Get the light, beat the heat: Researchers develop new infrared coating for windows

[Bosonic]

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have unveiled a semiconductor nanocrystal coating material capable of controlling heat from the sun while remaining transparent. Based on electrochromic materials, which use a jolt of electric charge to tint a clear window, this breakthrough technology is the first to selectively control the amount of near infrared radiation. This radiation, which leads to heating, passes through the film without affecting its visible transmittance. Such a dynamic system could add a critical energy-saving dimension to "smart window" coatings.

“To have a transparent electrochromic material that can change its transmittance in the infrared portion of sunlight is completely unprecedented,” says Delia Milliron, director of the Inorganic Nanostructures Facility with Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry, who led this research. “What’s more, the coloration efficiency of our material—a figure of merit describing the amount of current needed to make this thing go—is substantially higher than standard electrochromic materials, which means it’s also very efficient.”

Dynamic window coatings could translate into significant energy savings in buildings, which account for more than 40 percent of carbon emissions in the United States. According to studies conducted at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, smart window coatings could offset the use of climate control and illumination systems by up to 49 percent for air conditioning and 51 percent for lighting.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-09-infrared-coating-windows.html

[hlthe2b]

1. How cool!

I love sunshine, but have to darken my home like a cave in the summertime. This would be wonderful.

[Name removed]

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[elocs]

2. I live in Wisconsin and in the winter I love the free heat that comes through my windows.

In the summer the sun is so high in the sky that not much of it come directly through my windows.

One size does not always fit all.

[Bosonic]

3. I'm assuming the glass could be reversible

i.e. installed such that infrared is blocked from leaving building in colder locations (whilst allowing it into building).

[toddwv]

5. Requires a jolt of electricity to activate -- electrochromic

Seems like a win for just about everybody.



"Dynamic window coatings could translate into significant energy savings in buildings, which account for more than 40 percent of carbon emissions in the United States. According to studies conducted at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, smart window coatings could offset the use of climate control and illumination systems by up to 49 percent for air conditioning and 51 percent for lighting."

[raccoon]

4. Can they keep cars from getting so durn hot? nt

[MADem]

6. Now this is a big deal!!! How nice that we came up with it!!! NT