​Solar Energy in Use

• ​Every 2 years UWaterloo competes in a solar car race across USA and Canada.

• ​The cars are becoming more marketable

• ​Do you think this can be mainstream soon?

Solar Fabrics​

​Tiny, flexible solar panels can now be stitched into the fabric of clothing. Solar filaments embedded into shirts, winter coats, and other types of clothing keep you warmer, power your phone, or provide energy for other portable electronic needs. Other applications include lighting up building facades, awnings, and curtains, or powering heated car seats.

​Solar Skins

​“Solar skin” is a novel solar technology created by the MIT-spin-off Sistine Solar that integrates custom designs into solar panel systems. Solar skin is an aesthetic overlay that transforms the look of any solar panel by using imprinted custom images. The technology uses selective light filtration to simultaneously display a vibrant image and transmit sunlight to the underlying solar panel with minimal loss in efficiency. Images can be customized to display business logos or advertisements.

​Solar-Powered Roads

​Solar-powered roads have the ability to generate clean energy, illuminate themselves at night, and melt snow and ice during the winter months. Covering U.S. roads in solar panels would generate approximately 80 percent of the country’s energy needs. Factors impacting energy production include panel efficiency, panel angle, tracking methods, sunlight hours, and temperature. Road materials also make a difference: asphalt flexes slightly under pressure, which would damage rigid solar cells; concrete is less flexible and would better support solar cells.

​Floating Solar Farms

​“Floatovoltaics” are photovoltaic (PV) solar power systems designed to float on the large surfaces of water bodies. Research shows floatovoltaics installed on just one-fourth of the nation’s manmade reservoirs would be able to generate about 10% of energy needs. Studies also show the power production of floating solar panels is greater by up to 10% due to the cooling effect of water. Floating solar farms also reduce the evaporative loss of water and suppress algae blooms, lowering water treatment costs.