Glass building blocks - electricity generators

Startup company Build Solar introduced its innovative technology called “Solar Squared” (Solar Square). This technology is designed to provide buildings with the ability to convert solar energy into electricity without the need for traditional solar panels.

Renewable energy experts from the University of Exeter, led by solar scientist Hassan Beig and world leading renewable energy scientists, Professor Tapas Mullik, have developed a completely new technique that can be classified as building-integrated photovoltaics.

Solar Squared or Solar Square is a glass block that can be built directly into the building structure, being succinctly integrated into a particular design. Blocks can be produced in different colors and be of different sizes. Each unit is designed to collect solar energy and convert it into electricity.

Compared to solar panels, which take up a lot of space on the roofs, they are mainly used in cottages, and are not popular in multi-unit urban buildings, Solar Squared solar units can be used even in cities.

It is hoped that this product, like solar tiles Tesla, will accelerate the widespread introduction of zero-energy buildings, that is, it will allow the construction of houses that will produce their own electricity directly on the spot.

Solar Squared building blocks were developed in collaboration with Glass Block Technology Ltd. to provide the opportunity to freely place them both in new buildings, and as part of programs for the reconstruction of existing buildings.

In fact, modular transparent glass bricks will replace ordinary bricks, blocks and mortar, they will create better thermal insulation for walls and roofs than ordinary glass blocks. Thus, the payback of the project will turn out fast not only due to the generated electricity, but also due to the heat savings inside the building.

It is also interesting that Solar Squared units are not just converters of solar energy, they are at the same time a kind of opaque windows that let sunlight into the building where they are installed.

Intelligent optics contained in the blocks focuses the incoming sunlight, concentrating it on small square areas, thereby increasing the total available energy that is generated by each brick separately.

Build Solar hopes to attract investment at an early stage of testing, and then quickly bring the technology to market. Currently, patented technology exists as a prototype. Projects are debugged at the experimental sites before the start of testing.

The founder of Build Solar, Dr. Hassan Beig, claims that the photovoltaic integrated into the building is already developing at a rate of 16% per year, and the creation of a company that can serve this market will be cost-effective.

Build Solar's chief research officer, Professor Tapas Mullik, said the company is committed to creating affordable and efficient, integrated solar technologies that will have a minimal impact on the local landscape. This is an interesting enterprise that will be able to capture the imagination of the construction industry in the development of new office and public buildings, as well as large infrastructure projects, such as railway stations and parking lots.