In the last 20 years, technologies in the field of collecting solar energy and using it for domestic purposes have advanced significantly. Traveling more and more often we see “landed“ on the roofs of houses solar panels, along with wind blades located in the fields.
In the past year, more than 440 gigawatts of renewable energy were produced by solar panels, according to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The tendency is for this method of energy production to be maximally integrated into urban conditions. One of these ways is solar windows. They involve embedding transparent solar cell panels in windows to capture the energy provided by the light spectrum while allowing light to pass through the window. Solar windows are based on Grätzel solar cells or dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC). Made of a semiconductor, it is capable of generating a cyclic electric current by trapping light through an organic dye.
The advantages of solar windows are that they are completely identical in size to standard windows. They are easy to install and can also be adapted to all types of infrastructure.
Last but not least, solar windows have a high degree of heat and sound insulation properties than standard windows.
The main reason why these windows have not been widely used so far is the lower efficiency compared to conventional solar panels due to their translucent nature, with an efficiency factor of less than 10% compared to solar panels, which average around 20 %. The good news is that this problem is being worked hard on.
You can see detailed statistics on average property prices in Bulgaria by cities and neighborhoods HERE