When pupils enter the Wintergarden...

When pupils enter the Wintergarden sunroom at the University of Wisconsin, new Bay's new Mary Ann Cofrin Hall, greatest in number won't realize that the daylight illuminating the studious mood space also helps to power the building. That's because the room's 2000 square feet of glass curtain wall integrates the latest technological advancement in building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV): semi-transparent solar arrays.
Called amorphous-silicon (a-Si) thin-film, the module generally allow 5% light transmittance, depending in succession the manufacturer, and can be "etched" to appropriate higher ...