So thanks to Ben’s post, I’m all geared up (pardon the pun) for the Tesla Roadster. It’s a hot car, that (apparently) will get me some fast chicks…or maybe it’s the other way around. Either way, I’m game.
But I wonder why, as impressive as the Roadster is, it hasn’t integrated more existing technology into the car. Sure it gets 220 miles to the charge, and yes it’s fast, but I wonder why more energy collection technology wasn’t introduced in the car. Enter my point for this article. Green is moving forward, which is a wonderful thing, but like so much other technology, to truly reach its potential, its needs to be integrated.
zeroHouse
What do I mean by integrated? Well consider the slightly dated, but still awesome, news about windows that can be used as solar panels. Now obviously this particular technology wasn’t available to the designers of the Roadster, but clearly other technologies exist that could be integrated.
Now please understand that this is not a dig on the Roadster, or the Tesla corporation or Ben (ok, maybe on Ben). Integration applies across the green board. Obviously integration does not just mean increasing the number of technologies that your product or company uses, but instead creating something better by bringing extant technologies together in new ways.
Imagine a new car that not only could be plugged in at home, but could be left in the sun for a couple hours as an emergency charge, utilzing not huge solar panels, but tiny cells in the corner of the tinted windows, barely visible. Couple this with kenetic energy capturing from the braking system (and props to Tesla for incorporating this), and the possibilites of green integration become manifest. Additionally, imagine the car charging out front of a house utilizing the same technology in it’s windows, with a shade-producing solar tree out front.
I am happy to say that integration is already happening. I particularly love the zeroHouse which integrates a whole load of technologies into one sweet looking (in my modernist opinion) house that I desperately want.
The point of all of this is that we’re moving forward with “Green” in its many fashions. We need not wait for technologies to be perfected to incorporate them into existing frameworks that might be compatible. Overall, it is both more useful, and probably more “green”, to incorporate technolgies that can then mature together.
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That Forbes.com article on the solar car race is pretty cool. Glad you brought this up. Tesla is an industry first (an electric supercar) and as such it was important to get the vehicle developed and on the market, with further advancements coming as the company matured. But, speaking of other technologies, Tesla is working on an affordable solar panel system that can be set up at your house that will enable you to charge the battery for a value of 50 miles per day. You can read about that directly from Elon Musk, Tesla Chairman:
http://www.teslamotors.com/blog2/?p=8
(scroll down to one of the last paragraphs)
Of course, there’s nothing stopping a Tesla owner from installing a solar panel system on his or her house, storing the energy, and using the energy to recharge the Roadster.
Ben – Good call. I should have mentioned that it’s not only up to the manufacturers of green products to integrate more, but also consumers should integrate green technologies themselves when possible. Solar Panels to recharge the Roadster is a great idea no matter who does it! And obviously, it extends far beyond sweet cars.
This is very useful, thanks