As a new year has already come, a new development in the OLED technology is also expected to emerge. Here, it comes! Philips and BASF have recently collaborated to create a transparent OLED that also acts as a window when switched off. Combined with solar cells, the new OLED is also self-powered and energy-gathering, capable of generating electricity during the day and offering electricity in the night. So when you use it as the car roof in the day, the OLED will stay transparent, ensuring you a bright and open interior; while you switch it into an interior light during the night, however, the OLED then offers light with the energy it gathered in daytime.

Designer: Philips and BASF

OLPC XO-3 is a tablet computer designed by San Francisco studio Fuseproject for the “One Laptop Per Child” project, which aims to distribute cheap, full-functional and self-powered tablets to kids in the developing countries. The OLPC XO-3 comes with a green rubber border and a removable cover that houses a solar cell to charge internal batteries. So whenever you need to charge your OLPC XO-3 tablet, simply split off the cover, put it under the sunshine for a while, and then done.

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Any design that features a high efficiency while a low cost is always appreciated, especially when they can bring something good to the environment. That’s why we love the concept of the Inflatable Solar Power Light, an inflatable, waterproof bag built with an LED bulb inside. It can get charged with a solar cell and comes with a battery that holds enough electricity for six hours of light on the low setting. As the light is designed for developing countries that lack electricity, it would be sold at a low price after its launch in January of 2012.

Designer: Anna Stork, siobhan.paganelli & Abby Reed

Researchers from the University of Illinois have exhibited their latest achievement – the Electronic Skin via the Internet. It is hair-thin, constructed with sensors, antenna, LED and other parts and powered by built-in solar batteries to monitor a person’s heartbeat, brain activity, muscle contractions and so on. If you put it besides your throat, the device can even “hear” your words so as to accomplish certain tasks. It can be easily applied to anything, without need for glue. When such amazing things used in the medical field, we bet we humans can benefit more from the advanced technology.

Jon Salerno’s Habitat Micro Home provides a clever and practical way to expand the area of your living space. It uses a small car docked underneath a 100 square feet house to act as an extra room so that the total reconfigurable space inside the Habitat Micro Home would reach 132 square feet.

Moreover, with adjustable solar panels on the house’s roof, the Habitat Micro Home can produce and store electricity energy for daily use.

Designer: Jon Salerno

The U.S. military recently developed a new Solar-powered Tent that uses a-Si thin film solar cells instead of conventional solar panels to produce electricity energy. Its hourly power generation ranges from 800watt to 3000watt, and the larger the tent is, the more energy it offers.

At the Eco Products 2010 exhibition Sony showcased these ‘Flower Power’ Solar Windows that can convert sunlight into electrical energy. Compared with other solar windows on the market, the ‘Flower Power’ not only features an aesthetic design but can be specially customized according to the consumer’s preference. So what do you think?

With the technology and design placing towards energy-saving and multiuse, Jia Dai makes the flashlight a new one in the league. The flashlight not only can split open to work as a ceiling lamp, and more importantly, its solar cells can still recharge when in the open lamp status. So whenever you use the MIA Electric Flashlight Lamp, you’re always saving both the energy and your money. Sounds like a good deal.

Designer: Jia Dai

Here’s a new solar powered lamp created by Jesper Jonsson that features a collapsible design for easy transportation and storage. When you unfold and expand its shade via a twisting motion, the smart light then can use the solar powered collected during the daytime to light up your dark night.

Designer: Jesper Jonsson

Good news for people who have long suffered from heavy farm work is that the Wunda Weeder will free them from those unpleasant tasks. As a collaborative invention by Brendan Corry and Peter Sargent, the Wunda Weeder features a sort of bed with an adjustable headrest, allowing the users to lay on their stomach while busy with the crops. The “bed” is adjustable, so that you can use the Wunda Weeder with different types of crops. On its top roof are a set of solar panels that harvest sun light to power the electric motor. So in one word, the motor comes with a remarkable ability to improve the farm productivity while cutting down the fuel consumption. No wonder such a Wunda Weeder is expected to be sold around $8,000.

