Facade systems of colored glass, from a distance indistinguishable from the design elements of the building, cover the whole building with solar panels and are not much more expensive than traditional analogues, writes Electrek.
Every year, high-tech architecture finds more and more effective ways of using solar energy. And the manufacturers of solar panels offer new design solutions that turn them from a bulky construction on the roof into a building decoration element.
Emirates Insolaire Company presented Kromatix colored solar panels from photovoltaic glass.
“The new material is much more beautiful than what is traditionally used for solar panels. They are very easy to install, and they produce energy, rather than absorb it. At the same time, they do not cost more than their “ugly” counterparts and pay off very quickly, “explained Managing Partner of the company Rafik Khanbali.
From afar the color panels are completely indistinguishable from the facing tiles of the building. And only near, at a certain angle, one can consider that in fact these are solar cells. The companies Avancis, Solibro and SunPower have already started using Emirates Insolaire colored glass in their own production.
Color glass can be integrated into almost any solar panel. The Emirates Insolaire website has a detailed table that takes into account the specificity of all batteries and indicates how much their effectiveness decreases depending on the chosen color of the glass (on average this is 10-15%).
“A very interesting effect can be observed in the example of the International School of Copenhagen, all the walls of which are covered with colored photoelectric modules made of crystalline silicon. The building stands on the beach, but in reflection we can only see its windows. Panels on the walls completely absorb light, leaving no glare on the water, “said Hanbali.
It seems that Emirates Insolaire managed to find the perfect balance between aesthetics, price and efficiency. The cost of materials $ 50-70 per square meter, that is, in the finished form, one solar panel will cost $ 81-94. For an average household, there is enough power of 330 watts, which means that electricity will cost 24-28 ¢ / W. In the US, the installation of color panels with a capacity of 5.5 kW will pay off in about 1.5 years. In this case, if the color glass becomes truly popular and the manufacturer receives orders more than 1 GW, the cost of materials will become even lower.
However, buyers are ready even to overpay for the appearance of solar panels. This is evidenced by the popularity of solar tile Tesla. It costs several tens of thousands of dollars, but the company gives an “eternal” guarantee “- the solar roof will produce electricity for 30 years, and as a roof will serve, as the company claims, for ages.
