Solar Textiles Soften PV's Image

As I wrote about a few days ago, mainstream greens want it all, sustainability, savings, and style. One of the main sticking points: Those - let's face facts - ugly solar panels. Thankfully, the techies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are playing with PV fabrics using organic photovoltaics (OPV).

Called 'solar textiles,' this new breed of sun-soaker could live up to the lofty expectations of today's picker planet savers. Leading the charge is Sheila Kennedy, an expert in architecturally-integrated solar tech. She is using 3-D models to design solar fabric roofs and airy environments with curtain walls.

"Surfaces that define space can also be producers of energy," says Kennedy, a visiting lecturer in architecture. "The boundaries between traditional walls and utilities are shifting."

In her revolutionary Soft House (pictured), the techs-tiles have the ability to follow the sun, generating more than 16,000 watts of electricity, about 1/2 of what's needed each day to power the average home.

Finally, a renewable technology that feels like the future. Sometimes I get a small tinge of frustration at the pokyness of eco-tech progress (see also: where are the flying electric cars?), but this is an advancement truly worthy of the term 'next gen.'