Designer: Brendan Corry & Peter Sargent

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Let’s start the article with a familiar situation: we go out to tour around, record the beautiful sceneries using a digital camera, click, click, click…then suddenly the camera runs out of power! That always makes us feel rather depressed. But fortunately that wouldn’t happen again, coz Weng Jie has come up with the Solar Camera Strap, a camera strap built with solar films on the surface to harvest the sunshine as energy for your device. The idea is really simple, but also practical.

Designer: Weng Jie

With the 2010 FIFA World Cup entering the most important period, everyone around the world is showing more enthusiasm for the tournament and the football. So here today we’d like to introduce the world’s first solar powered football to you guys. Designed by a Taiwan based company, the new football is built with solar panels rather than conventional black pentagonal-shaped leather patches on the exterior, therefore it looks totally different from the common footballs. Besides, the company is developing a motion sensing technology, which is expected to be integrated with the football so that the visually impaired people can also enjoy the football game.

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Also known as “Geometric Romance”, the lamp from Tommaso Gecchelin aims to bring you back to the romantic summer nights when the fireflies were flying around you. Yaps, romance. That’s the most important point you may find with the lamp, and another feature the device has is high tech. It is filled with electronic fluid that is moved by a pump, and powered by a wireless system located in the base. Moreover, you can touch the lamp to change the color of the light!

Designer: Tommaso Gecchelin

Excited about the cool Renault 2010 Sand Jumper? Well, continue reading then, coz the following information is much more exciting.

The vehicle is completely eco-friendly, not only powered by renewable electricity generated from the nano solar paint sprayed on its body, but crafted from recycled PET bottles and other recyclable materials to minimize the pollution.

According to the designers, the vehicle will get fully charged in 8 hours in most cases, or in just 90 minutes with the help of the quick charging mechanism.

Designer: Luis Pedro Fonseca

People say that swimming pools offer more than entertainment to the users, but also resulting in illness, provided that the pools are not completely safe from contamination. The Healthier Pool Purifier puts an end to the algae and other bacteria in the water with the mineral electrode insert, which would release ions to kill them. Powered by solar panels on the top, the electrode insert has a life span of up to one year while the passing of time won’t weaken its function. You like the design? Purchase it for $349.95 through Hammacher.

Welcome to the magnificent-looking Aptera Motor. It’s white, it’s cool, it’s powered by electricity and it has three wheels. That’s for real, and the Aptera 2E will hit the market sometime this year. But before you see them in stores, you should firstly get a thorough understanding of them. Executed by a boat builder and a biotechnology engineer, the car focuses on aerodynamics to realize a greater speed and effectiveness. The vehicle also has an electric engine that has the ability to accelerate from 0-100 km/h in less than 10 seconds and reach a top speed of 137km/h.  On the roof, there’s also a solar panel, which is used to run the heat pump. Another point worthy mentioning is the materials used in the interior, which is made from recycled materials and organic dyes to make the Aptera 2E an eco-car. According to the manufactures, they’ll also adopt a plug-in hybrid engine to lower the cost so as to make the motors available to everyone.

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Presented here is the solar-powered bus waiting booth, designed by Yang Mingjie for Ningbo South Business District, China. It features a modular design, promising a convenient adjustment while reducing the maintenance and service cost.

It includes three parts: two rising benches on sides for several people to lean on, as well as an advertisement billboard and a city information board in the center. By doing that, ampler space is created for more visitors to stand. Solar panels are also equipped, to harvest solar energy for the advertisement billboard, information center and lights.

A team of students from the École Supérieure d’ Art d’ Aix-en-Provence have developed the solar-powered washing machine, using bicycle tires, bamboo, a recycled electric motor and a solar panel. Though seemingly simple and crude, the equipment performs almost as well as the spinning washing machines. Because the machine is made from materials available all over the world and powered by renewable solar energy, people in any part of the world could DIY and use one.

Designer: France Cadet, Jean-Noël Montagné and Jean-Pierre Mandon

Developed by Cabestan Watches, ‘Sol Invictus’ is the first solar-powered mechanical timepiece around the world. It features the new iconic chain and fusée, drums and vertical tourbillon, and also adopts the silicium crystals as efficient solar cells to generate sufficient power.

