Solar & Tinted Glass - Future Window Cleaning Income?

Electronically Tintable Window Glass Draws $103 Million U.S. Investment: Energy-efficiency experts agree: Before buying or leasing a solar-electric system, consumers who take steps to save energy at their homes or businesses stand to reap the highest returns on their investments. Measures such as switching from incandescent lights to compact-fluorescent bulbs, caulking to stem air leaks, adding insulation and buying high-efficiency appliances may be less enthralling than investing in an elegant new technology like solar photovoltaics, but are known to be effective at saving money.

In addition to devoting resources to new energy-production technologies, the United States is investing in efficiency as well – far beyond urging people to change their light bulbs. In Minnesota, a company called SAGE Electrochromics has been awarded a conditional loan guarantee of $72 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, plus a $31 million tax credit, to develop innovative window glass that the company and government experts believe has the potential to reduce energy costs on a large scale. The $103 million will help SAGE establish a new manufacturing facility for electronically tintable glass that can change from a clear state to a tinted condition at the push of a button.

By controlling the amount of sunlight entering a building, the company expects that its approach will yield significant savings on air-conditioning, heating and lighting costs. Research by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory suggests that electrochromic glazing could reduce heating and air-conditioning requirements as much as 25 percent. Widespread use could cut the country's energy budget as much as 5 percent, researchers estimate. The company said it will use the funding assistance to build a high-volume manufacturing plant next to its headquarters in Faribault, Minn., to ramp up production for commercial, institutional and residential applications.

The project is expected to result in the addition of about 160 full-time jobs to the company's existing work force of about 100. In addition, at least 200 construction jobs will be created. Groundbreaking is scheduled for the summer of 2010, with shipments of glass from the new plant to begin in the latter part of 2011. "Our technology is a game-changer for the building industry," said John Van Dine, SAGE's founder and chief executive, in a news release. "With this funding, SAGE will now have the scale and capacity to bring this remarkable technology to the market in high volume. These revolutionary windows will have a significant impact on reducing the nation's energy consumption."

TROY, N.Y. - Cityscapes of glass-clad buildings gleaming in the sun make Anna Dyson think about wasted energy. Dyson heads the Center for Architecture Science and Ecology, or CASE, a research consortium that wants to turn office windows into multifaceted solar power generators. Their "integrated concentrating dynamic solar facade" consists of grids of clear pyramids that help focus the sun's rays to generate energy. It would essentially make buildings look as if they were draped in giant jeweled curtains. Photo above shows researchers Kristin Malone, left, Bess Krietemeyer, and Ryan Salvas, right, look through the Helioptix window units installed in Syracuse, N.Y.

"The reason we're interested in windows is because they have the largest surface areas, typically, in buildings — especially in tall, urban buildings," said Dyson, a professor of architecture at RPI. "We have a lot of vertical surface area to work with to really generate a lot of power." In contrast to typical flat solar panels, CASE's system is designed to do several things.

Each clear pyramid — with facets less than a foot square — has a lens to focus sunlight onto a tiny solar cell. The concentrated cells are designed to be more efficient in generating energy than traditional cells. And the pyramid modules rotate to track the sun. Pumped water keeps the solar cells cool to maximize efficiency. The cooling water also "captures" that waste heat for other uses, such as hot water or radiant heat for the building.

The pattern of pyramids also would deflect and diffuse the sun's rays, meaning office workers with eastern exposures could work in natural light all morning instead of drawing the blinds against the glare. Windows will still provide a view, albeit one obstructed a bit where the patterns of pyramids are placed. The technology behind concentrating the sun's energy through a lens is not new, nor is the concept of placing solar cells on the side of a building. But the integration of all these ideas to perform multiple tasks in this way is novel.

Dyson notes that a building's biggest energy suckers are usually cooling, heating and lighting. This system would tackle all three, whether it's extracting maximum solar power in New York City or deflecting and diffusing sunlight in Phoenix. Jason Vollen, an RPI architecture professor at CASE, said their integrated system squeezes every bit of usability out of the system. The system has already been tested on an RPI rooftop. Now, a prototype has been built into the facade of the Syracuse headquarters of the Center of Excellence in Environmental & Energy Systems, a public-private research partnership devoted to sustainability research.

The prototype, one of many green features of the state-of-the-art building, is an 8-by-8-foot panel and will become fully operational sometime after the building is dedicated Friday. A second, portable prototype will be generating energy earlier. Syracuse — where the winters can be long, snowy and gray — might not seem the best place to try out a new system to generate solar power, but Vollen said it will be a good test in "less than optimal solar climates."

Vollen believes the system can catch on in the fast-growing market for "green building" and energy efficiency systems. He said the system would be especially suitable for older buildings undergoing retrofits, which is expected to be a growth market. McGraw-Hill Construction projected last year that the market for major green retrofit projects could more than triple by 2014 to up to $15.1 billion.

The solar system is included in construction documents for a high-profile construction project being planned for the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, according to Jonathan Maille, a director of HeliOptix, which is licensed to market the system. Maille said it's being considered for other projects as well. Dyson did not provide a price, though the complex system will cost more than planting some photovoltaic cells on the roof. But she clams the payback time is sooner.

Still, one veteran solar energy consultant not involved in the project said that while he likes the concept, users should be ready for the potential for costs down the road. Peter Talmage, now a professor of renewable energy at Greenfield Community College in Massachusetts, said whatever the limits of traditional solar panels, they require only minimal maintenance needs. He noted that this system is far more complicated. "You have to throw in a good chunk for operation and maintenance costs," Talmage said.