image  Holly Gates ran across our item raising the possibility of solar-cell covers to help power E Ink machines. But what about an e-reader that relies entirely on energy from the sun or other light sources?

None other than Holly has built a demo model, and here’s part of the write-up from the Greener Gadgets Design Competition 2008:

"Snippy is an ultraportable handheld electronic viewer for textual and graphic information which harvests operating energy from the sun and transparently links to other Snippys in the area to share content. This solar networked information propagating paper-like display brings together the daylight readability and extremely low average power consumption of an electronic paper display, a solar panel to gather energy from light, and a Bluetooth radio interface.

image"The readability and optical quality of an E Ink display are unparalleled, especially in high light conditions like outdoors during daylight hours. The 800×600 6" diagonal high reflectivity screen used in the device offers 166ppi resolution at 16 gray levels, which translates to crisp, well rendered text and detailed grayscale images with a paper-like look. A high quality device of this nature can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 128kg and fresh water usage by 3543 liters per year by displacing the paper used for ephemeral content by a typical reader…

image "…Laminated metal/organic construction, design for repairability and long service life, and mostly recyclable components minimize the life cycle ecological impact of the device…"

So, gang, what do you think—about the solar-power aspects of Snippy and the ergonomic angles? What would it take for you to buy such a machine? How much would you pay? And might the idea fit into One Laptop Per Child or similar  groups in some ways? Others, too, have been thinking solar. Maybe Holly Gates and Martin Woodhouse could join forces (that’s his design you see to the left). One thing they have going for them is that E Ink will be common in the near future in a bendable form, which could make units even smaller and lighter, not just more rugged. I wonder, too, if future E Ink might have even lower power requirements than the present variety.

9 COMMENTS

  1. I very much like the idea and would be quite interested in purchasing such a device, although I do not like the design of the one shown. The biggest design problem for me is that it would be difficult to hold in one hand as I can now do with my Sony. I think some ergonomic tweaking is all that would be needed for the design.

    So, for me to buy one, it would need to meet these requirements: (1) capable of easily being held in one hand like my Sony Reader; (2) capable of reading at least the same book formats that my Sony can read; (3) a price of $300 or less; and (4) be a dedicated ebook device (again like my Sony), not another minicomputer or combination computer, ebook reading device, and telephone.

    It does not have to have either touch screen or wireless capability. I definitely do not want a keyboard like the Kindle. If there must be a keyboard for some reason, then it should be touchscreen.

    Finally, the solar rechargeable batteries should be consumer replaceable.

  2. I like the idea as, in fact I was discussing such a thing just the other day.

    Here is my suggestion for what it is worth.

    1) a good battery.

    2) a reading light on the top of the solar panel.

    2) a solar cell array on on a hinged twist stalk with a ratchet anchored to the top of the reader.

    3) get the balance right, battery and as much as possible in the bottom of the reader, even add a bit of weight to counter-balance the solar panel.

    —————————————–

    The panel sits on the front, in protected position (solar panel facing down and over the reader).

    Lift it, twist it, and angle it to the sun.

    Twist it, push it down, and lay the book on its face, solar panel up.

    Lift it, twist it, push it down again, solar panel protected on the back of the reader (battery power).

    Lift it, twist it, push it down – solar panel over the reader soaking up the sun.

    At night lift the solar panel, angle it and turn the light on.

    Make it shower proof, leave it on the garden table, leave it on the dashboard, prop it up against a window. Put it in a pouch with a clear plastic panel and hang it on the wall, sling it on your back, or strap it on a back pack.

    Charge it when the sun is none too good, at night in bed, but if the battery can run 10 hours or more then that would not be used.

  3. I was searching for such a device for use in areas that have infrequent access to the internet, little to no electricity, and little to no library or bookstore access. Such places as missionaries might travel.

    The purpose would be to download books/articles when internet access is available for use when they are unavailable.

    Cost is a factor as the people who live there and family/friends that might send such items as gifts are on limited incomes, often very limited.

    Hope the demand is such that it goes beyond prototype stage.

  4. I believe this is true because most people think in a standard way, so if a normal method is appropriate for the problem, they will often find a solution faster than I will. It seems to me that because your methods are more fluid than most, you might have had similar experiences.

  5. More interesting news from the electronic book reader department: shortly after Barnes & Noble announced plans to unveil the first color eReader, it looks like LG is vying to put out the first solar-powered digital book reader.

    The reader from LG Display will be equipped with a solar cell developed in-house, allowing the device to charge about a day’s worth of reading time with 4 to 5 hours of exposure to sunlight.

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