Posted on 09/08/2009 12:45:17 PM PDT by Steelfish
Teenager Invents £23 Solar Panel That Could Be Solution To Developing World's Energy Needs ... Made From Human Hair
By Daily Mail Reporter 08th September 2009
A new type of solar panel using human hair could provide the world with cheap, green electricity, believes its teenage inventor.
Milan Karki, 18, who comes from a village in rural Nepal, believes he has found the solution to the developing world's energy needs. The young inventor says hair is easy to use as a conductor in solar panels and could revolutionise renewable energy.
[Pic in URL] Hair-raising: Science student Milan Karki with his innovative solar panel made with human hair while a friend holds a light bulb above his head
'First I wanted to provide electricity for my home, then my village. Now I am thinking for the whole world,' said Milan, who attends school in the capital, Kathmandu. The hair replaces silicon, a pricey component typically used in solar panels, and means the panels can be produced at a low cost for those with no access to power, he explained.
In Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world, many rural areas lack access to electricity and even in areas connected to power lines, users face shortages of up to 16 hours a day. Milan and four classmates initially made the solar panel as an experiment but the teens are convinced it has wide applicability and commercial viability.
Close shave: Milan (second from right) demonstrates his solar panel in a tiny barber shop in Kathmandu
'I'm trying to produce commercially and distribute to the districts. We've already sent a couple out to the districts to test for feasibility,' he said. The solar panel, which produces 9 V (18 W) of energy, costs around £23 to make from raw materials.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The picture so rocks on several different levels.
Looks like Static Electricity effect here.
They laughed when I wound up my shaver!
bump
Somehow I am thinking this is a sham...
I’ll put this in the ‘yea, right’ category.
Aw, this is a bunch of horse... uh, *hair*.
I smell cold fusion.
. or teen spirit.
Thats hair raising
Where does one get the 9V fluorescent bulbs? /s
Great! It can do the initial power-up on my perpetual motion machine, which also uses very cheap components, marbles and aluminum soda cans (found materials.) Labor accounts for the largest part of the costs, as the soldering takes time, about $17 for each set-up. Four will make a Toyota Tercel move along at 2 mph, after you lighten it by discarding the engine. I am not counting the cost of the Tercel body.
Maybe they can get in the queue to import some Chinese hair.
Seriously, the article gave no indication of how hair uses sunlight to produce electricity without having the same thing happen to everyone's heads. I'll put it on the same shelf as perpetual motion machines until I see more evidence.
Nepal teenager discovers unknown physical property of human hair, widespread electrocution of Texas woman feared.
Next, caveman teenager discovers how to build fusion reactor out of sticks and stones, earth-wide danger feared.
The surface area math doesn't work, never mind the electron flow.
Looks like this kid in Katmandu just SCREWED Obama’s plans for millions of “green” jobs. We can all sit home unemplyed with clippers so we will have light and heat.
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