[mvpel]

The objective of a solar cell is to absorb light and convert it to electricity, not transmit it. Every photon passed through the window/device is a photon not creating electricity.

There's a lot more to sunlight than just what we can see through a window.

[AndyJackson]

Thanks for that chart. Now explain to this simple minded PhD physicist what that graph has to do with all of this. My understanding is that the photons with enough energy to convert usefully into electricy (E=h*nu) are the higher energy photons, which happen to be the ones we can see. I could have this entirely wrong and would welcome an enlightened explanation.

You could also explain to me how you convert the kinetic energy of moving cars to renwable energy. I am awfully confused on this point since I had imagined that the purpose of a car is to go somewhere at some speed and that speed is the kinetic energy of the car (E=mv**2), which is needed for the car to go somewhere. In the process of converting that kinetic energy to renewable energy don't you stop the car or do I not understand? If you stop the car, then why have the car in the first place, or is there some way of converting the kinetic energy to renewable energy without stopping the car? How do you make use of this renewable energy? Is there a cable connecting to the power grid, or do you generate and store H2?

I am very confused and eager to have an explanation of these complicated matters, as my simple minded brain just cannot wrap itself around this stuff.

[PapaBear3625]

So an office-window solar cell which absorbed and converted the UV/blue end of the spectrum could generate power while not materially impacting the view.