now that’s something worth looking forward to.

Photo Credit: Bradley Johnson via Flickr CC

A team at Stanford University has made a new discovery in solar power: a lower-cost generation of “plasmonic” solar cells that may actually compete with top silicon panels on the market. The means to this breakthrough, oddly enough, was what engineers are calling a solar “waffle iron.”

Think of it, the author suggests, as a nanoscale waffle, but the bumps (also called nanodomes) are round instead of square, and measure at the nanoscale level – that is, 100 nanometers or less. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter.

Equally as unique is the deposition process for this ultra-thin-film, which begins with a thin layer of titania, a semi-porous, transparent metal. This layer gets “cooked” (i.e. imprinted) with an engineering version of a waffle iron until the microscopic bumps are in place.

Then comes a deposition layer of light-sensitive dye. Last, the engineers add a layer of silver, which sets up very quickly.

The ultimate effect of all this, thanks to the silver layer, is photons trapped in the dye layer generating energy. More important are the unabsorbed photons hitting the nanoscale bumps and creating plasmonic waves.

What are the value of these waves? Combining the inherent plasmonic properties of nanoparticles with thin-film photovoltaic technology promises a new generation of solar cells (plasmonic solar cells) that perform as well as silicon solar cells but in more applications and at a fraction of the cost.

Of  course, scientists have been delving into the nature of solar plasmonics for several years, but the hope – of reducing the cost of solar panels to such a point that the technology becomes ubiquitous – keeps everyone asking questions, and eventually the right answer will come along.

Photo by Michael McGehee

Because solar cell efficiency is the Holy Grail of solar energy researchers, finding a solar cell that takes in light from the entire spectrum and converts it to energy is a quest undertaken by many.

One team, from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, have reportedly found their Grail, in a new, high-efficiency solar cell that responds to sunlight’s full range of illumination, from infra-red through ultraviolet.

Not only is it highly receptive to the full spectrum of light, reports Wladek Walukiewicz, head of the Solar Energy Material Sciences Division (MSD) of Berkeley Lab, but it can also be easily made using a manufacturing technique common to the semiconductor industry which produces products at lower costs.

Berkeley Lab, one of 21 U.S. laboratories operating under the wing of the Department of Energy, is one of the premier labs in the nation, with 57 scientists also members of the National Academy of Sciences. Eighteen engineers hold membership in the prestigious National Academy of Engineering, and 13 scientists have won the National Medal of Science, proving that Berkeley Lab is some serious science!

The manufacturing process that allows for this amazing capacity across the solar spectrum is, according to Walukiewicz and partner Kin Man Yu, altering the amounts of indium and gallium in the same alloy. The result of this is that each different mixture became a different type of semiconductor. Stacking several of these layers, all closely matched but with a variable indium content, produced a photovoltaic device that was sensitive to the full solar spectrum.

Repeating the process with gallium arsenide nitride, and replacing some of the arsenic atoms with nitrogen, a third type of semiconductor responding to a different band gap was made. The best part of this discovery was realizing that the alloy could be made via metalorganic chemical vapor depositions (MOCVD), one of the most common methods used to manufacture semiconductors.

With this latter discovery, scientists were able to capture “virtually the entire solar spectrum.”

This has to be the best solar news of the year, and 2011 is barely begun!

Photo Credit: OregonDOT via Flickr CC