In November 2013, EBR nominated four innovations for the award including New Energy Technologies’ SolarWindow, Quarry Battery’s pumped storage batteries, Honeywell’s Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat with Voice Control, and WAVALUE’s High Added Value Ecofertilizers from Anaerobic Digestion Effluent Wastes.
SolarWindow allows electricity generation from see-through windows or glass surfaces that are sprayed with the company’s coatings.
These patented coatings generate electricity from both natural sunlight and artificial light sources including fluorescent and LED lighting, thereby outperforming the current commercial solar and thin-film technologies.
Sprayed on glass at room temperature, the technology can be used to produce electricity through aircraft windows and fuselage, pilot flight suits, helmets, and visors.
The coatings measure less than 1/10th the thickness of ‘thin’ films, making them lightweight and flexible and thus ideal for use on moving and non-planar surfaces.
The company claims that 42 patent applications are pending for this technology.
New Energy Technologies is also developing electricity-generating coatings for commercial and military aircraft applications.
Image: SolarWindow coating is applied on glass surfaces to generate electricity from natural and artificial sources of light. Photo courtesy of New Energy Technologies
