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Photovoltaics Light and Energy

Photovoltaics Technology
DIY kits
Photovoltaic projects/ products
Photovoltaics Links

Related projects, DigitalDawn & TallTrees

"The sun that reaches the Earth's surface delivers 10,000 times more energy than we consume," said Ted Sargent, an electrical and computer engineering professor at the University of Toronto. Sargent is one of the inventors of the new plastic material.

"If we could cover 0.1 percent of the Earth's surface with [very efficient] large-area solar cells," he said, "we could in principle replace all of our energy habits with a source of power which is clean and renewable."

Ted Sargent

The supply of power and energy consumption is an important issue in this research as many of the proposals created for the practical work rely on the supply of electricity.

The lighting industry uses 20-30% of the UK’s electricity and only 25% of this is fully utilised in the most efficient lighting systems. If LEPs and other flat display technologies were to replace today’s illumination then one of the advantages would be improved energy efficiency with substantial savings through eliminating heat loss.Significant developments within this industry have already been implemented with the developments of energy saving light bulbs and designers and architects working to create energy efficient lighting systems.

One of the most exciting discoveries in this research is the realisation that the LEPs can also be used as a photovoltaic cell. The organic semi-conducting polymer, poly phenylene vinylene (PPV), forms the active layer in many of the LEP devices and by varying the chemical composition of the PPV polymer changes its physical and electro-optical properties. They are easy to manufacture as they are assembled in solution and can be ink jet printed. As solar cells can be created from the same polymer as the LEP technology a new and exciting design potential has opened up with a kind of poetic justice; taking power from the sun, saving it and re-emitting light when needed. The use of the suns light to generate an illumination when necessary celebrates our relationship with nature and offers an energy saving alternative

Photovoltaics Technology

DIY kits

http://www.scitoys.com/scitoys/scitoys/echem/echem2.html#solarcell

Photovoltaic projects/ products

Xsunx

http://www.xsunx.com/tech-power.htm

Xsunx has focused on the development of very thin semi-transparent coatings and films that create large area monolithic solar cell structures that you can see through. This semi-transparency makes Power Glass™ glazing desirable for placing over glass, plastics, and other see-through structures. Using patented processes, such as reel-to-reel manufacturing techniques and multi-terminal cell structure designs, we are working to commercialize large area cell manufacturing processes for thin film flexible plastics.

portablelight

http://www.caup.umich.edu/portablelight/

from: http://www.mee.tcd.ie/~moriwaki/personaldebris//index.php?p=319&c=1

http://www.iowathinfilm.com/products/rollableseries/index.html

Power Film® integrated solar panels (thin film on plastic) are developed and manufactured with a proprietary roll-to-roll process, by Iowa Thin Film Technologies

Sharp - Lumiwall

http://www.solarbuzz.com/News/NewsASPT26.htm

flexcell

http://www.flexcell.com/

Desert Seal

Desert Seal is an inflatable tent for use in extreme environments. It was designed as a result of a study on the use of inflatable technologies in hot and extreme environments carried out for the European Space Agency¿s Technology Transfer Programme.

http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Space_Concepts_Improve_Life_In_The_Desert.html