Could there days be numbered ?
Love the cost benefit, not keen on the appearance – Solar Panels you now see them everywhere and as they are both saving the individual owner money and assisting the nation fill its energy gap it is very hard to put up an argument against the ones that seem to have sprung up on houses all over the UK.
The fields of solar panels – are something else but again in the correct setting and creating energy for us all they are hard to argue against.
This however is a situation that could be rapidly about to change if the efforts of researchers in Michigan USA come to fruition – they are currently developing a fully transparent solar concentrator, which could turn any window or sheet of glass into a photovoltaic solar cell. They claim that this is the first such solar concentrator that is really transparent, and the team is confident the transparent solar panels can be efficiently deployed in a wide range of settings, from “tall buildings with lots of windows or any kind of mobile device that demands high aesthetic quality like a phone or e-reader.” They claim that this fully transparent solar cell could make every window and screen a power source and if they are proved to be correct the Solar Panel as we currently know it could have a very short life span.
The impact of this discovery could even ultimately affect such as ourselves here at Timber Composite Doors – composite doors have excellent “U”values (the method by which the insulation qualities are measured) however where a glazed panel is an integral part of in any new composite door this is normally considered the most vulnerable to heat loss the larger the panel the greater the risk which is why we currently offer energy efficient glass as standard with a thermal upgrade to include argon filling of all double glazed units and warm seal glazing bars to minimise any such loss.
When this new technology eventually comes to fruition a door such as “The Beeston” which because of its large glazed area has always been susceptible to heat loss may suddenly become the door of choice to boost the heat within your home.
If and or when this technology arrives in the UK all GFD Group which includes Timber Composite Door will be one of the first to take on board the benefits of any changes and quickly pass them on to our customers.