Overview

The Brief

Today Information Technology (IT) is becoming the foremost medium to store our
knowledge, archives and testimonies – in other words our whole history. This highly
effective medium regularly calls for fresh energy supply. Without energy, our memory fades,
as does our brain. Preserving energy and energy supply is preserving our memory and
sharing its infinite intellectual, cultural and emotional wealth.

EPFL has invented a radically new technology to capture solar energy. Drawing on the
principle of photosynthesis in plants, Professor Michael Graetzel’s team developed a new
type of solar cell which captures light using dye molecules. This approach has earned many
prizes including the 2006 World Technology Award.

This innovation is taking a major step towards the general public as large-scale
industrialisation of the process begins and soft, coloured solar cells become available. They
will complement ongoing endeavours using the same technology towards other applications
such as almost see-through photovoltaic glass. Photovoltaic energy can now start
interacting with design as solar cells learn the language of shape and colour to conquer
everyday life.

This development is an expression of the determination to preserve the Earth and ensure its
sustainable development. In 2007 LODH celebrated its activity in Lausanne, the city which
gave birth to this innovation – 125 years of development with an innovative and sustainable
spirit mindful of future generations.

Problems

Window Cleaners

More Sky Scrapers / Taller & Taller / Futuristic Shape

How it works

Design Products, Royal College of Art
Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2EU

0044 (0)759 0039 380

hwang.kim@network.rca.ac.uk