As innovation reaches new heights and the need for renewable energy grows, solar technology becomes more impressive by the day.
Accordingly, researchers and companies, both at home and abroad, are now devising some pretty futuristic solar equipment and solutions. From 3D-printed solar trees to floating solar panels, there’s something bigger and better being created almost every day.
Today, we dive into some of the most exciting solar technology we’ve seen so far. Continue reading to take a look at our favourite solutions!
Shaped like a giant crystal ball, the spherical sun power generator is a stunning herald of a cleaner, more environmentally friendly future.
What’s special about this particular device, which was built by German Architect, Andre Broessel, is that it extracts energy even during the nighttime and in low-light regions. Through the combination of spherical geometry principles and a dual-axis tracking system, this device yields twice the amount of energy produced by more traditional solar panels.
Apart from its unusual design, the system can even collect light from the moon and can be used for a variety of purposes. From an electric car charging station to a high-power lamp at nighttime, it’s exciting to see what more will be done with this type of solar technology in the near future!
While this may sound like something that belongs in the future, solar cars – which may even be able to compete in races – are now being developed.
The UK, in particular, once attempted to pioneer a vehicle that was meant to be family-sized and road legal. Not just that – it also had to be deemed eligible to compete in an epic, 3,022-kilometre race from Darwin to Adelaide in Australia. What really caught our attention was the fact that this four-seat vehicle could complete this route with an energy consumption of only 64 kWh, compared to the 5,000 kWh required by a typical family vehicle.
The VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland devised an entirely novel way to harness the power of solar energy – through prototypes they called ‘energy harvesting trees’.
Here, the tiny leaves generate and store solar energy, which may be used to power small appliances, including mobile phones. What’s amazing is that these “trees” can be placed either outdoors or indoors and have the ability to harvest kinetic energy from wind and temperature changes in the environment too!
Leveraging flexible organic solar cells within its leaves, these trees are able to derive power from multiple sources because of their multi-converter system. The trunks are 3D-printed using certain wood-based biocomposites, making them supremely environmentally friendly.
Another innovation we were really wowed by was the massive floating solar panels developed by French company, Ciel & Terre. Their Hydrelio Floating PV System, as it is known, allows standard PV panels to be installed on large bodies of water. From irrigation canals to quarry lakes, there’s almost no watery surface that can’t host these expansive systems.
In addition to their unique placement, these panels are supposedly easy to install, dismantle, and can be configured for both high and low-power generation. They also don’t require any tools or heavy equipment and are even fully recyclable!
Installations have already taken place in the UK, Japan, and Australia, making it just a matter of time until this type of solar technology is seen all over the world!
Solar technology is advancing almost every day and its applications are stretching far beyond power generation in our homes and offices.
Given the innovative products highlighted above, it’s clear that our future will be closely wrapped with more affordable and powerful solar applications. Making the switch now, therefore, is just one step in the right direction. After all, why delay the inevitable when you can adopt solar technology even today in the form of top-of-the-line solar panels?
Choose Earthsave Solar for all your solar power needs!