SolarGaps - blinds, producing electricity

Usual blinds are used to protect the premises from sunlight. The creator of the SolarGaps entrepreneur Eugene Eric expanded their functions by adding lamellas to massive monocrystalline solar cells. This behind the blinds does not only block sunlight, but also generate electricity.

In addition, a light sensor is mounted in the blinds to track the location of the Sun. Now, depending on where it is, automatically change the slope angle of slats, put them to the best efficiency. There is also a "managed" version using a mobile application for a smartphone.In addition, the application allows you to open and close the blinds, including at certain times, monitor the amount of energy received, and also open when someone enters the room.

New material can harvest sunlight by day and release heat at night

As solar power becomes a bigger part of our overall energy mix, scientists are working on more efficient ways of storing the power of the Sun for use during the night-time, or on particularly cloudy days. And now a new type of material has been developed that can do just that - store solar energy when it's in abundance, and release it as heat later on as required.