The blinds from SolarGaps offer a renter-friendly alternative to conventional panels Window blinds block harsh sun from entering a room. Solar panels harness the sun?s rays to generate energy. With a new product from SolarGaps, those two functions are cleverly combined into solar-panel-window-blinds that the startup claims can reduce energy bills by 70 percent.
Now, not every window on a home gets the same amount of sunlight, but these panel blinds are capable of generating 100 watts for every 10 square feet of window, roughly equivalent to powering three MacBooks.
The blinds can be installed on either the inside or outside of the home (though indoor installation cuts the power-generation capability in half), and the installation process is supposed to be easy enough for a customers to do it themselves. The angle and positioning of the blinds is controlled through an app that also displays energy generation numbers. There?s a setting for the blinds to automatically optimize their angle according to the sun. You can also integrate the controls with smart home hubs like Google Home, Echo, and Nest.
The company is crowdfunding their first mass production run and offering half-off prices for backers starting at $390 for an XS set of blinds.

Via: Inhabitat, Treehugger

...