Solar Magazine

The superb shades of blue and aqua coat with iridescent lips of giant clams are useful in the solar power domain. They gather the sunlight and are a source of light for the algae in there.

The algae then use the sun rays for photosynthesis that gives energy to the clam. “It ends up being a large part of the energy budget of the clams,” said study researcher Alison Sweeney, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mainly, the big mollusks, that are about 4 feet, bring the sun power naturally in their shells.

The majority of iridescent cells are dead and have a similar structure to nails and hair. But the the iridescent cells of squid and giant clams live.

So, the researchers asked themselves, “What on Earth is a giant clam doing with a living iridescent cell?” Sweeney said.

Huge clams contain a dull outer shell and a weighted shell hinge useful for pointing their lips to the light. The scientists say that iridocytes have on optical function.

They went to Palau island in Philippines to research the clams. “We put this into a computer model about how we think light propagates through the clams,” Sweeney said. “[But] nobody actually believed it,” she also said.

They went back there to develop their study and measure the light inside the clams — Tridacna derasa, T. maxima and T. crocea — with a fiber-optic probe. The iridescent cells reflected a big quantity of light into the clam, more than the scientists had firstly believed, Sweeney said. Clam tissue with iridocytes contains fivefold more particles of light, called photons, deep inside the tissue than clam tissue without iridocytes does, they say.

“We’re very excited by our surprising discovery,” said study researcher Dan Morse, a professor of biomolecular science and engineering, and director of the Marine Biotechnology Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“The brilliantly reflective cells of the giant clam actually redirect photons from sunlight deeper into the clam’s tissue, gently and uniformly illuminating millions of symbiotic algae that live there, so they can provide nutrients to their animal host by photosynthesis,” Morse wrote in an email to Live Science.

The configuration of the algae is also good. But if they would spread horizontally, only their top would receive light. But the clam doesn’t have this problem, as it has vertical columns.

The study is “very interesting,” Euichi Hirose, a professor of invertebrate biology at the University of the Ryukyus in Japan, told Live Science in an email.

“Now, we know the giant-clam mantle has a more sophisticated function than we expected,” said Hirose, who was not involved in the current study. “The colorful mantle reflects useless light for photosynthesis (green and yellow) and scatters useful light (red and blue) forward, and laterally, into deep tissue.”

This clams’ can become an inspiration for new green inventions. For example, traditional solar cells function properly in direct sunlight, but not when they overheat. But with this design, a reflective sheen could ensure solar cells stay cool even when they receive intense sunlight, Sweeney said.

The study can be found in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

The very first “drop-in” machine can harvest renewable energy, water and heat to stand alone communities.

It is all possible with the help of a 10-metre-high sun-tracking device that has been create so that it fist in one shipping container. The project belongs to Airlight Energy of Biasca, Switzerland. Besides all this, the plant can also provide refrigeration.

The technology consists of a water-cooled solar panel made by Bruno Michel and his colleagues at IBM, for which Airlight has a patent. The procedure is very simple mirrors lead the sun rays onto 6 panels and the sunlight is amplified 2000 times.

Every panel is made of 25 photovoltaic chips cooled with the help of water found in microchannels. They take care of the heat and provide an optimal temperature. This means the Sunflower functions better than solar panel generators and is uses four times fewer panles for the same amount of power. This also means they are less expensive.

The project is made to be low-cost. The mirrors are usually made of heavy, expensive polished glass, but in this case, every 1-metre mirror consists of metallised foil. “The same material potato chip and chocolate wrapping is made of,” says Ilaria Besozzi of Airlight. The company is now looking for ways of storing the energy.

Sunflower needs help, says Erik Harvey, who is responsible for global programs such as borehole well provision at the London-based charity Water Aid. “Inventions like these create dependencies on supplies of spare parts, skills and consumables. Without a supply chain to provide those things the technology might not be sustainable once it is in place.” Airlight also announced taht the Sunflower’s does not require much maintenance.

Can you picture floors that transform the energy of walking into power? Well, it is possible. The electricity comes from pedestrians and solar panels. The two companies says that a range of products will be destined to citizens and the public sector.

This concept first saw the light of day five years ago and it was called sustainable dance floor. Sustainable energy floor accomplishes this “by means of a patented electromechanical system that converts kinetic energy of walking people into usable electricity.

The Sustainable Energy Floor (SEF) is the world’s most efficient energy converting pedestrian floor system. One step or move on a tile can generate between 2-20 Joules, depending on the weight of the person, type of movement and maximum deflection”, as the definition says.

The many processes implied together with OTEM2000 highlight the fact that novelties can bring benefits to both the efficiency and green energy in general.

As Antoni Orti, product and project manager at OTEM2000, says, “energy Floors has loads of experience with these kind of products; they developed the best technology to harness energy from human movement. In addition to that, the Hybrid Energyfloor® has the potential to create amazing spaces that fulfill a green cause whilst also communicating a cool and green message. All kinds of public areas can benefit greatly from these flooring systems.”

Until now, methods that use kinetic energy can be found on dance floors, train stations, speed bumps, and soccer balls. A good place for kinetic energy to be found is the school. That is why students are present all day. For example, at Webster University a kinetic energy mobile device charging station can be found on the campus in St. Louis; the “EnGo” is the innovation of a New York company called The Volta Group.