Solar cells have been around since the 1950s. But now there is a race to develop transparent solar cell that can cover windows of buildings and still capture the sun’s light for electricity. There are three kinds of light that reach our planet from the sun. They are ultraviolet light, or UV, visible light, and infrared light. Together they make up what is called the solar spectrum. Troy Townsend is a solar cell researcher at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. He says working with the transparent solar technology for windows means you cut the efficiency in half. That is because you are letting visible lightlight you can seepass through the solar cells instead of capturing and using that light to make electricity. That leaves only light from the ultraviolet and infrared parts of the light spectrum to make electricity.
Title: Large Windows Could Capture Solar Energy
Content: <div id='article-page'><div id='article-content' data-media-url='//news-app-staging.s3.amazonaws.com' data-base-url='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1241/solar_windows.m4a' data-capture-url='//staging.analytics.lingraphica.com/events/capture_news' data-article-title='Large Windows Could Capture Solar Energy' data-article-id='1748'><script src='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/javascripts/getscripts.js'></script><link rel='stylesheet' href='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/stylesheets/article.css' type='text/css' /><div class='article'><p><span data-start-time='0' data-end-time='4688'>Solar cells have been around since the 1950s.</span> <span data-start-time='4688' data-end-time='19333'>But now there is a race to develop transparent solar cell that can cover windows of buildings and still capture the sun’s light for electricity.</span> <span data-start-time='19333' data-end-time='25542'>There are three kinds of light that reach our planet from the sun.</span> <span data-start-time='25542' data-end-time='33563'>They are ultraviolet light, or UV, visible light, and infrared light.</span> <span data-start-time='33563' data-end-time='39146'>Together they make up what is called the solar spectrum.</span> <span data-start-time='39146' data-end-time='46875'>Troy Townsend is a solar cell researcher at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.</span> <span data-start-time='46875' data-end-time='57438'>He says working with the transparent solar technology for windows means you cut the efficiency in half.</span> <span data-start-time='57438' data-end-time='73917'>That is because you are letting visible lightlight you can seepass through the solar cells instead of capturing and using that light to make electricity.</span> <span data-start-time='73917' data-end-time='83646'>That leaves only light from the ultraviolet and infrared parts of the light spectrum to make electricity.</span> </p></div><div class='control-buttons-sticky' style='display:none;'><div class='control-buttons'><button title='Back' class='back' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Play' class='play' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Pause' class='pause' style='display:none;'></button><button title='Forward' class='forward' disabled='disabled'></button><button class='finished-reading' style='display:none;'>Done</button></div></div></div><div id='article-media'><div id='media-image'><img src='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1241/solar_windows.jpg'/></div></div><div id='question-content' style='display:none;'><div class='vocabulary_question question-container' data-question-id=6820 data-hint-location='4688' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1241/what_does_transparent_mean.m4a'>What does transparent mean?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='something that you can see through'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1241/something_that_you_can_see_through.m4a'><span>something that you can see through</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1241/a_designer_of_buildings.m4a'><span>a designer of buildings</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1241/to_introduce_as_if_new.m4a'><span>to introduce as if new</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1241/capable_of_producing_desired_results.m4a'><span>capable of producing desired results</span></div></div></div><div class='multiple_choice_question question-container' data-question-id=6821 data-hint-location='25542' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1241/which_of_these_lights_do_not_reach_our_planet_from_the_sun.m4a'>Which of these lights do NOT reach our planet from the sun?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='lightbrite'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1241/infrared_light.m4a'><span>infrared light</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1241/visible_light.m4a'><span>visible light</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1241/lightbrite.m4a'><span>lightbrite</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1241/ultraviolet_light.m4a'><span>ultraviolet light</span></div></div></div><div class='sentence_completion_question question-container' data-question-id=6822 data-hint-location='0' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1241/solar__blank__have_been_around_since_the_1950s.m4a'>Solar <span class='blank'>cells</span> have been around since the 1950s.</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='cells'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1241/bears.m4a'><span>bears</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1241/flares.m4a'><span>flares</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1241/suns.m4a'><span>suns</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1241/cells.m4a'><span>cells</span></div></div></div><div class='question-buttons'><button class='skip-button'></button><button class='hint-button'></button><button class='speak-button'></button></div></div></div>
Sound Name: https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1241/solar_windows.m4a
Preview
