new technology

I am always looking to what is coming in technology, and how that can free-up form to allow it to do what it wants to do. Solar panels have long been something that students typically stick on, rather than considering them to be a material that has its own unique properties. After all, what is the difference between a photovoltaic panel and a brick? But new technology has the potential to allow for still other ways of integrating this essential technology. (For integrate it we must! Some of my colleagues can’t seem to find a way to look at these aesthetically, yet see no problem in having boilers and AC. Why is one tech acceptable, yet another not? Habit, mostly. Habit of thought.)

These spherical solar cells are really cool. The actual cells are the little dots, and the whole in this case is inserted into a concentrating lens about the size of a fist. The nice thing about this is that they could be mounted onto the flowing surfaces of a biomorphic project, maybe looking like dew drops on a leaf. Another cool form factor I’ve come across is this spinning conical-shaped collector. Much larger than the sphere, of course, but another take that alters the flat plate mindset.

There have been so many innovations happening in the lab and in start-ups. Particularly interesting are the nano scale developments, such as this light scattering pattern. Of course I wish it would be a visible pattern maker, but even that is possible, since more color options are becoming available as well.

I am a graduate of SCI-Arc, which has had three different locations over its existence. A Home Depot opened right next to its second location. It was apparently a beta-testing store, meaning that they used the store to evaluate trends for the overall market. The way the students use material is nothing like the standard market; they see potential and application completely unlike the average person. I like to think that the way students use things, how they see the potential in things, can influence markets.