Claims
- 1. A shelter without walls capable of producing electrical energy comprising:
a canopy having a width and a length defining a sheltered area and having a photovoltaic device capable of producing an electrical current when exposed to a light source, said photovoltaic device associated with said canopy to produce electrical current from sunlight; a supporting structure connected to and supporting said canopy and permitting substantially unobstructed access to the sheltered area; and an electrical load operatively connected to the photovoltaic device for utilizing the electricity generated by the photovoltaic device when the photovoltaic device is exposed to light.
- 2. The shelter of claim 1 wherein said photovoltaic device is supported by the canopy.
- 3. The shelter of claim 1 wherein the photovoltaic device is contained on or in the canopy.
- 4. The shelter of claim 1 wherein the photovoltaic device forms the canopy.
- 5. The shelter of claim 1 wherein the photovoltaic device is selected from the group consisting of crystalline photovoltaic systems, flexible thin film photovoltaic systems, stacked photovoltaic layers and photovoltaic and light emissive layers.
- 6. The shelter of claim 1 further comprising a first photovoltaic device oriented to receive sunlight and a second photovoltaic device directed toward the ground.
- 7. The shelter of claim 6 wherein said canopy has an upper surface and an underside and an artificial light source is affixed to the underside or dispersed within the device.
- 8. The shelter of claim 5 wherein said photovoltaic device is transparent.
- 9. The shelter of claim 8 wherein the transparent photovoltaic device is composed of multiple layers of flexible thin film transparent photovoltaic material.
- 10. The shelter of claim 1 further comprising a light emitting diode associated with the photovoltaic device.
- 11. The device of claim 10 wherein the light emitting diode is capable of displaying human readable information.
- 12. The shelter of claim 10 wherein the light emitting diode is a flexible thin film light emitting diode.
- 13. The shelter of claim 1 wherein the photovoltaic device further comprises a light emitting coating and the photovoltaic device is capable of generating electricity from the light emitted by the light emitting coating.
- 14. The shelter of claim 1 wherein the electrical load is selected from the group consisting of the power distribution grid of a utility company and a battery.
- 15. The shelter of claim 14 wherein said battery is operatively connected to a light which illuminates said sheltered area.
- 16. A system for generating electricity from a parking lot comprising:
an outdoor parking area having at least one vehicle parking space; a canopy having a width and a length defining a sheltered area for said parking space and having a photovoltaic device capable of producing an electrical current when exposed to a light source, said photovoltaic device associated with said canopy to produce electrical current from sunlight; a supporting structure connected to and supporting said canopy and permitting substantially unobstructed access to the sheltered area; and an electrical load operatively connected to the photovoltaic device for utilizing the electricity generated by the photovoltaic device when the photovoltaic device is exposed to light.
- 17. A method of producing electricity comprising:
providing a canopy having a width and a length defining a sheltered area and having a photovoltaic device capable of producing an electrical current when exposed to a light source, said photovoltaic device associated with said canopy to produce electrical current from sunlight; supporting the canopy without walls above an outdoor vehicle parking area with a supporting structure that permits substantially unobstructed access to the parking area; exposing the photovoltaic device to light to generate electricity; and connecting an electrical load to the electricity.
- 18. The method of claim 17 wherein said electrical load is a power meter and the method further comprises reverse metering the power meter.
- 19. The method of claim 17 wherein said electrical load is a utility company power distribution grid.
- 20. The method of claim 17 further comprising producing electricity at night with a light emissive material operatively associated with the photovoltaic device dispersed within or placed in the (PV) roof's vicinity.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This is a continuation-in-part of prior application Ser. No. 09/902,390 filed Jul. 10, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. ______, issued ______, 2003.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09902390 |
Jul 2001 |
US |
Child |
10679075 |
Oct 2003 |
US |