Its inner system is rather sophisticated- two brushless motors are used for rewinding the movement and setting the time, as well as a miniature controller for regulating the motors’ speed and amplifying the electrical charge. The motors and the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are positioned under the solar cells. But wearing a price tag of $560,000, will the timepiece really be that popular? Hmm…It remains to be seen.

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Will the Olympic Games 2016 present us another building worth expecting, like the Bird’s Nest of the Beijing Olympic Games? With that question in mind, we’ve gathered related information here, letting you to know the building of great architectural interest and eco elements at the earliest possible date.

The 105 meter tall architecture comes with an attractive name, “Solar City Tower”. Intended for helping the Rio de Janeiro and the world keep a sustainable development of urban structures, the building is designed to make a full use of the abundant sunshine in Rio.

So during the daytime, a solar power plant will produce energy for the city and the excessive energy will be used to pump seawater into a tower. That water will then be released to generate energy again when the night comes, with the help of the turbines.

But maybe what most people have been anticipating is the spectacular waterfall, serving as Rio de Janeiro’s new symbol on certain occasions.

Designer: RAFAA Architecture & Design

Created at the Knierim Yacht Club in northern Germany, PlanetSolar is the world’s largest solar-powered boat, measuring 31 meters x 15 meters x 7.5 meters. The yacht is covered with up to 500 sqm of solar panels, which are expected to capture 103.4 kW of solar energy to power the engine that merely needs 20KW. Designed with an average speed of about 9mph, the boat could reach a top speed of 17 miles per hour. About 18 million euro has been invested into the project. According to Knierim Yacht Club, the yacht has been ready for testing later this month and the sea trials (due between June and September). If everything goes smoothly, PlanetSolar will start its first world tour in early 2011.

Manufacturer: Knierim Yacht Club

Solar-powered lamps are not that new to us, but the Saint Clair Lamp presented here still surprises us on account of its unique way to get charged. Just as you can see, the lamp needs to be affixed onto the window with the suction pads to obtain energy, since the photovoltaic cells are built at its base. When the dark night comes, the lamp can then be used as a hanging lamp to illuminate your room. Designed by Stéphane Maupin, the innovative lamp has won one of the five VIA project assistance grants this year.

Designer: Stéphane Maupin

After a lengthy nine months of development, IBM has recently announced its new thin-film solar cell, which is made from cheaper materials while features an efficiency of 9.6% (40% higher than previous prototypes). The new thin film technology uses copper, tin, zinc, sulfur and selenium to take the place of traditional copper indium gallium selenide or cadmium telluride. Besides, the researchers also adopt a new kind of solvent- hydrazine, which is less costly and decomposes more easily. Instead of manufacturing the cells, IBM claims that they’d prefer to license out the new technology when the time comes.

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Designed by Elium Studio for Lexon, these innovative gadgets are all made from sustainable materials like the corn bio-plastic and bamboo trim. The new range includes a crank-up radio, a calculator, a pocket flashlight, and several clocks. These gadgets are all powered by renewable solar energy.

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This very sleek watch allows you to see the time in quite a convenient way. Firstly, the Button Watch (it looks just like a button and the watch takes the very name from that only) could be easily clipped to your jacket, you bag or even your hair to tell you the time. Much smaller and lighter than ordinary wrist watches, the innovative Button Watch adopts solar battery panels as its power supply in order to make full use of the natural energy and therefore to save you much money paid for electricity bills. Also using touch screens to display the time, the watch will show the time and date on the glass face whenever you click its surface.

Designer: Mac Funamizu

Shown at CES 2010 in Las Vegas, the portable solar charger allows you to charge your electronics anywhere. It is a foldable charger, measuring 83cm ×140cm×35cm when unfolded but measures as small as a wallet if you fold it up. So next time your laptops, cell phones, GPS, or mp3 players are out of power, you can easily charge them with the portable solar charger in a park or even on the road.

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What have you done to accomplish your dreams of slam-dunking? You kept playing basketball day and night? Then you must need the Glow-in-the-dark Basketball Net, something especially designed for an overnight use. Powered by the sunlight it absorbs and stores during the daytime, the net could illuminate for about 8 hours.

