Purple Pokeberries Yield Cheap Solar Power 206
separsons writes "Researchers at Wake Forest's Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials created a low-cost solar power system geared towards developing nations. By coating fiber-based solar cells with dye from purple pokeberries, a common weed, scientists created a cheap yet highly efficient solar system. Wake Forest researchers and their accompanying company, FiberCell Inc., have filed for a patent for fiber-based solar. Plastic sheets are stamped with plastic fibers, creating millions of tiny 'cans' that trap light until it is absorbed. The fibers create a huge surface area, meaning sunlight can be collected at any angle from the time the sun rises until it sets. Coating the system with pokeberry dye creates even greater absorption: researchers say the system can produce twice as much power as traditional flat-cell technology."
Pokeberries? (Score:3, Funny)
I can't decide if I should make a pokemon joke, or a your mom joke.
Your mom poked my berries? I guess? I got nothin'.
Re:Pokeberries? (Score:5, Funny)
I can't decide if I should make a pokemon joke, or a your mom joke.
Your mom poked my berries? I guess? I got nothin'.
Go with a modified classic quote: "I eated the purple pokeberries. They taste like solar energy."
PokeBerries (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Still need nuclear (Score:4, Funny)
Wind!! Considering all the gassy North Americans I've met ( me included ) we could export power to Mars. If we could figure out a way to harness farts, it would be a multiple source - wind power, methane, hydrogen.
The name is too long (Score:5, Funny)
"Wake Forest's Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials"
Seriously? That's a little bit too long. MacGyver Photonics has a much nicer ring to it.
Re:Pokeberries? (Score:5, Funny)
Your car is run by hamsters and your roof smells of pokeberries!
i have a similar technology for 3rd world solar (Score:5, Funny)
my tech is extremely advanced
what i do is a store the construction information for a prefab nanoscale solar cell set up in a small protected sphere. with a little coaxing, the information stored in the sphere will begin assembling the solar array in a progressive manner that scales well in a fractal pattern that also maximizes solar exposure, including proprietary feedback mechanisms that is highly sensitive intellectual proerty. the solar assemblies are also plant based like the pokeberry mentioned one and are easily configured to various 3rd world climates
the solar technology i employ even cleans up greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and converts it into oxygen, water, and an energy storage compound which also happens to taste delicious. this solar product can be utilized as an energy source by 3rd world peoples in a variety of ways, including direct reconstitution to carbon via a high energy oxygen based deconstruction process that also produces a form of heating, or- get this, this is the part i'm most proud of- the 3rd world residents can consume the solar arrays DIRECTLY and their own bodies can utilize the energy storage medium for biological sustenance
how come nobody thought of this tech before?
Re:And abandoned fields... (Score:5, Funny)
And of course, you can use the leaves for poke salad. With a lot of boiling...
Not meaning to sound like a dick, but it's poke salat. There was even a song about it way back in the day, Poke Salat Annie.
Don't ask me what salat means, though. I have no idea.
It's a German word that roughly translates to "Google me to learn what I mean in about ten seconds".
Re:Pokeberry's weed status is endangered (Score:4, Funny)
One man's weed is another man's smoke. It's all perspective, baby.
Re:Pokeberries? (Score:2, Funny)
An upcoming Ask Yahoo question:
Someone poked my berries and they have now turned purple, should I be worried????
Re:i have a similar technology for 3rd world solar (Score:4, Funny)
Re:And abandoned fields... (Score:3, Funny)
It is a clue relating to an old worldwide mystery. "salat" means "the secrets" in Finnish. I can't tell you anything more than that right now. Just trust me, you will find the coming couple of days strangely erotic...
Re:Pokeberries? (Score:1, Funny)
Researcher used Pokeberry, it was super effective.
Re:Pokeberry's weed status is endangered (Score:4, Funny)
they weren't weeds 150 years ago, people used the juice for a base for ink. they're toxic though, so boil it 14 times, throw the sauce away and eat the pot.
Re:Unobtainium Still Required (Score:2, Funny)
Re:And abandoned fields... (Score:3, Funny)
... I don't remember the flower stage. I had to kill it with fire. Not joking.
The flower stage is when the sprouts spread to unsuspecting humans and enter their brains through the nose, making them forget it happened in the process.
Have fun :)
Re:Still need nuclear (Score:2, Funny)
You are Freeman Dyson [wikipedia.org] and I claim my five pounds.
Re:Pokeberries? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:PokeBerries (Score:2, Funny)