7 Solar Inventions That Will Change How You Play
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 11:15:00 AM - by Chris Meehan
Small solar panel toys aren’t just for geeks with calculators and calculator watches anymore. With the rapid development of new, cheaper means of producing efficient photovoltaics, solar-powered devices are becoming a bigger part of our everyday lives. In the next few years we’re likely to see solar power energize even more of our gadgets and toys, some big, some small.
Image source: EcoGeek
Photo from EcoGeek1. Solar-powered smartphones. They can now be incorporated directly into a third-party product for the device. Photovoltaic smartphone cases that charge the device are already available, but they’re far from where the technology is going. With the advent of flexible, thin-film photovoltaics portable devices no longer need a bulky external charger.
But some day soon, your iPhone itself might have a photovoltaic charger built into its screen or its backside. In 2008 Apple filed a patent to incorporate a photovoltaic cell under the glass screen of an iPhone. Motorola filed a similar patent in 2001.
Photo from Red Dot2. Solar-powered mp3 players. Similarly, the technology could also be used to power an mp3 player like the iPod or Zune. A solar-powered mp3 player would have almost no need for a battery. By using photovoltaics, the mp3 players storage capacity could be doubled allowing for even more songs, pictures and all the movies you want to stare at on a tiny screen.
3. Solar-powered batteries. Even if your ultra-cool, new solar-powered devices won’t need batteries to run, your laser tag blaster will still need an endless supply of AAs. While rechargeable batteries already exist, solar-powered batteries are on the horizon. The design above, by Wu Jian won a best of the best design concept award from Red Dot Institute’s Red Dot Design Awards in 2008. It’s a pretty cool idea, just leave a couple of these small, flexible solar panels unwrapped on your dashboard while you’re out playing tag with your pals and when you need a new pair for your blaster, just wrap them up, pop them in and its game on! You could also use them to power your digital camera or the speakers for your solar-powered iPod.
From Solar Impulse4. Lets take it to the air! Photovoltaics probably won’t power your next Superjumbo jet ride to Europe, but photovoltaic planes are being tested now. Solar Impulse, a company based in Switzerland, is planning a flight around the world in a plane that never needs to land. Why? Because it’s powered by solar panels.
The company’s latest success is its HB-SIA plane (HB-SIA are its registration numbers). The plane has a 64-meter wingspan, wider than a 747, but weighs only 1.7 tons. The most recent flight on May 16, 2010, lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes. Ultimately, according to the company, the plane should be capable of flying up to 36 hours without stopping. Yes, that means in the night as well the day.
Photo from5. Not big enough for you? How about a solar-powered yacht? They’re a little out of the average Joe’s price range, but companies like DSe are now making solar-hybrid yachts. Future versions could be entirely solar-powered. DSe’s hybrid yachts already run on solar during the day (they use a diesel engine to power the boat’s engine at night). The boats feature a 6kW solar-power system — the pictured yacht includes two 1.5 kW wind turbines, making the boat a 9kW powerhouse. Too bad we don’t have the $600,000 laying around for the base model, sigh.
Another organization, PlanetSolar has built an entirely solar-powered yacht that it plans to circumnavigate the globe with. The boat was christened in April 2010.
Photo from Green-the-world.net6. Photovoltaic windows will start entering the market in the next few years. New Energy Technologies, Inc. has developed a patent-pending method of spraying windows with a transparent, nano-thin photovoltaic material. The company is applying the technology to its SolarWindows. The company says the windows will be able to absorb energy “under normal office lighting conditions, without the benefit of outside natural light from windows.”
Photo from fashioningtech.com7. Solar clothes. Yeah, they kind of already exist, if you don’t mind having solar-cell shoulder pads or breast-plates. But new technology using organic photovoltaics and/or microelectronics will allow for clothing that looks normal but is capable of powering your cell phone, PDA or mp3 player. In the photos above, the white fabric has photovoltaics built into it in a nearly invisible way, but organic photovoltaics will make the micro-sized energy collectors virtually invisible.
Until recently, organic solar cells were only able to convert about 2% of the sun’s energy into electricity, but one company, Solarmer Energy has achieved a 7.9% efficiency rating as certified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in February 2010. The company plans to start producing solar fabrics later in 2010.
Image source: EcoGeek
Photo from EcoGeek
But some day soon, your iPhone itself might have a photovoltaic charger built into its screen or its backside. In 2008 Apple filed a patent to incorporate a photovoltaic cell under the glass screen of an iPhone. Motorola filed a similar patent in 2001.
Photo from Red Dot
3. Solar-powered batteries. Even if your ultra-cool, new solar-powered devices won’t need batteries to run, your laser tag blaster will still need an endless supply of AAs. While rechargeable batteries already exist, solar-powered batteries are on the horizon. The design above, by Wu Jian won a best of the best design concept award from Red Dot Institute’s Red Dot Design Awards in 2008. It’s a pretty cool idea, just leave a couple of these small, flexible solar panels unwrapped on your dashboard while you’re out playing tag with your pals and when you need a new pair for your blaster, just wrap them up, pop them in and its game on! You could also use them to power your digital camera or the speakers for your solar-powered iPod.
From Solar Impulse
The company’s latest success is its HB-SIA plane (HB-SIA are its registration numbers). The plane has a 64-meter wingspan, wider than a 747, but weighs only 1.7 tons. The most recent flight on May 16, 2010, lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes. Ultimately, according to the company, the plane should be capable of flying up to 36 hours without stopping. Yes, that means in the night as well the day.
Photo from
Another organization, PlanetSolar has built an entirely solar-powered yacht that it plans to circumnavigate the globe with. The boat was christened in April 2010.
Photo from Green-the-world.net
Photo from fashioningtech.com
Until recently, organic solar cells were only able to convert about 2% of the sun’s energy into electricity, but one company, Solarmer Energy has achieved a 7.9% efficiency rating as certified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in February 2010. The company plans to start producing solar fabrics later in 2010.
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