The British government has made an announcement saying it will fund a project which is aimed at developing building materials and coatings that will produce electricity from heat and light. According to a spokesperson, an association piloted by Swansea University is developing the technology and will obtain a funding of more than 36 million pounds from the British government.
The green technology will apparently use heat and light to generate energy and power schools, hospitals, homes and workplaces in the future. These materials could probably replace standard roofs, windows and walls, producing electricity which would then be accumulated and released by a smart operating system while surplus electricity could be sold to the national grid, the sources inferred.
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy of Britain, Greg Clark, said in a statement that the nation is putting its world-leading science and innovation sector at the center of its modern Industrial Strategy. He informed that the country has set an ambitious goal to propel the investments in research and development to 2.4 percent of its GDP by 2027.
Chief Executive of UK Research and Innovation, Sir Mark Walport, was quoted saying that UK has the potential to play a key role in the rising global market for building technologies and the nation needed to explore more efficient ways of producing, consuming and conserving energy. Active buildings integrated with solar generation and storage technologies for heat and electricity within their construction would help to achieve their goal as UK shifts towards a low-carbon economy.
Reportedly, the investment will provide support for the development of an Active Building Centre which will excel in R&D for building materials capable of producing power. Industry experts are advocating that the technology can cut costs of renewables and produce enough power to cover a building’s energy needs, but the sector has just come into existence with very few products currently available in the market.