Solar curtains

[bananas]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/07/01/solar.textiles/index.html

Capture power with your curtains

By Hilary Whiteman

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Imagine every time you closed your curtains, you were capturing enough solar energy to power your laptop. The technology is available, but no one's packaged it up in a handy DIY kit at your local hardware store.


Solar textiles use the same technology as traditional solar panels to convert sunlight into energy.

Sheila Kennedy hopes to be the first. She's not an interior designer but an architect and professor in practice at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is convinced that solar textiles will revolutionize the way we collect and consume power.

"I've been thinking about what happens when power and light become flexible, literally flexible," she said.

She calls it "soft power," as in the "soft energy path," a term coined Amory Lovins in the 1970s as a way to describe a world where renewable energy would gradually replace the centralized grid.

<snip>

[pleah]

1. That is very cool. K&R

[windoe]

2. Saved to my 'alternative energy' favorites~

for future use. Thanks!!

[AndyTiedye]

3. But Who Wants to Keep Their Curtains Closed During the Day?

[Vincardog]

4. Have you ever dealt with Texas summer?

[deek]

6. I always keep my curtains closed during the day

Save energy, fading of furniture, warping of media, etc.

[diane in sf]

8. Solar blinds would be cool (literally), because when you use them the angle is adjusted exactly

to reflect the sun and still have light in the room and some view outward. I always use blinds during heatwaves.

[roguevalley]

5. I want some. I also want to invest in her company. :)

[DCKit]

7. It would make a whole lot more sense to mount them OUTSIDE the house.

The frame, glass, sash and mullions/dividers on the window panes are going to block a lot of usable sunlight. Think solar awnings, instead.

Other than the solar chips used to power calculators, the shit's just too expensive to use anywhere but full sun.

[CrispyQ]

9. It looks cool, too.

It would make a bitchin' Halloween costume!