AuREUS: solar panel sustainability from food waste
The most efficient sustainable solar energy generation ~ 50%
AuREUS: solar panel sustainability from food waste
While I’ve considered all types of panels, solar films, solar window technology and sustainability approaches, I’ve been asked what my view is on the most effective and sustainable design. It’s not developed as a commercial product yet, however it is indeed an unusual innovation of noteworthy merit.
When applied as a kind of fluorescent covering to windows or facades, AuReus can capture UV rays reflected from pavement and the surrounding architecture, turning entire buildings into vertical solar farms or rather, buildings that function with a solar generation layer acting as solar power production. The best part: The material is fabricated using waste agricultural crops. This mitigates farm losses.
The AuREUS system is clever enough to have won the James Dyson Award for sustainability in 2020. While I have not seen production scale, the AuREUS design by Carvey Ehren Maigue aligns with an approach that I admire…
efficiency: nearly 50 percent according to preliminary testing, compared to 15 to 22 per cent in standard solar panels
functions in low-light conditions, making it effective even on cloudy days
application: walls and windows - can be integrated into urban infrastructure like vertical solar farms
Uses recycled plant waste energy, sustainable alternative to conventional solar panels which will wind up in landfills eventually
adaptability: can be integrated into solar photovoltaic systems since its electrical output is suitable for such systems as well
How the AuREUS design functions
Maigue's system uses luminescent particles derived from waste agricultural crops. To pull out the bioluminescent particles from specific fruits and vegetables, Maigue goes through a process of crushing them and extracting their juices, which are then filtered, distilled or steeped.
The particles are suspended in resin before the resulting substrate is moulded into cladding and clamped onto walls or sandwiched between the two panes of a double glazed window.
These particles convert UV light into visible light, which is reflected to the very edges of the panel.
"The light relies on internal reflectance of the material to self-correct and guide itself towards the emitting edge," said Maigue, who is a student at Mapua University in Manila. "This can be controlled by specific laser etching patterns
as well."
This visible light can then be captured and converted into electricity by a string of regular photovoltaic (PV) cells, like the ones found in regular solar panels, which for this design fringe the outside of the cladding.
Notes: The inspiration for the solution came from how Auroras are formed. High energy(gamma, UV) are degraded to low energy state (visible light) by luminescent particles in the atmosphere. The tech is based on this concept and used similar functioning particles.
Since AuREUS captures UV, it can produce electricity even when not facing the sun. Buildings clad on all sides with AuREUS become vertical solar farms.
Crops easily spoil and cause losses to farmers. With this tech, waste can be applied to panel fabrication.
Brilliant right? -Marky
Author’s note: Organic semiconductors, such that a solar panel also functions as a window have been explored, and this article from The Conversation includes diagrams illustrating the approach. In that example, UV and infrared would not be passed through the window, as there is no net benefit. Considering how plentiful the amount of solar energy available globally in a given hour, there is more than enough to cover energy usage across the globe over a longer duration of time. -Marky