Asahi Glass and Ubiquitous Energy Partner on Transparent Solar Glass
AGC Asahi Glass, the world's largest producer of flat glass, has entered into a strategic development agreement with Ubiquitous Energy. The collaboration will focus on the development of Ubiquitous Energy's transparent and color neutral solar coating to create windows that produce electricity.
Ubiquitous Energy's transparent solar coating, ClearView Power™, selectively absorbs and converts non-visible light (ultraviolet and infrared) to electricity while transmitting visible light. Additionally, ClearView Power™ doubles as a solar control coating in addition to its electricity generation by blocking infrared light that is commonly known as solar heat.
The transparent solar coating can be applied to vertical surfaces of buildings, turning traditional windows into highly energy efficient and electricity generating windows that are aesthetically pleasing and acceptable to architects, designers, and occupants.
Applied directly to glass using standard glass coating equipment, ClearView Power™ is a highly transparent, color neutral coating. Using standard thin film coating equipment will enable leveraging of the more than 8 billion square meter per year annual global glass production capacity. This novel and patent protected technology will provide a truly transparent energy harvesting solution to the building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) market enabling zero net energy buildings and beyond.
"As world leader in glass and glass coatings, AGC is an ideal partner for us. Their experience in bringing advanced glass and BIPV technologies to the market will help us accelerate the development and commercialization of our transparent solar technology," said Ubiquitous Energy Founder and CEO, Miles Barr. "The architectural glass market has shown great interest in adopting our technology to enable next-generation transparent, power-producing windows."
"We have been watching Ubiquitous Energy since its beginning and believe that this collaboration will fit in perfectly with our strategy of providing the best environmentally friendly glass solutions," said Marc Van Den Neste, CTO, Building & Industrial Company of AGC. "By creating aesthetically pleasing, transparent, power-producing glass, we will equip designers and architects with a BIPV solution that is beautiful and seamlessly integrated."
Masatoshi Ueno, AGC Ventures, a corporate venturing arm of Asahi Glass, added: "We are thrilled by supporting Ubiquitous Energy as a partner as it opens up new horizons for making the best environmental use of façades."
Clearview Power™ technology summary:
- Invisible: up to 90% visible light transmitted; absorbs only ultraviolet and infrared
- Efficient: over 10% achievable; optimization is independent of transparency
- Low cost: low-cost, non-toxic materials; industry standard deposition equipment
- Thin and light: film is less than 1/1000th of a millimeter thick
- Ubiquitous: ClearView Power™ can generate electricity on any surface or device without aesthetic impact
Ubiquitous Energy has redesigned the solar cell to selectively transmit light visible to the human eye while absorbing only the ultraviolet and infrared light and converting it into electricity. This makes ClearView Power™ technology the first truly transparent solar technology, allowing any surface to convert ambient light into useful electricity without impacting the way it looks. Two thirds of the light available for energy harvesting is in the ultraviolet and the infrared, leading to practical efficiencies over 10% while maintaining up to 90% visible transparency.
