[pct-l] ultralight solar cells

[ilja at cs.caltech.edu (Ilja Friedel)]

Hi,

a friend of mine is building a solar powered airplane. He showed me
samples of solar cells that are basically thin foils of plastic. They flex
easily and weight next to nothing (2g-4g for a decent powered one). Here
you can find examples (scroll down to PowerFilm):
http://www.ecovantageenergy.com/catalog/subcat132.htm
(Don't have anything to do with the company)

Hope this is helpfull for the 2004 people. But let's think big for a
moment: Assume a through-hiker will be able to generate (using cells on
tent, clothing) on the order of 1kW of electricity fairly consistently.
How would having access to electricity change hiking? What appliances
would we carry?

This comes to my mind right now:
- ultralight electrical stove
- high powered lights for night hiking
- [assuming advanced storage technology] heated sleeping bags
- really loud boom boxes on the trail ;-)
- small fridge (in combination with the stove maybe)

Other ideas?


Ilja.