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Solar Bench | Warners Bay, Lake Macquarie

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A solar bench has been installed on the Warners Bay foreshore in Lake Macquarie – it is fully self contained and can wirelessly recharge compatible phones.

Solar Bench in Lake Macquarie

Solar Bench in Lake Macquarie
Solar Bench in Lake Macquarie (source: lakesmail.com.au)

The smart solar bench was installed by the Lake Macquarie City Council and has the future capacity to act as a WiFi hotspot, according to Lakes Mail. 

Manager of community planning for the Lake Macquarie City Council, Andrew Bryant, discussed the potential future rollout of further solar benches if this one is a success:

“This is a fully self-contained unit. It provides seating for up to four adults, and solar panels beneath the transparent bench seat can produce up to 100W of electrical power every hour – enough to charge mobile phones, tablets and other smart devices,” Mr Bryant said. He went on to discuss the future of renewables and how quickly tech is coming along:

“This sort of thing would have been science fiction just a few years ago, but users with compatible phones can simply place them on a designated area of the bench to activate recharging,” Mr Bryant said.

Lastly, Mr. Bryant discussed the future-proofing the council and manufacturer have built into the bench so they’re able to upgrade it in the future:

“The internal mechanisms are designed to be upgraded depending on our future needs,” Mr Bryant said.

“We will monitor its use and the needs of the community and will make a decision on these capabilities down the track.”

We’ve reached out to the Lake Macquarie Council to ask about the brand of hte solar benches, but it appears that they’re made by European company Steora:

Back in 2017 Perth had Steora smart benches installed by Australian distributor Cleanair, who came across the tech in Croatia. GM of Cleanair, Ivan Lozic, discussed how they want to harness as much solar power as possible through unconventional means as well as panels:

“Perth has such a great solar resource, so the more we can give residents the opportunity to harness it the better,” Mr Lozic said. If you want to read more about Perth solar benches please click here.

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Solar Tarp – foldable, portable solar power.

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California based Lipomi Research Group are working on creating a solar tarp – which would have myriad uses for society. Let’s learn more about how these upgraded solar panels could help parts of the world where they don’t have access to regular electricity – and some of the technological challenges they’re facing trying to complete the project.

About the Solar Tarp technology

Prototype Solar Tarp Sample - University of California
Prototype Solar Tarp Sample – University of California (source: theconversation.com)

The Lipomi Research Group are focused on “identifying ways to create materials with both good semiconducting properties and the durability plastics are known for – whether flexible or not”.  They’ve been tinkering with perovskite solar cells, which are 1/1000 the thickness of a silicon layer in a solar panel. 

Darren Lipomi of the Lipomi Group, who is also a Professor of Nanoengineering at the University of California, said that their goal is to create flexible solar panels which are as efficient as conventional silicon but don’t have some of the drawbacks of it.

The goal is to develop flexible solar panels which are thin, lightweight, and bendable. Lipomi is calling their idea a ‘solar tarp’ – which refers to a solar panel which can be expanded to the ‘size of a room’, but balled up to the size of a grapefruit when not in use. The issues here are finding a molecular structure to make the solar panels stretchable and tough – this involves replacing the silicon semiconductors with materials such as perovskite. 

They’re also taking a look at polymer semiconductors / organic semiconductors (based on carbon, and used in place of perovskites or silicon in a solar cell). These aren’t as efficient, but are far more flexible and extremely durable.

According to The Conversation, the sunlight that hits the earth in a single hour contains more energy than the whole planet uses in an entire year – so there’s plenty more work to do on improving how we utilise the sun! We’ll keep an eye on the solar tarp project and let you know when it reaches the next stage.

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Solar Barbecue at Koroit Standoff Continues

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The Moyne Shire and the Koroit Lions Club have continued discussions over who should fund and be responsible for maintenance over a proposed solar barbecue at the Koroit railway station. 

The $90,000 Solar Barbecue

Koroit Railway Station - Location for the Solar Barbecue
Koroit Railway Station – Location for the Solar Barbecue (source: wikipedia.org)

The Koroit Lions Club had requested $20,000 from the council through community assistance funding towards the project, which, according to Standard.net.au, is estimated to cost close to $90,000, exclusive of ongoing maintenance. 

Cr Jill Parker proposed to give $20,000 to the club towards a ‘barbecue and shelter of any kind’ with the proviso that council are not responsible for ongoing maintenance. 

“I agree that the Lions Club have shown initiative in putting up a solar barbecue,” Cr Parker told a council meeting. 

“They have asked us for funding towards that and I would like to see that we make that available to them.

“The only provision I would add is that if it is a solar one, that (council) won’t be responsible for ongoing maintenance of a solar unit.”

Through a submission to the council, the club noted that it would be an environmentally friendly asset and some of the councillors, such as Cr Jim Doukas, agreed. Cr Doukas told the meeting that having “two bob each way” (i.e. offering the money but refusing to take responsibility for the project in an ongoing fashion) represented ineffective policy and will make the council look like “idiots”. Cr Doukas said the money should be given “in the interest of progress”, an idea which was shared by Cr Jordan Lockett who said it was not “just about a simple barbecue where old mate cooks his snags”, but an opportunity to be a “progressive shire and say we believe in solar energy”.

The $20,000 grant was eventually passed but, as discussed, the council won’t be responsible for any maintenance/repair. So we’ll see what happens after it’s built! 

Whichever way you cook it, $90,000 for a barbecue is certainly expensive. But when you put the investment into perspective, it’s great seeing the councils get involved in making facilities more environmentally friendly – such as the solar bins which have been rolled out to Cairns and in Noosa recently. Great progressive investment from the Moyne Shire! 

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