Solar Blinds Generate Electricity to Produce Light at Night

Imagine lighting your home at night for free and without having to deploy expensive and bulky solar panels on your roof. Well, if the inventor of the "Blight" wins the Greener Gadgets Design Competition - you may one day get to do just that. Blight is an indoor lighting solution that is able to replace current lamps without any need of electric supply but instead by harnessing the power of the sun to produce ambient light.

We use all the current functions of a standard blind but inventor Vincent Gerkens, adds a little technology to give it a new function - to catch solar energy and convert it into electricity. This solar blind creates a link between indoor and outdoor, taking the daylight during the day and giving it back at night. The advantage of the Venetian blind is to have a large surface exposed to sunlight in a small, cumbersome object. With the revolving blades we can follow the course of the sun in order to catch a maximum of energy. Moreover we can adjust the position of the lamp to obtain various lighting effects. The produced energy can be used to supply a computer or other devices, by means of an inverter.

The object will combine two newly-discovered technologies: Flexible solar cells, and electroluminescent foil which requires little energy. Blight is durable and ecological because power cables are not needed and solar power is clean. This improved Venetian blind could be used in the household as well as in office applications.



One of the major drawbacks would be the costs for each blind and we all know solar panels aren't cheap. The price point of course has not yet been set and a prototype hasn't yet been created. However, it is a very interesting concept and I'm sure many would love for it to be created and purchased, if at the right price point.








You can vote on this in the Greener Gadgets Design Competition.