Organic Photovoltaic (OPT) Company Next energy technologies has completed the first commercial application of its transparent PV windows. Six windows, each of which measures 40 by 60 inches for a total of 100 ft2were installed at Next headquarters in Santa Barbara, California. This is the first building-integrated PV (BIPV) facade with the OPT coatings developed by the next.
Each insulating glass unit contains the after -board coating of Next Lite and runs cables through the frame system. The powerful windows were manufactured with low-e coated inner board Lites and Spacers supplied by Viracon. Walters & Wolf designed, delivered and installed the framing system as part of the facade integration, with the seamless integration of the following in the supply chain of the window manufacturing. The following has been working with Walters & Wolf for a few years now.
“The successful scaling of Next’s up-to-date technology, both on glass and in facades, takes the next and industry closer to a future of sustainable building design,” said Daniel Emmett, CEO, Executive chairman and co-founder of Next. “We are incredibly proud of the quality of the coating, the seamless installation and the performance of the power generation that we already see from this first facade installation.”
The Windows, installed at the company’s headquarters, now offer architects, developers and stakeholders in the industry a real-world demonstration of the aesthetic, energy-producing glass of Next. Visitors can see the seamless integration of solar technology in a standard commercial facade and observe first hand how the system generates electricity while retaining transparency and design flexibility.
“This is the first of many,” Jonathan Hafemann, Next’s VP, commercialization and growth added. “We are very happy to share this tangible demonstration of our vision on energy-generating facades and to invite the industry to imagine what is possible when windows do more than just managing heat win and U-value.”
Next’s transparent OPT technology allows commercial windows to generate solar energy, which changes facades of buildings to power sources on location. This innovation supports greater energy efficiency, generates clean electricity in terms of use, improves the resilience of building and helps to improve schedule efficiency.
The company claims that a subsequent OPP facade can generate sufficient electricity to use about 20-25% of the energy consumption typical of commercial properties and at the same time to use the existing infrastructure of a commercial facade. By capturing and converting infrared light, the windows also help to lower the cooling requirements within the inner cooling, which makes the tax on HVAC systems facilitated.
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