Moving away from the last past and out of Mordor is a brilliant little concept simply called Lillies. Lillies is alternative idea to the usual roof mounted solar panels, this time being placed in the River Clyde in Glasgow and resembling giant lily pads. The lily pads would be tethered to the river bed where they would slowly rotate throughout the day to get the optimal exposure and suck up as much as energy as possible.

I think this is a really great idea as long as it was executed in an artistic way. I think it would suck to have a bunch of ugly metal discs sitting out in the river not doing anything, but the idea has serious potential. There are no plans to build the lily pads yet, but the idea is being pithed to the Glasgow City Council where a test project could be developed. What do you guys think, does the idea float? (Ugh, I’m sorry, that just popped into my head and I had to write down, haha…)

For more information you can read the BBC article.
Found through Inhabitat

Bobby

6 Comments »

1. If it is aesthetically nice, it is a fantastic idea.
   But I wonder how it works when big commercial boats are going down the river (especially if the pad moves)???

   Comment by Angele — May 13, 2008 #

2. I hate to be the sceptic, but Glasgow isn’t noted for sunshine.

   What a great idea, but I’d think a little more about the location.

   Comment by Iain — May 13, 2008 #

3. Angele: I just figured they wouldn’t let boats down the river, but Wikipedia says there’s been a sharp decline in ship building.

   Iain: That’s very true, hadn’t thought of that, haha…

   Comment by Bobby — May 13, 2008 #

4. It is a great idea, but the location is strange. the ocean seams like the obvious choice for huge floating farms of energy harvesting solar lillies.

   Comment by ian — May 13, 2008 #

5. That is such a stereotype, Glasgow is getting all the heat right now, haha.

   Comment by Louise — May 14, 2008 #

6. You tell ‘em, Louise!

   Comment by Bobby — May 14, 2008 #

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