Today is all about becoming sustainable. The human race has caused a lot
of damage to this earth and now that we are faced with the repercussions, the
time has come for thoughts to run wild and innovation come to light.
No...I mean literally, innovation has
come to light. Solar energy has been one of the biggest endeavors in regards to
the idea of a fully sustainable lifestyle. Research and development has led to
solar panels on houses, chargers for phones, technology for cars, and many,
many more. Now, it looks like will be taken even further.
Sheila
Kennedy, an architect and professor at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, is convinced that solar textiles will revolutionize
the way we collect and consume power. By using flexible materials to convert
sunlight to energy, “soft power” can be harnessed. Her firm has been working
with a thin-film photovoltaic material; a fabric that looks and moves like
cloth but does the job of a solar panel. The photovoltaic material is paired
with a semi-conductor material that takes sun energy and does two things; some
of transformed into electricity and some turns into light. There are
rechargeable batteries into the hem that can be inserted into a larger home
battery for use.
Although
still in the prototype stages, this material can be the starting force of an
era where even our curtains can be used for clean energy.
For More Information, Read the
Original Article at http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/07/01/solar.textiles/index.html
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