Solar Ivy
The above are ivy-shaped solar panels. They are being developed by Brooklyn based SMIT (Sustainably Minded Interactive Technology). They are designed to flutter on a house, thus collecting both wind AND solar power.
According to Inhabitat:
The Solar Ivy system is modular in nature and made up of ‘bricks’ of 5 leaves which may be scaled to any size necessary. A 4 x 7 foot strip of Solar Ivy is capable of generating 85 Watts of solar power. The advantage of this type of system is that it may be easily mounted on a vertical wall due to its light weight. Another ingenious attribute of Solar Ivy is that its light-sourcing leaves are not static, allowing them to move around and catch the sun from many directions. Due to the organic shape of each panel, they look and act like real leaves, providing a more authentic climbing ivy aesthetic.
Pretty neat! I can’t wait for some of these new solar technologies to come on the market. This one is actually kind of attractive. Here they are on a house:
