Paul Villinski’s Emergency Response Studio is a solar-powered trailer that is designed to be used as a mobile studio. The trailer that formed the basis for the design was salvaged and it was built with the intention of allowing artists to quickly establish themselves in post-disaster areas so that they can start creating - because you know that people need freshly-produced modern art like they need food or water. (more…)
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Clothing with solar panels in it has always looked way too geeky to attract much interest, but when you throw Ermenegildo Zegna into the mix, things do get a little more interesting. This Zegna solar-power ski jacket features solar panels that have been discretely incorporated, allowing wearers to charge up their portable devices while they are on the slopes (hopefully they don’t suck at skiing, crash and bust up their precious devices in the process).
Yes, that is a camel with solar panels mounted on its back. I could let you guess what they are for, but I won’t. The solar cells power a small refrigerator, which allows them to deliver heat-sensitive vaccines to remote health centers that serve nomadic communities in Africa. When refrigeration is not needed, the solar system provides lighting at the clinic. To back up the solar system, for the rare times that the sun is not shining in the desert, there is also a foot-powered generator. [Tree Hugger via MAKE]
The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) is a newly built NASA spacecraft that will be launched, weather conditions permitting, on October 19. It is hoped that it will travel to the edge of our solar system and return data and images that will hopefully provide a better understanding of the processes involved in the “termination shock” and those that occur in the space beyond.
This is the coolest DIY project I have seen in a long time, and definitely an interesting project if you want to live off the grid. Fifteen columns of soda cans are used to harvest the suns rays and provide some pretty good water heating performance.
According to the maker:
Peak BTU performance was observed during the noon hour period in October 2001 wherein the temp rise was 50 to 54F degrees resulting in a 9000 to 9720 Btu or 2636 to 2847 Watts. Peak BTU performance will actually increase in colder weather due to the rise in temperature between input and output temperature and a lower angle of incidence.
What you need is a whole lot of soda cans, some conductive black paint and the time, patience and skills to pull a build like this off. Check out the video for some more technical details. [Cansolair via Hacked Gadgets]
