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[Mr. TOP SECRET]

by Helen Knight
April 2010
News Scientist

Solar cells are becoming an increasingly familiar sight on roofs, but soon even the walls and windows of your home could generate electricity and capture heat from the sun.

That's because researchers are borrowing a trick or two from solar power plants. Some of these use large parabolic mirrors or lenses to concentrate sunlight onto a photovoltaic (PV) device, allowing them to generate electricity efficiently while minimising their use of expensive PV materials. The concentrators typically track the sun across the sky, to ensure they direct as much light as possible onto the solar cells.

The same idea is being used by Soliant Energy, based in Monrovia, California, which has developed solar concentrating "buckets" for the roofs of commercial buildings. Arranged in clusters of six, the buckets tilt and swivel to track the sun, with lenses at the front to concentrate sunlight onto small cells at the rear.

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