Vertical Village Gallery

Designed as a residential, hotel and entertainment facility, the Vertical Village is absolutely blanketed in solar panels. In fact, the building is expected to earn a LEED Gold certification when it is completed. That distinction is difficult enough for a homeowner to obtain, much less a gigantic commercial structure. Each building is oriented to reduce the heat from sun exposure — quite the contrary to a massive bed of solar collectors on the south side of the building that automatically adjusts to the sun’s position for maximum efficiency. The village also features a solar roof that helps to transport energy and break the solar field up into more manageable segments.

It’s not enough to have all of the really cool buildings on the planet — now they want a monopoly on the sun. Damn you Dubai. [Graftlab via Ecofriend via Inhabitat]

So even on cloudy days and when placed outside of the sun’s direct gaze, these panels can still draw low levels of current—too low for commercial release at this time, but something scientists are working on now.

Because of their unique design that requires less silicon, the colourful panels would cost less to produce that traditional solar tech…meaning that the stained glass industry could be due for a big boon. [GreenSun via Neatorama via DVICE]

The Power pouch from Latestbuy is a solar panel-packing pouch that incorporates a portable battery and a million different little plugs. You can plug your gadget directly into the sunlight scraping juice pack and charge using the sun, or you can plug your gadget into the included battery, which you conveniently didn’t forget to charge using the solar panel back when it was sunny.

If you do happen to forget to charge the battery though, it can be charged via USB as well.

Included in the charging adapters are:

Mobile phone adaptors for: LG, Motorola, Nokia (thin & standard plug), Samsung, Sony Ericsson (wide & standard plug) and iPhone.

4 mm straight jack for: Sony PSP, Tom Tom GPS, digital cameras, PDAs and two-way radios.

USB female socket for: iPods, MP3 players, PDAs and GPS systems.

Mini-B USB male plug for: charging the portable battery via USB and for connecting other devices that also use a Mini-B USB connection.

And the best part is that unlike the Powertraveller, which offers the same sort of functionality, this thing is cheap. Like $50 cheap. But considering all the free juice you’ll get, that’s a bargain and a half, right?

[Latestbuy]

Neoluxiim’s diminutive e-ink displays are powered by solar, which is great. Now, when I blow by them at the mall in the near future like I do today’s traditional point-of-sale ads, my subconscious will cheerfully say “thanks for being green!”

Regardless of my lame attempt at snark however, it’s nice to know those energy-wasting flatscreen kiosks currently pumping out campy advertising at my local mega mall are dead gadgets walking.

While the ads will remain, obviously, we can take solace in the fact that Mother Earth is going to be violated and pillaged by one less thing. [E-Ink Info]

Now that it’s summer, us cold-weather-city types want to spend every possible waking moment outdoors. But that separation from technology is sometimes just too hard to bear, which is where the Powerbrella comes in. Its solar panels keep your gadgets charged and ready to go.

The recyclable Powerbrella features solar panels on the top of the umbrella and outlets on the bottom to gather that beautiful sun and use it to power your gear. We’re not really sure how much juice it could really provide, but it should definitely be enough to power, say, an iPod speaker dock. It’s a great idea and one we’d totally use. [via Treehugger]

The new wings, which will be the 4th an final set installed on ISS, will be used to provide 50% more power to run science experiments in space and will enable six people to live in the space station. The new equipment will be delivered by the Space Shuttle Discovery, which launches on Wednesday, and Canadarm2 will assist in the installation. The project should more or less be completed by Flight Day 8. [The Space Fellowship via Slashdot]

[Gizmag]

In the future, sunglasses will need to do more than just make you look cool or prevent costly eye conditions. They’ll need to power your gadgets, according to at least one pair of designers.

The “Self-Energy Converting Sunglasses” concept uses a dye solar cell combined with unspecified nanotech to generate electricity while, presumably, still allowing you to see. The electricity passes through the frames to a port in the back of the glasses. Then a cord runs down your neck to your gadget of choice.

Hopefully by the time someone creates a working production model, we’ll be beyond such desperate attempts to charge our portable technology. Or maybe the glasses will at least hide a halfway decent HUD inside. [Yanko]

It was created by the Saatchi & Saatchi ad agency in Germany to promote the Schott solar panels, which apparently are so durable that they can last for 20 years. That’s exactly the warranty of these things. It seems that the calendar is so popular that their sales force is being inundated with petitions from clients who want to have their own.

I just don’t get it. Being reminded that at the end of that stack of paper I would be 56 years old is just not my idea of fun. [Foolish Gadgets via OhGizmo]

[Born Rich via Newlaunches]