Dutch designer Marjan van Aubel has developed a table that is able to transform sunlight into enough energy to charge your gadgets. The Current Table, as it is called, is capable of performing in this way due to a special process that is very similar to photosynthesis in plants. More specifically, the table is covered by glass panels that contain a dye-synthesized solar cell, which utilizes color properties to generate an electrical current, in much the same way that plants use green chlorophyll to transform sunlight into energy.
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One of the winners of this year’s American Institute of Architecture’s Small Project Practitioners Knowledge Community 8th annual Small Project Awards is Small House in an Olive Grove designed by Cooper Joseph Studio. The home is located in the Dry Creek Valley near Sonoma, California and functions almost completely off-the-grid.
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A team of researchers at UC Berkeley is developing a hydraulic seafloor ‘carpet’ that could be used to harvest the energy of ocean waves and convert it to usable clean energy. Since waves are constant, as opposed to sun and wind, this could prove a viable source of carbon-free energy for coastal regions. Wave energy is considered a huge potential source of renewable energy, but the systems for harnessing it are still very underdeveloped. Since there has been a rise in population in coastal cities this form of energy harvesting could prove a great, and, more importantly, clean source of renewable energy.
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