The engineering area termed biomimetics has been
expanding over the past 15 years. It is usually on a small scale and, so far,
has been fairly modest in its objectives. This is all about to change. The
engineers are getting more adventurous.
Those of us who have a weakness for poems will be
familiar with a couple of lines of Alfred Kilmer of the Fighting 69th
who wrote “Trees” in 1914. Presumably looking across the mud at tree stumps
ravaged by shell-fire, the last two lines run:
“Poems are made by fools like
me,
But only God can make a tree.”
Now the guys in London doing wild things in the back rooms of
SolarBotanic are making trees and shrubs (1). These are not just large-scale
ornaments like large plastic flowers, but are the ultimate green biomimetic
technology. What’s so exciting? The Nanoleaves that are decorating the twigs
and braches.
They flap happily in the slightest breeze and have
little built in piezo-electric generators and so the trees are power plants.
But they aren’t just wind harvesting plants, the Nanoleaves convert UV/visible
radiation into electricity also, as they are photo-voltaic cells (1,2). But there
is more yet. They are infra-red sensitive and can generate yet more
electricity from the thermal component of sunlight – yes there is sunlight in
London (sometimes).
But there is even more yet, and this is free. They come
with different leaf colors with base plants in a variety of sizes. Perfect for
a large landscaped garden or town parks.
The company has added in an air filtration membrane
that seems to remove carbon dioxide (3). The details here are a little vague,
but if the claim is accurate, we have biomimicry plus.
Dogs and birds would be fine with these. What
happens if it snows? If the branches can stand the weight, we could be close to
a self-lighting Christmas tree.
- http://www.solarbotanic.com/
- http://news.discovery.com/tech/artificial-trees-111119.html
- http://www.solarbotanic.com/air-filter/
