Solar-power art, some culture with your energy?

What happens when a cryptographer from Basel and a software engineer from Zurich get together?

Energetic art.

Drzach & Suchy have created Pixsols (solar + pixel). Pixsols are solar cells that collect the sun's rays for energy, while casting shadows onto a building's facade. Each shadow represents a black pixel. Arrange the Pixsols in a certain way on the sunny side of your building, and an image (or message) of your choosing could result.

Of course, this image would change as the sun travels the sky (or rather, the Earth spins). The image to the right demonstrates one possibility of a morning vs. afternoon design. On cloudy days (with no shadows), the pattern is scarcely visible.

So far, only Pixsol prototypes exist, and no estimates were given on how much energy this art could create. But hopefully, innovative displays of solar power may help inspire more conventional uses of this renewable energy. If not, art for art's sake?

Watch how Pixsols create:

Via: TreeHugger

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com