Solar glass

Research is kind of a four-letter word around here. It just isn't crucial to what we're doing, so we don't do a lot of it. Today is a different story.

I'm pretty excited about solar energy. Not because it's good for the planet, but because it seems like such an obvious thing we should be doing. It makes sense to harness such a powerful battery as opposed to digging in the ground for fuel. (I'm also a fan of stem cell research for the same reason. The medical benefits are wonderful but it's more that we just should be doing it because it's a good idea.)

So I slapped on my spectacles and looked up how solar panels work. And I kind of get it. Silicon, electrons, diodes, etc. Just don't ask me to explain it to you.

And then I asked jeeves about solar glass. I have to admit I was disappoined that I saw a handful of results pop up. That was my idea! But I started looking at what people are calling "solar glass" and it totally isn't. There's this:

And then there's this. That second one is a little bit closer to what I want. But it's still not perfect; as cool as blinky lights are, I'm setting my sights slightly higher.

The idea here would be to take those giant windows on tall buildings and make them all solar panels. But clear so they would still function as windows. When you think about the amount of sun those windows get at any given time...that's a lot of power we could be harnessing. Despite my ignorance on the exact number of electricities we could be collecting, one can still imagine and dream of the awesomeness.

And from what I can tell, it looks totally possible for this to happen.