As solar power gets more affordable, we're finding it all the right places.
1. Solar-Powered Palm Tree
Swiss artists Drzach and Suchy are harnessing free sunlight to create solar-powered palm trees they call Musa Lamphyris. Their design embeds flexible, photovoltaic panels into palm-leaf-shaped luminescent fabric. By day, the panels absorb sunlight and by night, the energy is used to cast a beautiful glow.
2. Solar-Powered Bike Lane
In South Korea, a solar-powered bike lane stretches for 20 miles between Daejeon and Sejong. The panels do double duty by generating electricity and also providing a canopy for cyclists, protecting them from the hot sun and rain. See a drone video of the bike path here.
3. Solar-Powered Classroom
Solar power is used to generate energy for these modular classroom prototype buildings designed by San Francisco-based Anderson Anderson Architecture for the town of Ewa Beach, Hawaii. Each 960-square-foot structure is modular and portable, producing four times as much energy as they need.
4. Aluminium Battery
Excess solar energy needs to be stored and these new batteries from scientists at Stanford’s Hongjie Dai could be just the place. The rechargeable battery is made from graphite and aluminium, instead of lithium-ion. Not only is the new battery safer for the environment than lithium-ion batteries, it won't burst into flames. And even better, they fully recharge in one minute.
5. Parking Protected Bike Lane
Car-obsessed Los Angeles just got its first parking-protected bike lane. It's not the first the nation - in fact you can see a running list of protected bike lanes here - but it is a big step toward reducing possible collisions between cyclists and motorists. Not everyone thinks so. Just take a look at the controversy raging in the comments section of the Streetsblog L.A. blog.
6. Spiderbots
This week at an Intel Developer Forum in Shenzhen, China, CEO Brian Krzanich lead a group of spiderbots in synchronized motion. Krzanich didn't do it to demonstrate the future of invasive spiderbots, but to show off Intel's button-sized computer, called the Curie. Wearing the Curie on a wristband, the CEO was able to control a group of four spiderbots with gestures. With a flick of his wrist, Krzanich got the robots to change colour, pump their “fists," fall asleep and wake up.
7. Mechanical Horse
Exhibited at this year's Winter Equestrian Festival, in Wellington, Florida, you'll find The Mechanical Horse, a life-sized version of the real thing. It was made by Brooklyn-based metal sculptor Adrian Landon and features over 100 bearings, custom laser-cut sprockets, 30 feet of chain, and 23 articulating joints. It's a beautiful piece of art that you can also see in motion in this video, if you can't make it to Florida.
8. Dancing Robots
Who doesn't love a swarm of do-it-yourself, glow-in-the-dark, gesture-controlled robots? People who hate hyphens, that's who. This fleet of 84 3D-printed (another one!) robots are part of a dance ensemble called Light Play, designed by Sarah Petkus and Mark Koch. The duo will be showing off their creation at the San Matteo Maker Faire in May. In the meantime, you can see the robots in action here.
9. Apple Luxury Watch Store
If you can't afford Apple's new Watch, which is expected to retail for US$349 at the low end, then you really won't be able to afford the high-end version available at the Isetan luxury store in Tokyo, Japan. The gold model is priced at US$17,000. Pre-orders were available starting this week and the Watch goes on sale in 9 countries starting April 24.
10. Clothes Light Up to Musical Beats
Students at Cornell University fashioned clothing that rocks to a beat. The so-called electrogarments use strips of electroluminescent tape, optical fibre cloth, LEDs and sensors controlled by an Arduino microcontroller. When music is sensed, the computer chip causes the tape, fibres and LEDs to flash.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please adhere to proper blog etiquette when posting your comments. This blog owner will exercise his absolution discretion in allowing or rejecting any comments that are deemed seditious, defamatory, libelous, racist, vulgar, insulting, and other remarks that exhibit similar characteristics. If you insist on using anonymous comments, please write your name or other IDs at the end of your message.