I-Corps: Wavelength-selective Photovoltaics for Higher Performance Greenhouses at Low Added Cost

一种具有成本效益和高度耐用的波长选择光伏(PV)电池板正在开发中，它同时促进植物生长，减少冷却需求，并以不到1美元/瓦的增量成本发电。温室使用一张层压在玻璃面板上的发光片，玻璃面板上有窄的硅光伏条带，以选择性地吸收植物不使用的太阳光谱中的绿色部分。然后，绿光被选择性地降低到红光，以匹配植物的光合作用活跃区域和硅基光伏电池的最大效率。与绿光到红光的转换相关的颜色调节已被证明有助于番茄的果实生产和增加花卉产量。将建造一个具有适当控制的原型温室，在加州6个月的老化条件下测试这项技术，并能响应客户的需求。这项提议将创建一个可以通过网络远程监控的温室，以提供植物生长和能源生产的结果。创建能源中性的温室，可以在几年的运营中收回成本，这将使人们有能力在由于当地可用资源的气候而目前在经济上不可行的地方种植健康食品。该产品将针对快速增长的本地食品行业，该行业通过在消费地点附近种植食品来节省自然资源。通过避免粮食运输成本、使用相同的土地同时提供粮食和电力以及更有效地利用水资源，可以节省自然资源。这种发电温室的商业化将为光伏的部署开辟一条新的途径，并可能通过利用我们现有的窗口生产线和知识创造美国制造业的就业机会。

A cost effective and highly-durable wavelength-selective photovoltaic (PV) panel is being developed that simultaneously facilitates plant growth, reduces cooling requirements and generates power at less than $1/watt incremental cost. The greenhouse uses a luminescent sheet laminated to the glass panels with narrow Si photovoltaic strips to selectively absorb the green portion of the solar spectrum that is not used by plants. Green light is then selectively downshifted to red light to match to the photosynthetically active region for plants and the efficiency maximum of Silicon-based photovoltaic cells. The color tuning associated with the conversion of green to red light has been shown to facilitate fruit production in tomatoes and increase flower production. A prototype greenhouse will be built with suitable control to test the technology under 6-months of California aging conditions and which can respond to customer needs. This proposal will create a greenhouse that can be remotely monitored via the web to provide results on both plant growth and the energy production. Creating energy-neutral greenhouses that can pay for themselves in a few years of operation will open up the ability to grow healthy food in locations where it is currently not economically viable due to the local climate of available resources. This product will target the rapidly growing-local food industry that saves natural resources by growing food close to where it is consumed. Natural resources are saved by avoiding food transportation costs, by using the same land to provide both food and electrical energy, and by more efficiently utilizing water resources. The commercialization of this power-generating greenhouse will open up a new avenue for PV deployment and potentially create U.S. based manufacturing jobs by utilizing our existing window production lines and knowledge.