ClearPower solar windows can transform the built environment – CleanTechnica

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Jim Paul is what many would call a serial entrepreneur. He says his areas of expertise and accomplishments include structuring and closing deals, formulating competitive strategies and successfully executing start-ups with limited resources. He has combined his engineering background with a lifetime of experience in the energy and renewable energy markets to lead several start-ups from concept stage to commercial viability. His latest endeavor involves perfecting ClearPower solar windows and successfully bringing them to market.

A resident of Andover, Massachusetts, Paul began experimenting with solar windows, otherwise known as PV or photovoltaic windows, in 2006. Today, the technology he helped create is being validated by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The first results of that testing are in, and they’re everything he and his team hoped they would be.

Solar windows are a disadvantageous type. There are millions and millions of square meters of windows in the world. What if, in addition to allowing us to see the world outside, they could also generate electricity for our homes and office buildings, electricity that could be consumed right where it’s generated? It can help run our air conditioners and heating devices, power our elevators or cook our food and make us less dependent on the grid. All this electricity would also be 100% emission-free – an added bonus for a world facing the challenge of rising average temperatures.

In a way, solar windows are similar to the idea of ​​using batteries in electric cars to help power our homes. If managed properly, all those batteries can be combined into virtual power plants that absorb excess electrons when parked and return them when needed. They can help utility companies balance supply and demand so that there is enough energy to meet people’s needs without building expensive new generating stations or long-distance transmission lines. Solar windows and vehicle-to-home technology can help democratize electricity so we have more control over our energy use while reducing the burden we place on the planet when we generate electricity by burning fossil fuels.

Solar Windows and Economy

So far, solar windows have a serious drawback. They barely produce enough electricity to pay for themselves. They tend to be like early solar panels, with an energy efficiency of 2% or less – sometimes much less. They have another problem. They tend to block the view, which rather defeats the purpose of having windows in the first place. Jim Paul has a different idea. What if the solar modules on the windows were oriented horizontally instead of vertically? And what if this allowed them to receive electrons from sunlight reflected up from below as well as directly from above?

To add a little more goodness to the package, what if they could block out some of the sunlight in the warmer months when the sun is high, but allow more into the interior spaces during the colder months when it would be welcome some solar heating? Heating and air conditioning costs are a major concern for all building owners. ClearPower windows can help control these costs while generating electricity.

ClearPower’s innovative design features dual, crystalline silicon solar cells sandwiched between two panes of an insulated glass window. The horizontal orientation of the cell makes the solar cells look like small Venetian blinds that are always open. When viewed from a few meters away, they practically disappear from view. These are the same cells used in over 90% of solar panels, so their durability and performance has been proven over decades of commercial use.

As mentioned, Jim Paul began experimenting with his ideas on how to make energy-efficient solar windows in 2006. Today, his company, ClearPower, is producing a small number of custom windows for early adopter customers. new technology, while validation work from NREL is underway. Data from the lab will be vital in convincing others to consider ClearPower solar windows for new construction and replacing existing windows in the built environment.

When technology changes like this happen, people often say they’re an overnight sensation, but it takes years of hard work before new ideas gain traction. Jim Paul is using his years of experience in the business world and the industry contacts he has made throughout his career to move the process forward. NREL validation testing won’t be completed until this fall, but already the data is very promising. The test panel – the small frame on the left in the photo above – is outperforming the Kyocera solar panel on the right. Here is a graph showing the observed score of both during the most recent testing.

Solar gain management

The company says its ClearPower window not only produces energy with an efficiency and power density comparable to PV modules, but also provides solar heat gain control to reduce air conditioning and heating costs. It uses multi-pane insulated glass window encapsulation and is of low-cost construction, meaning the cost of ClearPower windows is much lower than other BIPV technologies. The result is a fully transparent, powerful BIPV window that annually harvests 68 to 75% of the energy of conventional high-efficiency PV modules in the same orientation. Having the economic benefit of both electricity produced by PV and reduced heating and cooling loads, the payback is short enough to make widespread adoption affordable.

In an email to CleanTechnica, Jim Paul expressed his delight that his creation is finally almost ready for full-scale commercial production. It’s been a long process, but the stars seem to have aligned in his favor. Greenhouse gas emissions from buildings exceed those from the transport sector, making the need to decarbonise the built environment even more urgent. He believes he and his company have the right technology at the right time to help building owners comply with the stricter building codes and low-carbon initiatives put in place by many municipalities in America and around the world.

He made it clear that ClearPower solar windows produce up to five times more electricity than their nearest competitors, placing them at the forefront of bifacial PV window technology. The ability to help control heating and cooling costs is an important added benefit that other PV window companies cannot afford.

Takeaway

Every once in a while, an idea comes along that is so timely, we wonder why no one thought of it sooner. The way forward for Jim Paul and his ClearPower solar windows is one such idea. It might not have excited people back in 2006 when Paul first started working on the initial concepts, but a lot has changed since then and it seems his company is now at that tipping point, that sweet spot, for having the best technology available just when we need it most.