While most people seem to hold the impression that solar panels are black-shaded tiles which are installed on rooftops just to generate power, researchers at Mingdao University’s Photovoltaic Research Center unveiled their latest innovation yesterday — thin-film solar cell modules that can be used to make transparent windows with full-color images on them.
At a press conference in Taipei, images of a monarch butterfly, the Virgin Mary, Bodhidharma, a nighttime scene of skyscrapers, Taipei 101 and other colorful designs were displayed on glass window panes covered with laser-plotted thin-film solar cells.
Meanwhile, university students explained how the technology could be used to generate electricity.
Photovoltaic Research Center director Lien Shui-yang (連水養) said the thin-film solar cells are cheaper and thinner than the traditional crystalline silicon solar panels and they are therefore easier to incorporate into urban life.
Although a standard size 1.1m by 1.4m solar cell window can generate about 100 watts per hour, while the color-imaged windows can only generate about 90 watts per hour — enough to power about four energy-saving light bulbs for an hour — Lien said he is still positive about their market potential.
Consumers can choose to customize the windows into pieces of art — either for their pleasure or for commercial use — while at the same time generating electricity to power electric appliances, the research center director said.
Lien said that six of the windows would be installed in the energy classroom at Yunlin County’s Sinyi Elementary School in October for demonstration purposes.
Mingdao University president Chen Shih-shiung (陳世雄) said that the school has been emphasizing the importance of green energy for years.
Chen said that Mingdao was the first university to establish a photovoltaics research center in Taiwan.
The center has been involved in more than 30 research projects in the past three years, he added.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
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