A B.C. engineering lab has created metal-coated glass that transmits up to 10 per cent more light than conventional glass and opens the door to windows that function as electronics.

The most immediate use of the technology is to create windows that can be programmed to absorb or reflect heat, depending on the needs of a building’s occupants, said lead investigator Kenneth Chau, a professor at the University of British Columbia Okanagan.

“What’s interesting about this discovery is that it’s counterintuitive, because we always think of metals as being opaque, so it runs against our expectations,” he said. “I think one of the most important implications of this research is the potential to integrate electronic capabilities into windows and make them smart.”

But weren’t we all expecting glass to get a lot smarter?

“That’s true. When you watch Iron Man movies, they have displays on glass, they do computations on glass. This is a tiny step in that direction,” he said.

Films like Iron Man and Star Trek provide scientists with inspiration for scientific progress, he said.

“There is a dream that we can make glass smarter,” he said. “These films give us concepts to strive for; the hard work is uncovering the science to make it happen.”

But all those hours spent watching Star Trek are now starting to look like a “pretty good investment,” he said.

Chau and his associate, engineering professor Loic Markley, sprayed silver atoms in a vacuum to create a layer of metal on glass just a few billionths of a metre thick.

“Glass is a crystalline structure that is fairly transparent, but not completely, you can still see it.” Chau said. “Thin layers of metal actually boost the amount of light that goes through.”

While conventional glass does not conduct electricity, the metal layer creates an object with very different properties and the possibility of adding a variety of advanced technologies to a brilliantly transparent surface.

For now, Chau intends to apply his efforts to creating sustainable building materials.

“Adding electronic control to windows will allow you to change the amount of light and heat passing through to more effectively use the energy provided by the sun naturally,” he said. “That would be a holy grail, because in Canada we spend up to 70 per cent of our energy maintaining indoor climates.”

Chau and Markley’s results were published this week in the journal Scientific Reports.

rshore@postmedia.com