As the technology behind solar energy evolves and improves, more consumers will opt to cut ties with utility companies and become their own power source.

Much like how people abandoned land lines for mobile devices, consumers will likely begin to adopt new ways of powering their homes instead of being completely reliant on utility companies.

But you won’t have to wait another ten years to live off the grid. Researchers at Michigan State have developed a new solar cell that is completely transparent and could transform windows for residential homes or even skyscrapers into an endless power source.

According to Digital Trends, “the Michigan State team created a cell called a transparent luminescent solar concentrator (TLSC), which employs organic salts to absorb wavelengths of light that are already invisible to the human eye. Steering clear of the fundamental challenges of creating a transparent photovoltaic cell allowed the researchers to harness the power of infrared and ultraviolet light.”

Image: Video Frame

Researchers believe their TLSC technology could span from industrial applications to more manageable uses like consumer devices and handheld gadgets.

“I think consumers are gaining power in the equation and they are seeing these availabilities of this technology and they are seeing the benefit economically and they are going to demand it and they are going to get it,” they said.

In the end, greater power of control is going to flow towards consumers, the question then becomes what happens to the utilities?

The video below has more on this new technology. Watch, and please SHARE!

H/T: Digital Trends

Continue Reading