Adaptability of the Technology to Other Markets

The optical design of the Solartech system also has advantages in non-daylighting applications. The tracking system, use of materials, and large production quantities will prove extremely competitive with other solar technologies for additional markets, including  water heating, electricity generation, air space heating, solar cooling and water purification.
 
… The U.S. spends more than 13 billion dollars each year on energy for home water heating.
  (Task:  NREL TOA 84.  Public Roles in Technology Innovation and Commercialization. 
   July 1996).

… The Solar Energy Industries Association estimates that business and consumers installing
  solar water heating, the most common solar collecting technology, could save 80% on their heating bills.  The average consumer could save between thirty to forty dollars  monthly.                       

… The Solartech collector will have an efficiency advantage over other solar water heating
  systems beyond the constant sun orientation.  The advantage being lower thermal losses 
  due to conduction, a problem with the large collector surface area of water heating     
  collector panels. 

Concentrator Solar Cell Applications

The Solartech system can be adapted to produce electricity less expensively than standard  solar cell array designs by focusing light at higher intensities over a reduced  area. This method lowers the high cost of large areas of solar cells, replacing them with less costly focusing systems. Several companies are in development of solar cell concentrator modules. Although Solartech could produce electricity in this configuration, the more intelligent and market based approach is in conserving electricity using the sunlight directly for illumination, which offers a customer investment payback ten times faster than solar panels (photovoltaics) can provide.

 Presently, the U.S. solar cell manufacturers export two thirds of their production of 
 20 megawatts per year.  Higher costs of electricity production than in the US, coupled 
 with limited power distribution infrastructure, make solar cells and solar cell concentrator     systems highly competitive outside the U.S.

Summary of Technology  |  Energy Conservation vs. Energy Production
Light Output Comparisons  |  Building Retrofit Example  |  Investor Information
Images of Collecting System  |  Contact  Information