Despite its general lack of, um, surface area, a new “photovoltaic bikini” designed by Andrew Schneider apparently provides enough power to run your MP3 player.
Ladies – this could be the perfect fit for a day of lounging on the beach or by the pool.
Clean Energy Authority reports that Solar Bikini got its start when the designer was in graduate school in a sustainability course at New York University.
As a joke, Schneider said he wanted to create a bikini that could cool beer at the beach; a couple weeks later, he realized that the design was actually feasible, using traditional fabrics and thin film solar.
The challenge here, of course, was to get enough surface area to provide real power while keeping the bikini “small and sexy.”
Schneider overcame this challenge by completely covering the bathing suit in solar cells – though apparently the power here is more appropriate to powering tunes than your portable refrigerator. (Stay tuned, though, guys, as a pair of solar trunks are apparently in the works.)
While Schneider believes the Solar Bikini is more of a fun, educational concept design than a commercial product, he is offering the Solar Bikini through Solar Coterie for $200.
Each suit comes with female (yes) USB connections to charge various devices and was designed exclusively for sunbathing – so don’t even think about getting it wet.