Selling Price: $32.98

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What have you done to accomplish your dreams of slam-dunking? You kept playing basketball day and night? Then you must need the Glow-in-the-dark Basketball Net, something especially designed for an overnight use. Powered by the sunlight it absorbs and stores during the daytime, the net could illuminate for about 8 hours.

Selling Price: $32.98

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As is indicated by its name “Road Printer”, the device has been designed to print needed signs directly onto the ground surface, therefore saving men much trouble in painting signs on the road. Just choose needed signs like U Turn, Stop, etc, the huge printer will then leave standard signs on the road surface.

Oh, wait, there is more! It’s also an eco-friendly product, which is powered by the solar panel on its top.

Designer: Hoyoung Lee, Doyoung Kim & Hongju Kim for Designsory

Are you looking for something different and personalized? Having a look at the ‘Solar Powered Sticker Phone’ presented here on I New Idea? Wow, you’re now different, huh? For phone users who are seeking for an eco-friendly product, the arch-shaped phone may be a perfect choice. No longer needing electric outlets, just stick the phone onto the window glass and then it will get charged in the sunshine.

Designer: Liu Hsiang-Ling

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could keep our heads and hands warm relying on the nature energy rather than electric power? After all, the nature is the original of everything, certainly including us human beings. Yiran Qian’s ‘Endless Warm’ concept is easy to understand. The new hats and gloves will be powered by solar energy to keep us warm and comfortable, therefore to save the limited electricity and mineral energy. Does that really work? We won’t get a sure answer before the products really come to us.

Designer: Yiran Qian

The panther is one of the most famous endangered animals in the world and has been long protected in Florida. However, from 1978 to 1994, about 20 panthers met their ends in car accidents; and in 2001, merely in 3 months, 7 panthers were killed by cars when they were running cross the road. Yeah there’s a crying need for more roads, but at the same time the wildlife needs to be preserved. And the Solar Powered panels are therefore designed to protect animals from road-kills. Built with infrared sensors, these panels will detect an animal or a car within the vicinity and then reduce possible dangers either by beaming out subtle blinking LED lights to inform the drivers or illuminating the sideways to warn the animals.

Designer: Sungi Kim & Hozin Song

Do you know what the most important thing is to life? Just as an old proverb goes, “Bread is the staff of life”, food really means a lot to us, especially warm meals under arduous conditions. Trotter Cooker is a portable, solar-powered device that warms your food anywhere. Measuring 3cm in thickness, Trotter Cooker is light enough (weighing less than 1 Kg) so that you can take it anywhere you like, preparing meat, soup, bread, rice and coffee in an effective and quick way.

Buy it here

Do you think a sunshade for your car is enough, say, just protecting your car from the hot sun while without doing anything else? Well, if that’s the case, you must have a look at the concept ‘Shelf’ by Leon Zhu. It is a shade that collects solar energy, which is used to provide energy for the car’s electronic systems and air conditioning system. Of course, the sunshade could be easily folded and stored in your trunk when not in use.

Designer: Leon Zhu

The Solar Roadway is new replacement to current petroleum-based asphalt roads. It is constructed with a series of solar panels, each individual one comprising three parts (a road surface layer, an electronics layer and a base plate layer). Solar energy collected by these solar road panels, Scott Brusaw claimed, would meet a whole country’s basic electricity needs. And the first roadway (30cm thick, generating 7.6kwh of electricity per day) has been developed successfully, though at a high cost of up to 6900 dollars.

More information after the break.

Designer: Scott Brusaw

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Solar powered, window AC, obviously these characteristics are not deemed as strong points in the new product “Briz Window Air Conditioner”. Different from others, Briz uses water as a coolant, so that your room will naturally cool down as the water evaporates. And that’s just why Briz is called as a “natural AC”.

Designer: Nari Kim & Pullip Lim

Nowadays, because of the increasing number of the cars in limited space, parking is becoming one of the most serious problems to city life. Although this parking system, driven by solar energy, is not as cool as the one in movie ‘I.Robot’, it can arrange the cars vertically, saving a lot of space. In addition, this parking system can also be used to charge electric cars.

