[pct-l] ultralight solar cells

[hayduke at toughguy.net (Hayduke)]

all of those applications are high powered (except maybe the boombox
depending how load)

Electricity to heat is not a very efficient exchange. Trying to convert
sunlight to heat via electricity as intermediate could never be as good as
using the sunlight for heat directly ;-)

The uses that came to my mind immediately are for communications mostly. I
see it powering a satelite phone and then using that to upload journals and
digital images. At the very least you could recharge the camera batteries
during the day.

In 95 I hiked in the sierras for 10 weeks, and we both carried little solar
AA chargers velcroed to the tops of our packs (my partner attacked his to
his hat). We mostly used the AA for headlamps and our gameboy ;-)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ilja Friedel" <ilja@cs.caltech.edu>
To: <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2003 3:03 PM
Subject: [pct-l] ultralight solar cells


> 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.
>
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