

Toward tiny, solar-powered sensors - CapitalistCartr
https://newsoffice.mit.edu/2015/solar-powered-sensors-0623

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stephengillie
(Disclaimer: I soldered an LED to my Arduino and now I think I'm an EE)

Suddenly I'm envisioning an EE future where devices won't rely on a central
battery - every component consumes energy from a common bus, and almost every
device feeds energy into that bus. Maybe not every device creates more than it
uses, but most do, enough to make up for the insufficient output of the
others.

Similar to how individual houses are just starting to be solar energy
producers, and put energy back into the grid as well as consume energy from
it, these devices will both generate and consume electricity.

Obviously this won't work well on smartphones, who spend the majority of their
existence within a darkened cloth or leather pocket. But many other devices,
which are designed to live in the light, will benefit. I wonder how long a
solar-powered drone could fly, if it did not have to have a heavy battery on
board.

~~~
Immortalin
Pretty long. [http://www.solarimpulse.com/](http://www.solarimpulse.com/)

