Nano Vent-Skin Syncs Solar, Wind, and CO2 Suckers
Agustin Otegui is working on a resourceful way to get the most green out of a building’s façade. He is developing a “skin” that covers buildings and utilizes solar, wind, and carbon-zapping powers. Here's the idea thus far:
The skin is a zero-emissions material that absorbs sunlight with its photovoltaic layer, transferring the energy through nano-wires to be stored at the end of each panel. The skin is also covered in tiny turbines that have a very different take on wind power generation. First, the inner skin of the turbines soaks up CO2 as wind passes through. Second, they utilize “polarized organisms” that create chemical reactions, generating power when the turbine makes contact with the structure. Wonder bugs, me thinks. Yet they are not genetically altered – rather, Otegui says, they are trained to work together towards specific tasks. Like a colony of circus ants, I suppose.
But here is the Star Trek-y kicker – Ortegui is designing the skin to be self-healing. When a turbine malfunctions or is damaged, a signal will be sent to a material reservoir and new organisms will replace the old, regenerating the damaged turbine.
The theory of integrating solar and wind – and CO2 elimination – on buildings’ surfaces is excellent, and it’ll be interesting to see how this particular concept pans out. For now, you can keep tabs on concept development at Otegui’s blog.
Via Inhabitat
