Solar energy from hair!

[wulf]

According to the Daily Mail (and picked up via a techology feed I follow on another site, a teenage in Nepal has devised a solar panel that uses human hair rather than silicon (story).

The advantages of this are that is much cheaper and readily available. Energy is produced because of the properties of melanin in the hair. It doesn't last nearly as long as silicon solutions (just a few months) but is easily replenished. I'd love to know if this is feasible and likely to be available any time soon - it would be a perfect -ish device for tasks like keeping a mobile phone charged up while out and about.

Wulf

[Green Aura]

That's mad - I love it! My hair grows like billy-o, I could supply a small village with power.

Only trouble is it's now grey to the point of transparent - does that mean it has no melanin?

[wulf]

I don't know about that. Here is a link to the original article I read, which contains a link to a scientific paper (albeit one with some patchy spell checking and no clear peer-reviewed provenance) on the topic. That doesn't seem to mention hair directly though.

Wulf

[MuddyWitch]

There is a saying in the Circles I grew up in; 'A Witch's strength is in Her/His hair'

Obviously us Pagans know a thing or two!

MW

[dave45]

The first 5 words of the original post are significant :-)

[Wombat]

Interesting stuff!

He wulf! long time no "see"!

Nev

[Millymollymandy]

Is it April 1st?

[wulf]

Hi Nev - I've been largely inactive over the last year because the process of moving from London to Oxford has taken away a lot of my -ish opportunities. However, my wife and I are now moved into a community house (which gives us a headstart straight away, with the opportunies that come from shared resources) which includes a substantial garden, complete with chickens. Therefore, I'm back with plenty of scope to learn and experiment!

MMM - I've no idea if it really works and haven't seen any more. It would be great if there is something in it though.

Wulf

[Millymollymandy]

Hi Wulf, I was a bit disappointed when I read that link because I thought it was going to be about energy from the static in your hair, so I was imagining you (and millions of others) rubbing your mobile on your barnet to charge it up!

[wulf]

Here is a more in-depth follow-up article from Gizmag (in short, it might be enough to generate a trickle charge for batteries but definitely not yet near the land of clearly-proven scientific fact).

Wulf