Unplugged – Mobilizing Power

Being independent of conventional electricity could enrich us with the freedom to settle down anywhere on Earth. There is a huge potential in the developing world, where many people live in primitive ways, suffering from extreme weather and hostile environments, only sheltered by simple textile constructions.
Unplugged – Mobilizing Power is an intelligent, integrated, low-cost solar textile. The project is based on renewable energy and exploits Earth’s most important and non-polluting energy source: sunlight. Traditional Solar Cells used for buildings are produced with a very stereotype and rigid geometry. To emphasize the solar cell as an integrated part of the textile instead, Unplugged makes it possible to create very detailed and organic patterns.
The solar cell is incorporated in a lightweight and transparent textile and can be manufactured using industrial techniques such as silkscreen printing. By putting textile-modules together with a very thin copper-thread you can easily reach both the size and the exact form you need. Regarding the pieces as building blocks, a ’building-system’ reaching subject areas from body to landscape has been created.
The textile is highly efficient but lightweight, described as; minimum material, maximum performance. With this invention you will easily carry the energy with you in the shape of a jacket or as a tent, generating electricity in remote locations. In extreme situations or catastrophes, an emergency hospital could easily be installed anywhere supplying electricity for most important hospital gear, as well as body bags being able to chill down dead bodies immediately to prevent decomposing and derived infections.
In a larger scale, Unplugged could cover unexploited areas as coastlines or impracticable areas creating energy for whole communities or even islands.