Solar Powered PC Now Close To Realization

         http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/22022010

Intel has developed a Windows PC desktop powered by a solar cell the size of a postage stamp. This could be the smallest solar cell that could power a desktop and can potentially create a lot of savings in electricity at homes and offices. Intel’s demo of a desktop powered by a postage-sized solar cell reaffirms the company’s effort to reduce not only the size of microprocessors but also its power consumption.

This may be the latest version of the smallest solar cell, a renewable energy source, ever produced like this one from University of Michigan wherein they developed minuscule solar sensors able to perpetually harvest energy from its surroundings and efficiently manage the energy it gathers. Or this one from  University of South Florida wherein they have develop a solar cell so small it’s just 1/4 the size of a grain of rice. The research team says that just 20 of these cells are enough to generate 7.8 volts of electricity.

Intel’s solar cell PC may not be the smallest solar cell but it certainly will be the smallest to be use on a desktop and probably other gadget manufacturers will follow ( hope more of them), like integrating it on laptops, tablets and mobile phones. This way not all electricity consumption of all new gadgets out there would be charge to electricity produce from power plants.

A breathe of additional fresh air in the future.