Jonah over at MAKE points out that you can actually make your Arduino a lot greener. How? Use a Solio with an external USB cable to provide your favorite microcontroller with power. If you don’t know what a Solio is, it’s essentially a small solar powered gadget charger. While this isn’t exactly a breathtaking hack or anything like that, it’s a new way of using a Solio and an alternative way to power your Arduino come this Halloween!
Apparently, NXT STEP blog reader DTAAX’s watch must have broke, which would explain why he designed this LEGO sundial. This DIY finds a new way to tell time the old way. It was built using the LEGO NTX platform (plus a PDA for trigonometric functions) using a slew of light and touch sensors, allowing the sundial to perform like any other sundial save that it’s powered by three motors.
After the LEGO set rotates for some time, Bluetooth communications are sent out which detail the exact magnetic point in which the maximum level of light had been seen. It is accurate within fifteen minutes of actual time, so don’t go using it for your next dentist appointment despite it having a better track record than traditional sundials. Unfortunately, it will not fit in your LEGO backpack like a normal watch or clock would.
In the future everything is microscopic. We’ve got robots that can get inside your intestines to distribute medicine with their tiny robot hands, but what about solar race cars no bigger than a quarter? Now we’ve got those too. This 33 x 22mm car runs on light, artificial or otherwise. Just chase after it with a flashlight and watch it go. You can grab your own for about $23. Try not to lose sight of it.
In an attempt to turn everyday household windows into solar panels, two MIT researchers have created “organic solar concentrators” out of dyed glass that could potentially increase traditional solar panel efficiency by 50%. Imagine fulfilling all your electrical needs with the help of your typical household glass windows.
I sure hope you haven’t desecrated your roof with inefficient solar paneling for no better reason than to impress your neighbors. In comparison to expensive solar paneling, these dyed windows will give you more bang for your buck. Which means you’ll have more money to burn on things like that stretch Hummer you’ve always wanted. Can I stop paying my electrical bill yet?
Almost like the movie “Sunshine,” we’ll soon be probing the Sun, except we wont be using a suicide squad of top scientists and astronauts. NASA has decided to finally go to the sun after 400 years of studying the star from afar. The mission is being called Solar Probe+ (pronounced ‘Solar Prove Plus’).
We’ll be using a heat-resistant spacecraft made specifically to dive into the Sun’s atmosphere. For the first time ever we plan to visit a living, breathing star. The project could go through as early as 2015 and is said to take several years to complete. With this stellar project, we’ll be able to solve two great mysteries of astrophysics and make many new discoveries during the mission.
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Parasolar, a solar parasol, is the beach umbrella of the future. What with all this “global warming” stuff going on, mankind is pretty much screwed. You’ll have to do your part, like harnessing solar power into umbrellas. Use the Parasolar during sunny days and it will capture solar energy to recharge your gadgets and gear.
Equipped with 12-volt output and two USB ports, the Parasolar can absorb enough energy to power a slew of human needs and it comes in a sleek case that just screams, “I’m thinking about the environment.” This is exactly the kind of concept we need an abundance of to keep Al Gore happy.
