Solar energy has been making its way into our collective minds as a viable way to generate electricity and power. Today, the general interest in solar power has changed to more of a craze, with more and more people coming up with ways to incorporate photovoltaic panels into their home and businesses. Solar panels and photovoltaic energy is a more efficient and environmentally friendly way of generating energy, and many people around the world are coming up with interesting and innovative ways to generate solar energy.

The first thing that I came across in my research was a way to use solar energy without solar panels. I first saw a picture of a kitchen in someone’s house. This was a regular looking kitchen, but in the corner and in front of the counter there were floor-to-ceiling clear tubes. Inside the clear tubes was a large amount of water. These are called passive heat storage tubes. The idea is for the tubes to be placed in areas of someone’s home or business that get a lot of sunlight in through the windows. The water in the tubes then heats up and radiates that heat out and into the room. It sort of works like an old-school radiator, but on a much larger scale and the water stays stagnant inside of the tube. Of course, these tubes cannot power a building with electricity, but they do provide heat within a single room. The main purpose is for the tubes to be in someone’s home and the heat that they radiate would help cut down on heating oil and other heating costs. However, there are problems with passive head storage tubes. For starters, one could not depend entirely upon these tubes to give them adequate heat, especially in desperately cold climates. They serve as a good supplementary source of heat, but certainly not a primary. Additionally, the tubes are not too cosmetically appealing. One website says that they can be used as “room dividers or attractive accents” but I’m not buying it. They look more like a storage device for someone’s human clone projects than a way to heat a room.

Passive heat storage tubes… charming.

Around the world people spend a great deal of their time and money on sporting events. Sporting arenas require massive amounts of energy to power lights, scoreboards, television equipment and countless other facets to make their events fun. Most arenas still rely on power from power plants to power their arenas but arenas such as Fenway Park, AT&T Park, and Lincoln Financial Field use some solar power to power their stadiums. But one stadium uses 100% solar power as their energy source: The National Stadium in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The stadium is a spherical shape and uses 8,844 solar panels as its roof. It is estimated that the stadium generates 1.14 million Kilowatt-hours of energy a year, which is enough to power 80% of its surrounding neighborhood. This project is incredibly innovative because it takes something that requires a high level of energy to function and turns in into all renewable energy.

The National Stadium. Solar panels visible on roof

A new species of trees has been sprouting up in Serbia. But these trees don’t produce fruit or lumber. Instead, they produce electricity. They’re called Strawberry Trees and they are found in urban centers in Serbia. Strawberry Trees are public cell phone chargers and Wi-Fi stations that are completely run off of solar power. I find that these Strawberry Trees incorporate renewable energy in a way that touches everyone today, through cell phones. Everyone has one, they all need to be charged, so why not use a renewable resource to keep them running? There are currently only 3 Strawberry Trees in Serbia, but more installations are planned. To add to the convenience of the Tree, it stores the solar energy gathered during sunny days so that users can still charge their phones in cloudy weather and at night.

A man sits under a Strawberry Tree in Serbia. Many cell phone chargers visible behind him

Innovations in the industry of solar power seem to be sprouting up all around the world. However, I feel that the US is lacking in their innovations. I find these international innovations very interesting and I will continue to research them.

References

http://solarenergy.net/News/2010040902-7-ways-to-use-solar-energy-around-the-house/

http://mashable.com/2012/01/04/innovative-solar-energy-tech/

http://www.archdaily.com/22520/taiwan-solar-powered-stadium-toyo-ito/

http://www.archdaily.com/22520/taiwan-solar-powered-stadium-toyo-ito/