Friday, July 4, 2008

[ Technical Textiles - http://www.greenstrides.com ]

Imagine your window curtains accomplishing more than just looking pretty and providing privacy…What if they could convert the absorbed sunlight into your home’s power source?
That’s exactly what architect Sheila Kennedy is working on. She calls the ability of flexible materials to convert sunlight into energy, “soft power”. “From a technical view, this thin-film photovolataic material has the potential to be produced in very high volumes, with a very low embodied energy and a low carbon footprint. These new photovoltaic materials can be produced in the same way one might print and produce a newspaper, roll to roll. That can make it very affordable,” Kennedy said.
According to an article at CNN, She talks about material that you could reel in from the roof and wrap around to make a new type of instant room, a Zip Room. Plastic wall plugs would cease to exist; instead you’d harness your appliance into the surface or edge of the textile.
It may be difficult to wrap our minds around such a concept now, but it may just be the wave of the future.

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