Yoon-Hui Kim and Eun-Kyung Kim have given us the Solar Vertical Lamp - an ingenius invention that melds the ideas of ambient mood lighting and green resources, like the sun’s power.  The solar vertical lamp utilizes solar collecting panels on the back of vertical blinds to collect energy all day, and once the time comes that you need to use that perfect, soft ambient light for whatever reason (hint, hint), on it comes.

The Solar vertical Lamp comes in a floor lamp style, a table lamp style, and a chandelier type lamp.  Check them out.

Make Mag has a purchasable kit for the HexPummer LED lantern - which is solar powered!  The little LEDs inside “pumm” when the levels of light go down, draining the batteries in the little device of the day’s rays.

These things are cool!  You know me and the nerdy stuff!

Have you ever checked out the “Maker’s Shed” at Make Magazine?  Do you like to put stuff together and build circuits?  Check out the Maker’s Shed.

My alma mater, The Ohio State University, and their Institute for Materials Research has come up with a solar material that utilizes all wavelengths of light across the spectrum - so in layman’s terms, this material can absorb energy from the entire visible spectrum of light!  It’s been a major problem for years with solar voltaics and the amount of energy they’re able to absorb - but OSU has solved this problem with their new super plastic full-spectrum light absorber.  From Inhabitat’s article:

The new electrically-conductive plastic includes materials such as molybdenum and titanium. It operates upon the same principles as standard photovoltaic materials, wherein light energizes the atoms of the material and knocks electrons free to generate a current. Whereas in traditional photovoltaics the electrons are removed for a fraction of a second, in the new hybrid material the electrons are excited for much longer (7 million times) than before.

Wow.  GO BUCKEYES!

Jongoh Lee has invented a solar-powered “streetlight” (funny enough called the Invisible Streetlight) device for parks and places with trees.  So, really anywhere, per se, can this device be used.  It’s designed to disappear among the leaves and branches, collecting solar energy all day, and then utilizing LED’s at night to expunge that collected energy for illumination.

A blurb on the design, from Coroflot:

Invisible Streetlight emits light at nighttime by saving energy from sunlight during the day. The most innovative element of Invisible Streetlight is that it does not require a support because the flexible body in the shape of tree branch is directly installed to the trees lining a street. Installation is simple in parks and outskirts of urban centers. Also, Invisible Streetlight does not spoil scenic beauty of the surrounding areas.

Jongoh’s design was a finalist for the 2008 International Design Excellence Award.  Too bad it didn’t place - I love the design!  I only worry about people stealing the hell out of this thing, as it’s awesome.  Everyone has their concerns - energy storage, theft protection, tree damage, intensity, etc.

Gizmodo posted about this little solar charger from Vivien Muller - The Solar Tree, a device that is a lot like a little electric metal bonzai tree.  Pretty to look at, AND it makes my iPhone charge!

The Solar Tree is customizeable, as you can see from the images.  Make your own bonzai shape - it’s all gonna give you the power.  (oh geez…)