Technology gives windows a solar edge

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a technology that transforms a pane of glass into a solar concentrator that can gather light over its entire surface and conduct that light to solar cells along its edges. Employing dyes that trap wavelengths of light inside the pane, the technology can increase the power from solar cells by 40 times, according to the MIT team. Moreover, the technology is simple to manufacture, leading to significant cost savings over current concentrators, which involve mirrors that mechanically track the sun’s motion.

A spin-off company, Covalent Solar, hopes to commercialize the technology within three years.