All About Design
Hanging out with the sun has many solar benefits; yep you can whip up a concept design that harnesses the solar energy and then juices up your gadgets. How does this Sunbox work then? It plays on this theory that on your way out to work, you hang out the device on your clothesline and when you get back in the evening, it’s all charged up. Latch it on to your TV, Music System, hairdryer; basically stuff that you use only when you’re back home!
Designer: Jinsic Kim
Now here’s a creative design that is not only Green, but also cost-effective. Solar Traffic Light has been designed to include Discolor LED (Light Emitting Diode) technology, essentially hosting all the three colors of the lights within a single unit. Red, Amber and Green all together! The lights source power from the Solar Panel on top of the unit, which is elegantly designed as a hood. Quite Brilliant!
Designers: Cheng-Tsung Feng, Yao-Chieh Lin & Bo-Jin Wang
Blinds on the windows do nothing but hang out there and shade the room from the sun. Say if we were to add functionality to it, what can we include….k, give it some Solar Power, plus add in some engineering tech, and pesto you got the Blind Air Conditioner! An AC that doubles up as blinds and sources green power from the sun. Design-wise it all adds up, but function-wise and scope-wise I’m still on the fence about it. So what’s your take on it?
Designer: Minjoo Kwon
What is life without color and what is design without innovation? Addressing the two is the Hélio DAB Radio. The design uses colorful solar Grätzel panels that are transparent and add a bit of psychedelic creativity to the room. The Grätzel solar panels get their color from vegetal ink, upping the green quotient. The LED panel and Speakers compliment the radio and are in sync with the form. It’s the sort of thing we would love to bring home!
A short text about The Grätzel technology:
“A new generation of solar cells has been born: thin, colored, translucent and even flexible. The source of this revolution is EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), where Professor Michael Graetzel, inspired by plant photosynthesis, began to use molecules from colorants to transform the sun’s light into electricity. His work drew heavy praise from the scientific community, resulting in a World Technology Award. While many other technological developments have followed, designers need to take advantage of the extraordinary potential of these “dye-sensitized” solar cells.”
Designer: Léa Longis
The practical application of Some Shine Solar Energy Storage System is quite simple. You hang up the cool looking Solar Curtain on your window, and keep the battery-pack hooked to the base. It soaks in the solar energy during the daytime, stores it and uses it to replenish your gadgets at night. Hook up your stuff via the USB port and you’re done for the night. Me really , really likes this!
Designer: Ming-Ching Hsueh
