Check out this working demonstration model of a solar-powered e-book reader that was featured at the Greener Gadgets Design Competition 2008.
Snippy is an ultraportable handheld electronic viewer for textual and graphic information which harvests operating energy from the sun and transparently links to other Snippys in the area to share content. This solar networked information propagating paper-like display brings together the daylight readability and extremely low average power consumption of an electronic paper display, a solar panel to gather energy from light, and a Bluetooth radio interface. The readability and optical quality of an E Ink display are unparalleled, especially in high light conditions like outdoors during daylight hours. The 800×600 6″ diagonal high reflectivity screen used in the device offers 166ppi resolution at 16 gray levels, which translates to crisp, well rendered text and detailed grayscale images with a paper-like look. A high quality device of this nature can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 128kg and fresh water usage by 3543 liters per year by displacing the paper used for ephemeral content by a typical reader. Laminated metal/organic construction, design for repairability and long service life, and mostly recyclable components minimize the life cycle ecological impact of the device.
It would be interesting to see how many people pick up products like the Snippy in the future – hopefully they’re cheap enough!
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