Oct 14 2008
More powerful than wind farms, more efficient than solar panels and more practical and aesthetically pleasing than both.
Solar Botanic is a company which harvests the energy of the sun and wind by incorporating established science into an innovative nanotechnology.
World economies are dependent on a diminishing resource of environmentally unfriendly fossil fuels. The search for clean alternative energy is a major political, economic and social imperative.
Existing sources of renewable energy, solar panels, parabolic sun collectors, wind and tidal turbines are inefficient, expensive and environmentally insensitive.
Solar Botanic's method of energy capture is both clean and renewable and with a wide spectrum of applications.
The human population of the world has trebled in the past fifty years from over 2 billion to 6 billion and will increase to about 12 billion in the life time of many of those living today. The farm animals needed to feed the human population has increased even more rapidly and by 2100 will exceed 100 billion.
Both human and farm animal populations depend on fossil fuels for their energy needs. The result is global warming which is having a destructive effect on many eco systems and seems likely to reduce the quality and quantity of human life.
It is against this ominous background that the search for renewable energy has intensified in the hope of avoiding the catastrophes which lie ahead.
Solar Botanic has significant answers to some of these environmental questions.
Technology
Solar Botanic has designed artificial trees and plants which are so lifelike that to most casual observers they are living trees and plants.
In fact, each tree or plant is a powerhouse of renewable energy harvesting the eternal profligate power of the sun, wind and rain.
The essential element in this technology is Solar Botanic's artificial leaf (Nanoleaf) which captures the sun's radiant energy in photo voltaic and thermo voltaic cells converting the radiation into electricity.
Simultaneously as the wind blows the layers of voltaic material in the stems, twigs and branches are moved, compressed and stretched, creating electricity.
Thus as the sun shines, the winds blow and the rain falls, millions of micro circuits are activated, each making its contribution to the electrical energy of the tree.
An average tree with a canopy of about 6 sq metres can create enough energy to provide for the needs of an average household.
Solar Botanic trees can be used to service a single household or they can be used in situations where natural growing groups of trees would previously have been used, such as along motorways, in suburban streets or parks where they can make a significant contribution to the national electrical grid.
In areas where wind turbines are not welcome the Botanic trees can be used in groves, capturing both wind and sun.
Solar Botanic woods of oak, ash, beech or sycamore have the advantage over real deciduous trees in not losing their leaves in winter but continue creating energy.
In deserts, where hydroponics allow the cultivation of fruit and vegetables, Solar Botanic trees and plants both shade the growing tunnels, and provide electricity to circulate water and cool the interior.
Conversely in cold regions Solar Botanic trees can provide cheap heating and lighting for crops which would not otherwise be viable.
The Future
At this stage the company has been granted patents and has patents pending covering Biomimicry,Nanoleaf Technology,Energy transfer materials and process, and has moved past proof of concept criteria as required by investor groups.
Solar Botanic has received approaches from different Government bodies to provide advanced Research and Development facilities and interested investor groups. The company is now looking to select final business partners for investment, R&D, manufacturing, distribution and marketing from organisations with relevant specialist knowledge and sector understanding.