Is This a Green Idea?

An Australian government funded initiative, the VEIL solar-shade is a future possibility for the integration of solar-energy harvesting technologies into a form that is pragmatic (providing shade & energy), evocative and educational.

The idea is very simple: instead of having simple canopies outside the school to protect the kids from the heat of the sun, with one small tweak they can be used for collecting sun’s energy at the same time. Adding solar cells on top and handles on the base that can rotate the canopy to get the most efficient orientation in relation to the sun, these canopies can provide at the same time shade and energy.

Here you can see how these canopies look on a school yard:



According to Buro North, the group behind this redesign, "current Australian school curriculums utilize information around consumption and energy as an educational device, and we have designed this interactive concept to explore the visual connection between energy collection and consumption".

A nice, green idea.

BTW, have you noticed how the meaning of "green idea" has changed in the last years? Not so many years ago, "green idea" meant an incomplete idea, a concept in development, not finished yet. Nowadays -most of the time-, is used to indicate that is an eco-friendly one.

What takes us to another thing to have in mind when brainstorming ideas related to writing (copywriting, jokes, movies): language is always changing -as we do-, and there is a huge potential in their history and evolution to play with them. In fact, while today we trademark slogans, those were in the beginning a slighty different type of "communication".