As we’ve discussed in this blog, portable structures of all kinds are becoming very important to the world, particularly in the face of rampant destruction caused by natural disasters. Portable shelters are providing great relief for these areas even as projections put full recovery years and years off. Once housing issues are solved, another major concern facing Haiti and other such countries is the search for energy sources to continue the recovery effort.
A new development in solar technology may be here as soon as 2016. A Norwegian company named EnSol is in the process of developing and patenting a spray on film that could potentially generate energy from the solar rays of the sun. The technology of the film would be juxtaposed with that of expensive, unattractive photovoltaic solar panels, which are currently the most prominently used source of solar energy.
Currently the product is being tested for use on windows, which seem to take to the spray very well. There is some hope that eventually the spray could be used on all buildings and surfaces, which would bode well for energy concerns in countries like Haiti. The linked article above explains how the spray would work in the long run:
“The spray-on film saps up solar energy because it’s made from metal nanoparticles, with the Professor of Nanotechnology at Leicester University, Chris Binns, explaining that ‘some light has to be absorbed in order to generate power but the windows would just have a slight tinting (though a transmission of only 8-10% is common place for windows in the ‘sun belt’ areas of the world).'”
This possible invention also has the potential to change things for the
rest of the world. There is an energy crisis afoot all over the world; it is just more difficult to deal with in disaster ridden countries. A spray on film would be much less expensive than purchasing hundreds of solar panels for various institutions to become energy solvent, saving money for governments and countries as a whole. Picture via Gizmag