World energy requirements are mainly covered by non-renewable resources. But oil, coal and gas are not carbon-neutral. And fossil fuels are going to run out one day. That is why, in the fight to mitigate climate change, alternative energies will have to make up a larger share of the global energy supply. This is also the conclusion reached in the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 4th Assessment Report on climate change submitted to the UN. Transparent plastics like ACRYLITE® are particularly suitable for a wide range of alternative power generation methods.

 

Solar cells are now widespread. These photovoltaic units convert sunlight into electrical energy, using special lenses that focus the incident sunrays. These lenses and their covers call for a material that is highly light-transmitting and UV-resistant at the same time. ACRYLITE® acrylic sheet is better equipped than any other transparent plastic to meet these requirements. High light transmission and guaranteed weather resistance also make ACRYLITE® sheet readily suitable for other types of power generation. From solar collectors to solar updraft towers, which use sunlight to produce hot air that drives turbines, all of these systems have one thing in common: they use the power of the sun. This is also true of the Sunshower™, which produces hot water in combination with ACRYLITE® Heatstop Wave Profile sheet. And it does so in a carbon-neutral and cost-neutral way, because the Sunshower™ requires no external energy source other than the sun.

Solar tiles do not alter the façade of protected buildings. Yet the plastic solar tiles with injection-molded ACRYLITE® covers look just like traditional clay tiles, and conceal solar cells or solar heat modules for heating water. more