transparent wood tagged posts

This is a wood composite as an energy efficient building material: Guided sunlight transmission and effective thermal insulation. Credit: University of Maryland and Advanced Energy Materials

Natural microstructures in transparent wood are key to lighting & insulation advantages. Engineers at A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland (UMD) demonstrate in a new study that windows made of transparent wood could provide more even and consistent natural lighting and better energy efficiency than glass, while eliminating glare. The findings advance earlier published work on their development of transparent wood.

The transparent wood lets through just a little bit less light than glass, but a lot less heat, said Tian Li...

A close-up look at the transparent wood created at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Credit: KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Windows and solar panels in the future could be made from one of the best – and cheapest – construction materials known: wood. Researchers at Stockholm’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology have developed a new transparent wood material that’s suitable for mass production. Prof. Berglund says transparent wood panels can also be used for windows, and semitransparent facades, when the idea is to let light in but maintain privacy.

The optically transparent wood is a type of wood veneer in which the lignin, a component of the cell walls, is removed chemically. “When the lignin is removed, the wood becomes beautifully white...