Researchers at Australia’s Griffith University want glass to be more active. Normal glass passes light readily—but also passes heat. This means a room gets hot during the day, but gets cold at night.
The scientists have developed “smart windows” that block or pass heat as needed.
“Depending on the surrounding temperature, it has the ability to let in the hot infrared light or to block it,” said Griffith University Senior Lecturer Yulin Zhong.
The windows work but the process is not yet ready for commercial production.
The product is one that modern society could certainly put to use.
“If we have this kind of technology and it becomes commercially viable in the near future, it not only means that we save costs for an individual building, but that scales up across an entire city,” said Griffith University urban planner Jason Byrne.
The energy savings could be enormous. The design possibilities would be endless.
Cleaner, cheaper, more attractive urban spaces could be about to come out of this lab in Australia.
