Dr. MILES BARR

​Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer
Ubiquitous Energy, US

​​​​​​​​​​​

​​​​​Bio​​​

Miles Barr, PhD is co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Ubiquitous Energy. Barr previously served as the company’s first CEO, securing several rounds of funding and growth through initial pilot production. For his innovations in the solar industry over the past decade, Barr has been named an MIT Technology Review Innovator Under 35, Forbes 30 under 30 in Energy, and winner of the prestigious Lemelson-MIT Student Prize. Barr holds a PhD from MIT in Chemical Engineering and a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University.

​Presentation ​​

Truly Transparent Solar for Electricity Generating Façades

Building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) technologies are a promising pathway to capturing large areas of solar energy and increasing building efficiency at the point of utilization. However, the widespread adoption of such technologies is severely hampered by the cost and aesthetics associated with mounting traditional PV cells on façade materials such as windows. We address this problem with the development of a transformative visibly transparent photovoltaic window coating, which allows for seamless integration of combined energy harvesting and solar control into the built environment. The truly transparent solar coating selectively converts incident ultraviolet and infrared light into electricity and simultaneously blocks transmission of unwanted solar heat, all while selectively transmitting visible light. We address the practical performance targets for such coatings and demonstrate simultaneous optimization of (1) power conversion efficiency, (2) visible light transmission, (3) solar heat gain coefficient, (4) emissivity, and (5) color. We conclude by demonstrating integration into insulated glass units (IGUs) and fabrication into prototype façades.