Tanned? Check out other uses for sunlight

From clothes to printers: initiatives that use sunlight are gaining more and more space as sustainable alternatives and wasteful attitude

Sun

We are used to seeing sunlight being used as a source of energy for homes, cars and even some appliances such as washing machines and showers (see more). But, there are other uses of sunlight besides that.

Some entrepreneurs around the world are taking advantage of elements of nature (using biomimetics, for example) to create more sustainable devices and gadgets. And everything indicates that this is a niche that will still pay off. At least, creativity is not lacking on the part of people who have been launching fashion (literally), using new concepts in manufacturing and selling, in addition to products, new ideas.

This is the case of two innovations that we are going to check now:

Sunlight used to customize fabrics

Using sunlight to replicate images is nothing new. In the US, a company called Lumi has developed a fabric customization process that uses sunlight. Just apply a solution, Inkodye, to the piece of fabric and leave it exposed to the sun for approximately eight minutes. Follow the process in the video:

100% sunlight-based printer

100% sunlight-based printer

A printer concept developed by designers Hosung Jung, Junsang Kim, Seungin Lee and Yonggu Do uses sunlight to generate its own energy and also to print, leaving ink cartridges behind. The only drawback is that the images could only be printed in black and white, which is not really a problem, as 70% of everyday prints are done in black and white.

This is an absolutely sustainable way to print, as it takes a ton of ink to purify the waste ink from a cartridge. But how do you print something with sunlight alone?

The device stores solar energy and converts it into electricity so that the printer can function normally. Some of this energy is also used to heat the paper on which the information will be printed.

100% sunlight-based printer

Click here for more printer concept photos.



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