Researchers at Stanford modified commercially available solar panels to generate a small amount of electricity at night by exploiting a process known as radiative cooling, which relies on, no lie, the frigid vacuum of space. The research was published in early April in Applied Letters in Physics.

While standard solar panels can provide electricity during the day, this device can serve as a “continuous renewable power source for both day- and nighttime,” according to the study published this week in the journal Applied Physics Letters.

Stanford Energy System Innovations (SESI) has been working on Stanford’s transition to renewable energy for the past decade.