Solar Power Goes Portable With Power-Generating Films - Reuters

[hatrack]

LONDON- "European scientists have developed light, flexible solar panels that could be sewn on fabrics and placed on surfaces to charge objects ranging from cell phones and DVD players to batteries. Developed by scientists working on a European Union research project called H-Alpha Solar (H-AS), the panels could be on the market in three years.

"The new solar panels will be cheap too, because they can be mass-produced in rolls that can be cut as required and wrapped around clothes," New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday. A pliable panel sewn on the back of a jacket and costing less than 10 pounds ($19.35) could charge a mobile phone during a summer stroll, according to the magazine.

The panels are constructed in a similar manner to conventional solar panels but are only slightly thicker than photographic film.

EDIT

The panels are thin and bendy but unlike the best solar cells that work at efficiencies above 20 percent, the pliable panels are only about 7 percent efficient. But the scientists believe the trade-off is worth it because the flexible panels could be more useful than conventional ones."

EDIT

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/28621/story.htm

And, of course, they were developed in the EU - certainly not in America.

[hlthe2b]

1. 10 pounds to power cell phone...40 pounds to power a small laptop?

If we get everyone to walk around wearing that, we sure as heck won't have an obesity problem! LOL

[Schema Thing]

2. Obesity solved tooooooo???!!!

OOOHHHH RoscoeP.Coltrain!!! Those Euros think of everything!! *shakes fist*

[BlueEyedSon]

3. That's pounds sterling (money), not pounds avoirdupois (weight)

[Muzzle Tough]

7. 10 pounds of money is just as heavy as 10 pounds of solar cells.

Heh heh heh!

Seriously. This is great news.

I don't own a cell phone or a pager or a laptop. I like to not be bothered when I go for walks. But this technology is good for many different uses. But putting it on people seems kind of weird. Maybe putting it on a rooftop would be better.

[Ready4Change]

4. ( I think they meant the British monetary unit pounds)

Just incase you haven't figured that out yet.

Also, there is also at least one product on the market right now with these incorporated. It's a jacket designed to hold lots of electronic devices like cell phones, PDAs, MP3 players, etc., and also provides routing paths for networking and headphone wires.

http://www.scottevest.com/index.shtml

You have to dig deep to find the info on them, but they are available as an option.

[hlthe2b]

5. Actually, I was being facetious....the point being " wearing the device..

on a casual stroll!" Sorry, should have added a sarcasm warning.

The ScottEvests/jackets do look sort of interesting, though (but costly)

[Ready4Change]

6. Heheh, ok, no prob.

From the pics I've seen of the jackets panels, it looks like they are strips, maybe a tad stiffer than the surrounding material, and definitely not a hard, solid sheet like the solar panels most are familiar with. I'd be interested to see some in person and assess whether it could be used on hiking gear, for recharging hiking GPS units and such. Could be nice for extended trips.

[bemildred]

8. If it makes it easier to get off the grid, it's a good thing.

I wonder how long they will last in service?

[LiberalEsto]

9. How do you launder them?

Inquiring minds want to know

[bemildred]

11. You got me, I'm not really interested in that.

It's the cheap, light rolls of power generation cells that I
find interesting. Silicon lasts very well, but is expensive
to fabricate and heavy to move around.

[thecrow]

10. This would be a great application for tents!

You could go camping and have solar energy at your fingertips.
They could power lights, coolers etc.
Neat idea!!

[bemildred]

12. That's more what I'm thinking about. nt

[One_Life_To_Give]

13. Hear this too often!

It seems every couple of months somebody claims, "Soon we will have really cheap solar panels."

Bottom line is solar panel currently run $5.00USD per Watt. To put 2KW up costs $10,000, another couple thousand for a 2KW grid intertie inverter, plus installation costs. This $16-$20K system generates 12KWH/day in the SW US. For a payback period of well over 20 years.

When the panels come down closer to $1 per Watt, it might make sense to field significant numbers of panels. But at current prices only some of the tax breaks make any of this worthwhile.