Transcript:
On a hot summer day, sunlight will pour through the glass windows of an office or apartment building.
That sunlight heats up the rooms inside – making people sweat and forcing the air conditioner to work extra hard to cool the building down.
But a technology called dynamic glass could help keep buildings cool on sunny days.
On overcast days, dynamic glass windows are perfectly clear, like any other window.
But on sunny days, dynamic glass turns darker – kind of like sunglasses – to keep intense sunlight and heat out of the building.
With some types of dynamic glass, the change happens automatically on hot and sunny days.
Other types allow people to control the windows’ level of shading electronically.
This technology can make buildings more comfortable. For example, after the Dallas airport installed some dynamic glass windows, surface temperatures near the windows dropped 15 degrees.
And experts say dynamic glass can reduce the amount of energy needed for lighting and cooling by around 10% or more.
A lot of electricity still comes from fossil fuel power plants that emit planet-warming carbon pollution.
So dynamic glass could help make buildings more energy-efficient and limit their impact on the climate.
Reporting credit: Ethan Freedman / ChavoBart Digital Media
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