Follow this blog:
RSS

Solar-power art, some culture with your energy?

By | April 2, 2010, 11:16 AM PDT

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

Start your week smarter with our weekly e-mail newsletter. It's your cheat sheet for good ideas. Get it.

Melissa Mahony

About Melissa Mahony

Melissa Mahony was a contributing editor for SmartPlanet from 2010 to 2011.

Melissa Mahony

Melissa Mahony

Contributing Editor, Energy

Melissa Mahony has written for Scientific American Mind, Audubon Magazine, Plenty Magazine and LiveScience. Formerly, she was an editor at Wildlife Conservation magazine. She holds degrees from Boston College and New York University's Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program. She is based in New York.

Follow her on Twitter.

Melissa Mahony

Melissa Mahony

Melissa does not have financial holdings that would influence how or what she covers. She currently works for the Wildlife Conservation Society as an editor. Should Melissa cover a topic in which the WCS is involved, she will disclose this fact in her writing.

She writes for SmartPlanet and is not an employee of CBS.

If you liked this, don't miss...
1
Comments

Join the conversation!

Follow via:
RSS
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Solar-power art, some culture with your energy?
Certainly interesting, but as if solar panels aren't cost-ineffective enough, this raises the bar for ROI Fail.
Posted by wrenchmonkey
5th Apr 2010
Join the conversation
Formatting +
BB Codes - Note: HTML is not supported in forums
  • [b] Bold [/b]
  • [i] Italic [/i]
  • [u] Underline [/u]
  • [s] Strikethrough [/s]
  • [q] "Quote" [/q]
  • [ol][*] 1. Ordered List [/ol]
  • [ul][*] · Unordered List [/ul]
  • [pre] Preformat [/pre]
  • [quote] "Blockquote" [/quote]

Join the SmartPlanet community and join the conversation! Signing up is fast and free. Don't wait -- we want to hear your opinion!