4 innovative solar tech projects from around the world

The sun may be our greatest energy resource, but we’re still extremely reliant on fossil fuels in the United States. According to the Energy Department, solar power accounts for just 1% of America’s alternative energy production.
While the industry isn’t booming just yet, it is growing quickly and there is promise — Google invested $280 million in solar energy in June and another $94 million in December, and Warren Buffett recently bought a photovoltaic farm for $2 billion. You might say the sun is hot right now.


That 1% of solar energy is being applied in some creative and innovative ways. Below, we discuss four clever uses of solar energy from Serbia, the Netherlands, Finland and the United Kingdom.

1. Serbia — Strawberry Tree

Running out of battery in your cellphone in Belgrade? Find the Strawberry Tree, a socially-oriented, solar-based charger and Wi-Fi station found in city squares, streets, cafes and parks. Strawberry Tree is the brainchild of Miloš Milisavljević, who developed the system at the University of Belgrade with a group of fellow students. He says the mission of Strawberry Energy is to bring renewable energy sources to everyday life via sustainable development. Strawberry Tree, he says, provides convenience, connectedness, education about renewable energy sources and an innovative ad platform for advertisers.

There are currently three Strawberry Trees installed in Serbia — in Obrenovac, Belgrade and Novi Sad — and 15 more trees will be installed this spring. In its first month, Strawberry Tree provided 18,695 chargings, and it recently had its 100,000th user. For many of these users, Strawberry Tree provides a person’s first contact with a clean source of energy, says Milisavljević. “As the number of Strawberry Trees continue to grow, more people will have a chance to use and learn about sun energy and other clean energy sources,” he adds.

Energy is saved in the tree during the day to be usable during nights and cloudy weather, and each tree has ports that charge a variety of mobile phones and devices for free within 10 to 15 minutes.

“Energy from the sun is free, and it would be unethical to charge people to use the Strawberry Tree,” Milisavljevi says. The company, Strawberry Energy, brings in revenue via advertisements on the charging stations.

2. Finland — Lapin Kulta Solar Kitchen Restaurant

The Lapin Kulta Solar Kitchen Restaurant was created in part by the Finnish beer company Lapin Kulta, and it’s popped up throughout Europe to feed customers with solar-cooked food. Not surprisingly, the restaurant is only open on sunny days, and the menu offerings are dependent on how much sunlight is available to be converted. In the Kalasatama area of Helsinki, more than 1,000 patrons visited the restaurant, and each of the satellite events on the “summer tour” — with stops in cities like Milan and Stockholm — served a three course meal for at least 12 people, says Heta Laurila of Marrot Oy, the company behind the pop-up.

“The feedback was all in all very positive and the visitors were really into the whole concept of temporality and living in the moment as we were entirely dependent on current weather conditions,” says Laurila. Plus, the restaurant was environmentally friendly, which leaves a good taste in one’s mouth.

This sort of undertaking has never been done before, and it “challenges everybody to a new approach on the whole dining experience,” says Laurila.

3. United Kingdom, Australia and the U.S. — Solar Billboards

Last year, Ricoh installed “eco-board” billboards in Sydney, New York and London. But it wasn’t just any signage. The billboards “only illuminate when sufficient power has been harvested from various renewable power supplies,” says James Deacon, Ricoh’s head of corporate responsibility. Another rep for Ricoh says the company undertook this endeavor to highlight its commitment to sustainability and innovation — the billboard “underlies all areas of the business, including R&D, product life-cycle management, brand identity, suppliers, logistics and overall business performance.”

The eco-board is reportedly the first sign in Europe to be powered by two sources of renewable energy — five wind turbines and 96 solar panels. With one day of sun exposure, the energy converted by the billboard can light 210, 60-watt lightbulbs for one hour. The eco-board uses 1/5 the energy of an LED billboard and 1/4 the energy of a fluorescent light billboard, which is why the Ricoh team believes this kind of eco-advertising could change the face of the industry.

Ricoh intends to install at least one eco-board in each of five regions where it is headquartered, and by 2050, Ricoh aims to reduce environmental impacts by 88%, says Deacon.

4. Netherlands — SolaRoad

Amsterdam is the bike-friendly capital of the world, and innovation research firm TNO has decided to capitalize on it with a solar energy concept that’s scheduled to be installed this year. Amsterdam has 250 miles of bike paths, and the idea is that the bike path would have a protective glass layer on top, which shields the crystal silicon solar cells below the surface and enables bikers to ride over the panels.

The endeavor is expected to generate 50 kWh per square meter each year, and the energy produced can be distributed throughout the grid, powering traffic lights, streetlights and even homes. A smart system will maximize energy retention during peak daylight hours and store it for use overnight or during dark weather.