Combining nanotechnology with local crafts to make portable solar-powered lights could help bring electricity to some of the nearly two billion people without access to it.\u00c2\u00a0 The United States-based Portable Light Project, which is a non-profit initiative led by Kennedy & Violich Architecture and Global Solar Energy, aims to integrate clean energy and lighting with indigenous textile production.\u00c2\u00a0 The project provides kits and training on how to weave tiny solar cells into shirts, woven items and bags produced by remote communities in developing countries.\u00c2\u00a0 The integration of the solar cells with the textiles allows batteries and devices such as mobile phones to be charged on the move, and LED lights enable communities to work and study after dark.\u00c2\u00a0 Sheila Kennedy, the Boston-based architect who leads the project, said, “You simply put it [the textile with solar cells] out in the sun for about three hours. It harvests the sunlight and turns it into electricity. Then you can use it for up to seven hours.”\u00c2\u00a0 Pilot projects are underway in Brazil, Kenya, Haiti, Nicaragua, Madagascar, Mexico, and South Africa, in conjunction with local non-governmental organizations.\u00c2\u00a0 Kennedy said that while there is still no economic model for mass production to meet global electricity needs in remote communities, the estimated price of US$16 per item could be paid off in a year via microloans.\u00c2\u00a0 Paulo Martins, a Brazilian sociologist who studies the social impacts of nanotechnology, said that integrating textiles with solar energy is a global trend.\u00c2\u00a0 “We need to keep it available at affordable costs to the ones who really need it,” he said.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153[In Brazil] we invest huge amounts of money in technologies that can make our country a major player in global markets \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 But we constantly forget to develop science in a way that suits our true social needs.”<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.scidev.net\/en\/climate-change-and-energy\/sun-harvesting-textiles-power-remote-villages-1.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Combining nanotechnology with local crafts to make portable solar-powered lights could help bring electricity to some of the nearly two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology-update"],"yoast_head":"\n