NEW SOLAR COLLECTORS WOULD USE WINDOWS INSTEAD OF PANELS
Scientific Blogging Imagine windows that not only provide a clear view and illuminate rooms, but also use sunlight to efficiently help power the building they are part of. MIT engineers report a new approach to harnessing the sun's energy that could allow just that. The work involves the creation of a novel 'solar concentrator.' "Light is collected over a large area [like a window] and gathered, or concentrated, at the edges," explains Marc A. Baldo, leader of the work and the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Career Development Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering.
As a result, rather than covering a roof with expensive solar cells (the semiconductor devices that transform sunlight into electricity), the cells only need to be around the edges of a flat glass panel. In addition, the focused light increases the electrical power obtained from each solar cell "by a factor of over 40," Baldo says.
Because the system is simple to manufacture, the team believes that it could be implemented within three years-even added onto existing solar-panel systems to increase their efficiency by 50 percent for minimal additional cost. That, in turn, would substantially reduce the cost of solar electricity.
SMART HOUSE TO GO WITH YOUR SMART CAR
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We Make Money Not Art - Richard Horden asked his architecture students at both the Technical University of Munich and the Tokyo Institute of Technology to produce designs for a 2.65m [8.6 feet] cubed living space. Their Micro-Compact Home is a lightweight, transportable minimal dwelling inspired by Japanese tea houses, the Smart car and first class air travel. Prototype units will now be used to create a village on the Technical University of Munich campus.
The homes, each costing around E50,000, will be constructed in a factory as complete cubes and transported to the site where they will be craned onto an aluminum triangular-shaped sub-frame. The cube will "touch the ground lightly" and allow nature to flow beneath the structure unimpeded.
The homes’ layout is divided into distinct zones. A compact area for the shower and WC, with the kitchen separated by a sliding door. On the central axis is the entrance and kitchen circulation area, which also serves as seating for up to five people round a sunken dining area. An overhead double bed can be folded up out of the way while the dining area can be transformed into a second sleeping space.
The dwelling integrates state-of-the-art technology including a sound system, flat screen TV, and temperature controls. It requires no furniture and all storage space is cleverly concealed and integrated into the dwelling.
Horden anticipates that the units will only have a life cycle of five to 10 years and he hopes that the construction materials will be recycled or re-used.
El costo que anuncian parece privativo pero sería interesante ver cómo adaptar este diseño a nuestra realidad en México… Un reto para nuestros arquitectos y estudiantes de arquitectura… Aunque para nosotros nada como un cuartito de adobe que podría combinarse con la energía solar que nos anuncian más arriba. Lo mando como una curiosidad entre tantas de las que nos anuncian... Sylvia María (Mamadoc)
Sin conexión 
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