John Fitzgerald Weaver for Electrek:  The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, (NREL), has demonstrated a prototype of a solar powered smart window. The smart window lowers building temperatures by shifting from clear to opaque under strong sunlight. When the shift to opaque occurs, the solar prototype begins electricity production.

The prototypes tested reached up to 11.3% efficiency. The solar cell is based on the lab/headline favorite material perovskite.

One potential smart window feature is darkening of windows to minimize heat coming into a structure. Heating, cooling, and ventilation of commercial structures is up to 80% of their energy costs.

In the USA, up to 80% of residential units and 50% of commercial units, use some sort of ‘Low-E’ (low heat emission) glass. In this particular hardware, the smart darkening process begins the electricity producing magic when the glass becomes a solar cell via a heat driven chemical reaction.  Full Article: