SunCat Prototype

Trey Brown
2/27/09
11:50pm

A new greener technology is in the works that might have a heavy influence in the near future. Everything we use these days seems to run off electricity and if it not plugged in than it has got batteries. Even if they are the internal rechargeable kind people still get tired of having to plug them in or having them run out of juice at inopportune moments. Well SunCat, made by designer Knut Karlsen, is going to change that. They are merely prototypes but he fitted some old nickel metal hydride rechargeable batteries with some small flexible solar panels and has managed to give them a charge. Though they are only weak prototypes he is well on the path to creating far more efficient batteries. Karlsen’s batteries will be able to hold and maintain a charge caught from the largest and longest lasting battery in existence, the sun. That is a most definite plus.
For a world becoming more concerned about its carbon footprint and the effect it has on the environment these batteries could be a miracle in the making. For as long human kind has existed there has been the dream of harnessing the power of the sun and now that technology might be coming in the foreseeable future. Being able to utilize such an almost inexhaustible resource would definitely help the growing population of the planet. Energy resources are always at a premium and having the sun on tap would alleviate a considerable amount of pressure. Using sun rechargeable technology could mean having machines that could almost never run out of energy. This would ensure important equipment such as hearing aids, motorized prosthetics and bigger things like farming machinery would never cease to operate at optimal efficiency unless the cause was a technical breakdown. Overuse of machines that can continually operate would probably be the only danger, but living in a world staring down a looming energy shortage I think it’s best to get the technology first and adapt after the major issue has been solved first.


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