Solar power has been deemed by certain quarters to be the savior of mankind, as it is one renewable source of energy that isn’t going to explode anytime soon, and even better is it does not result in greenhouse emissions. Too bad solar cells and panels of today are not as efficient as we would like them to be, otherwise we would all be driving solar-powered sedans that look like actual cars by now. Still, progress is made on that front, with the introduction of thin film solar that enables solar energy to be incorporated into smaller, more irregularly-shaped items and perhaps even clothing.
Risø DTU, a laboratory at the Technical University of Denmark, recently rolled out a small, lightweight flashlight that runs off the sun’s power thanks to polymer solar cells on it. The flashlight takes an unconventional design approach, looking more like a credit card than anything else, where its solar cells will juice the built-in lithium polymer battery to power the LED located on top.
It would be interesting to see where this kind of development will eventually end up from the consumer’s end point of view. What other practical use of solar energy can you think of?
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