Something new under the sun: Energy walls. (News Briefs).Lean against a buildings wall on a hot summer day and you can feel the suns reflective heat. To better tap this under-used energy resource, builders and renewable energy Renewable energy utilizes natural resources such as sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat, which are naturally replenished. Renewable energy technologies range from solar power, wind power, and hydroelectricity to biomass and biofuels for transportation. experts are integrating electricity-producing photovoltaic The generation of voltage by a material that is exposed to light in the visible and invisible ranges. See photoelectric and photovoltaic cell. (PV) cells into the exterior building envelope A building envelope is the separation between the interior and the exterior environments of a building. It serves as the outer shell to protect the indoor environment as well as to facilitate its climate control. . Increasingly, PV modules are being considered as replacements for conventional facades, roof tiles, asphalt shingles or even shading devices. Based on guidance received from leading manufacturers of PV cells, NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology, Washington, DC, www.nist.gov) The standards-defining agency of the U.S. government, formerly the National Bureau of Standards. It is one of three agencies that fall under the Technology Administration (www.technology. has launched a multiyear research program to provide needed performance data on this innovative technology. The project involves a mobile tracking PV test facility, a meteorological me·te·or·ol·o·gy n. The science that deals with the phenomena of the atmosphere, especially weather and weather conditions. [French météorologie, from Greek station and a building-integrated PV testbed. The mobile facility records the effects of the angle, temperature and solar spectrum on the electrical performance of various PV panels. The meteorological station measures solar radiation solar radiation, n the emission and diffusion of actinic rays from the sun. Overexposure may result in sunburn, keratosis, skin cancer, or lesions associated with photosensitivity. , wind and temperature conditions during the performance monitoring of building-integrated PV panels. The testbed conducts side-by-side comparisons of four different types of PV panels--crystalline, polycrystalline Adj. 1. polycrystalline - composed of aggregates of crystals; "polycrystalline metals" crystalline - consisting of or containing or of the nature of crystals; "granite is crystalline" , silicon film and amorphous silicon. Each PV technology is represented in the testbed by two panels: one without any thermal insulation behind it (representative of window and skylight applications) and one insulated to simulate opaque wall applications. The energy produced by each of these eight panels and the coincid ent meteorological conditions are recorded every five minutes for a year. NIST researchers are using the data to improve computer simulation tools that predict the performance of building-integrated PVs for various geographic locations and building orientations. The payoff for success could be considerable, since residential and commercial buildings utilize more than 40 % of the electricity consumed in the United States. For technical information, contact A. Hunter Fanney, (301) 975-5864; hunter.fanney@nist.gov. Media Contact: John Blair, (301) 975-4261; john.blair @nist.gov. |
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