Designer: Baita Bueno

OMG, it’s actually a traffic light! That’s really a brilliant idea but hopefully birds wouldn’t take them for their cages. More than that, the cage-like traffic light is both green and cost-effective as it is powered by the Solar Panel on top of the unit. No wonder it’s deemed as an “always green traffic light”. Perfect!

Designer: Cheng-Tsung Feng, Yao-Chieh Lin & Bo-Jin Wang

Though solar-related products are no longer unique, the latest product would still come to attract you with its vertical, sophisticated design. To some extent, it works in the same way as the bread toaster. As a result, you could just leave the battery inside the frame and needn’t to fear it’s overcharged because when the battery is fully charged, it will glide to the end of the rack automatically.

Designer: Tracy Subisak, Donn Koh & Herlinda

This is another gadget you may say to yourself “I need to get one of those!” Pretty practical, the Solar Curtain and Charger System stores solar energy during the daytime while charges your gadgets at night. Besides, you are sure to love the great idea because it needs little installing or rebuilding for solar panel system. Perfect!

Designer: Ming-Ching Hsueh

Supposing that your address numbers shine in the night, how cool it would be? Try the Solar LED Address Numbers and you’ll then find out the answer. Based on solar power, the LEDs turn on automatically as evening falls, making your address numbers easy to find and read.

Fancy that your flowers are rotating regularly in the sunshine for a better growth while you’re still up to your own work. But what can make that come true? The answer is the rotary hanger for plant baskets. Solar-powered, the plant carousel can rotate 360 degrees every half day to ensure your plants a full exposure to sunshine. The hanger can hold up to 27 lbs.

Selling Price: $14.95
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Equally eccentric and elegant, the Sun Rays Pavilion by Michael Jantzen seems like giant crystals on the horizon. To make a full use of sun rays, not only most parts of the pavilion are directly filled with sun light, but also the optical equipment on top can store excess solar energy needed by daily use.

Designer: Michael Jantzen

We love sunshine, because we love warmth and we love the sweet smell left in our clothes when they’re dried in the sunshine. But what about rainy days or cloudy days? Bad luck? Not necessarily, for you have a sun-powered clothes dryer! Powered by solar energy, the smart dryer is user-friendly and easily-folded.

Designer: Tian Lingrui

It is a great gift if you’d like to please a beautiful girl that looks as sweet as a flower. As it is built with a LED light inside, the flower light can work day and night after it is fully charged through it leaves in the sun.

Selling Price: $325 to $375
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The solar sound bluetooth speaker is powered by the solar panel on its top, which will last for 8 hours with middling volume and only last for half that time when you turn on the maximal volume. Both USB and Bluetooth are available to connect it to cell phones, MP3s and computers. What’s more it contains a touch screen that means a free and easy control to your music.

Selling Price: ￡49.99
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This pool skimmer is driven by the solar power and lets you keep your swimming pool clean in an eco-friendly way. With a pair of solar panels on the top of the skimmer to collect the sun’s energy and store it in a rechargeable NiMH battery, the pool skimmer also can change the station and reduce the work intensity automatically, according to the environment.

Selling Price: $499.95
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To promote their newest vehicles, Toyota recently installed these solar-energy generating flowers on streets to supply tourists with free 110V power energy through the outlets on molded plastic benches. Wi-Fi service is also available! All these are both supported by the solar panels on the flower petals.

The wind-mill wooden house though seems like a music box, is also a piggy bank. When you put coins into it, the wind-mill will rotate automatically and beautiful music will go off consequently. Have you found out its energy supply? Yes, it is right the solar panel on the roof, which can be fully charged after 5 hours in the sun.

What impresses us most in the movies that show the daily life of the British aristocracy is the magnificent feather folding fan, which is also an elegant hand held accessory to a lady of quality in modern times. As it integrates the traditional crafted fan with solar charged light technology, the solar folding fan is therefore a delicate decoration which can glow in the evening.

Selling Price: £ 1,285
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The solar CD player consists of two parts, a warmer-like solar panel and a CD player in the shape of an old seated fan. After about five hours in the sunlight, the solar panel can provide a full energy supply to the player, ensuring it to work continually for ten hours. The player, which allows you to enjoy any riveting music in an energy-saving way, can read both Discs and CDs containing MP3 files.

Selling Price:＄137