I am writing this post to keep
encouraging us environmentalists (this includes one who has passion to make
planet Earth as habitable as it is meant to be) to keep pushing for green
technologies to restore the natural environment to a clean and balanced one.
This post tells the story about an advancement in a technology for harnessing
and application of solar energy. The
ascendancy in the use of solar energy implies a proportionate shift in the use
of and dependence on fossil fuel, the use of which has contributed to the
buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, for example. This new technology
is indeed a game changer.
This technology is a window in a building
which can trap energy from the sun for use by the building. Solar panels are
placed on the roof of houses to draw energy from the sun. With this new
technology it is an integral part of the house. But the window is not an
ordinary window. The technical name for the window is photovoltaic window. Photovoltaic
is the direct conversion of sunlight into electricity through semiconductors.
The window contains elements of efficient luminescent solar concentrators
(LSC). The LSC traps the solar energy. When light shines through the LSC it gathers
and deposits the light at its edge where solar cells are placed to capture the
energy. The LSC is embedded with silicon nanoparticles. Silicon is a chemical
element which can be found in dust, sand etc. In terms of measurement nanometer
is one billionth of a meter. So a nanoparticle is a particle that tiny. Silicon
nanoparticle is therefore silicon that is one billionth of a meter. The silicon
nanoparticle discharges the light without reabsorbing the light it discharges.
The invention of this technology is a
collaboration between University of Minnesota College of Science and
Engineering, USA and LSC researchers in Italy.
SO WHY SOLAR ENERGY AT ALL?
ABUNDANCE OF SUNLIGHT
Sunlight from which solar energy is derived
is available always and in abundance in many parts of the world. Sunlight is
the most abundant source of day time radiation. Sunlight could be used over and
over again. It is renewable and sustainable.
DEPLETION OF TRADITIONAL
ENERGY RESOURCES
Sources of energy like biomass and
fossil fuel are depletable, and are depleting at a fast rate. The use of wood
as a source of energy implies the cutting of trees, over time, resulting in
desertification. Cutting through rain forests, as is happening to the Amazon
forest, apart from depleting such forests it is also causing dislocation and
loss of habitats.
POLLUTION
Biomass and fossil fuel leave in their
trails pollution and degradation of the natural environment from extraction
through processing to usage, every stage of the way. One obvious manifestation
in this regard is the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
ENDANGERMENT AND LOSS OF
SPECIES
When a resource is extracted from the
belly of the earth for the generation of electricity many things happen. A clog
of earth contains a community of microbial. An extraction here, an extraction
there leaves little space for the survival of such life forms. This is just an
example.
DESTRUCTION OF ECOSYSTEMS
I have just mentioned that rain
forests are being cut up. The rain forests are the last frontier for the Earth’s
depot of vegetation. The infiltration of the rain forests to extract coal to
meet the energy needs of man compromises the ecosystem. It disrupts how
organisms relate to the natural environment, in some cases permanently, leading
to loss of species.
WHY PHOTOVOLTAIC WINDOW?
- Silicon needed to make silicon nanoparticles for the window is abundant.
- Silicon is nontoxic, unlike other materials in use (cadmium/ lead).
- The photovoltaic window becomes an integral part of the building as is a normal window.
PARTING SHOT
To restore the natural environment to a clean and balanced one, aggressive
research is ongoing to come up with innovative and cutting edge technologies to
push the restoration drive. One such technology is the photovoltaic window. The
introduction and application of this new technology means a further shift away
from dependence on traditional sources of power generation and usage which has
resulted in the degradation and pollution of the natural environment.
Take electricity generation by coal for example. From the
extraction of the coal to its use to generate electricity is fraught with
environmental problems. In extracting coal from the ground ecology is
destroyed. Plants will be cut down and habitats lost. The cutting down of trees
contribute to desertification. Trees play an important part in the carbon
dioxide cycle. Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the process
of photosynthesis. When trees are lost without consideration to the balance
factor it is not only desertification that will occur, as is occurring, carbon
dioxide will also continue to build up in the atmosphere, aggravating global
warming.
Invention of photovoltaic windows should be a boost and welcome
news to those of us who think that it is the duty man to keep the natural
environment clean and balanced through sustainable lifestyles. The chief
executive officer of an oil company with the mandate of the company goes out to
extract oil, leaving in his trail destroyed environment- uprooted and lost
habitats of microbial for example. Go to that same chief executive officer’s
home and see how sustainably plush, clean and orderly it is. People like the
chief executive officer should and ought to use the examples in their homes to
prompt awareness in themselves for the push for restoration and sustainability
of a clean and balanced natural environment.
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