LASER Event Blog

On Thursday, April 21, I attended the monthly Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER) at the CNSI building. LASER featured talks from artists, scientists, and scholars who shared their research to spark interesting conversations. I found Taylor Aubry’s “The Future of Our Energy Landscape: Could Plastic Solar Cells Meet Our Energy Needs?” presentation particularly fascinating. The overall focus of her thesis and research was about how plastic solar cells have the potential to be a low-cost source of clean energy in the near future. She mentioned that the fabrication of silicon solar cells is extremely expensive, and that using flexible plastic is a much cheaper alternative. One fantastic example Taylor showed the us regarding real world application was that of a bus stop in San Francisco. The bus stop had flexible plastic solar panels installed on its roof, which powered both the lights on the side and the WiFi router to provide free internet to pedestrians. Solar engineers and scientists had to work together with designers to transform the mold-able plastic solar cells into functional applications.

Solar Powered Bus Stop in San Francisco

Taylor also mentioned that plastic solar cells could power wearable electronics such as smartwatches in the near future. Her presentation related to an article I’ve read recently on Wall Street Journal: “As Oil Jobs Dry Up, Workers Turn to Solar Sector.” In the WSJ article, the author states that there have been an estimated 150,000 American jobs lost because of the sharp decrease in oil prices in the past year. However, the solar sector is still strong as it is expected to add 30,000 jobs this year. This is exciting because these jobs may include solar panel installers to solar panel designers to engineers. 

Link to potential applications of flexible solar cells video.

Workers Installing Solar Panels

Me at LASER Event