The sustainable design group called SMIT (an acronym for Sustainably Minded Interactive Technology) has been working on lightweight solar photovoltaic (PV) panels for several years. We've seen them before with their Solar Ivy, a method for making an interesting kind of solar energy collector which takes its cues from ivy growing on buildings.
SMIT's latest development is Tensile Solar, which offers low-cost, lightweight fabric structures with integrated thin film solar photovoltaic material to produce electricity as well as to provide shade with a lightweight material. The PV materials are modular, which allows individual leaves to be replaced as needed.
SMIT offers a range of thin film materials for use in their tensile structures, depending on the end user's needs and conditions. These can include amorphous silicon for locations withpredominantly cloudy conditions, CIGS for high efficiency, or organic PV for toxin-free, completely recyclable PV materials.
via: GOOD Environment
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written by Corina|Electric car, May 26, 2011
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MAY 24
"If it looks like in the picture above, it really is great. And it sure..."
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