The LumiWall: Solar Glass That Lights Up At Night
by Justin Thomas, Virginia 
on 07.27.06
Imagine a roof that looks like shaded glass by day, but by evening is transformed into an illuminated array of white LEDs. Sharp's LumiWall promises to do this, and it's powered entirely by thin-film solar panels inside the glass. It's like a transparent battery that gets charged by the sun. LumiWalls won’t really generate much electricity for your house — the aim here is to create an aesthetically-pleasing, self-contained illumination device. They will be available in 2007 according to Sharp. :: Sharp via The Green Guy
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Absolutely brilliant idea (pun intended). Would be especially nice if we learned that the juice was being stored in a frame-integrated bank of capacitors with long design life, so that traditional window installation contractors could "drop" them in, without a subcontract to electricians. We'll see just how "sharp" their designers really are in 2007.
theres no pun there.
A whole roof of this sounds like more light pollution to me. Windows sound better as roofs should be insulated anyway. If it could be made to only illuminate the inside on demand then I might consider using it.
This sounds like a great idea. They could probably be all integrated into a switch so you could turn the light on and off at night so there would be no light pollution. Besides, if its using a renewable energy source such as the sun, who cares if there on 24x7.
One of the most innovative/practical things I've read about in a while.
How much. There are a million cool ideas to save energy and the world but most of them are unaffordable and I'm willing to bet this one is too and thus will be irrelevant for the next 20 years at least.
I guess anonymous missed the "brilliant" pun glowing from the first comment.
Transparent roof sounds like a great idea if you don't care the view it'll give spy satellites. As windows, it'll be more useful if it was on /this/ side of the curtains or blinds.
this would go well with this setup
http://www.aboutmyplanet.com/science-technology/solarhousephotovoltaicgrid
Spy satellites, Anonymous? Really? Guess I'll have to stop hanging my undies on the clothesline out back, lest the NSA discover my predilection for "Grandma Panties" and expose my pretense of being a hottie!