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.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant