Power Pot Pitch
"Today’s solar panels are over-credited as a friend of the environment when in reality, they create more of a problem than people realize. Although the panels may produce clean energy, their construction creates an overabundance of waste. That’s where our project comes into play. We are shifting the focus from designing products based on natural processes, to designing products using nature itself. Solar panels are based on photosynthesis, the process by which plants create energy from the sun. Plants are the original solar collectors. They capture the sun’s energy in a safe way. They gather the sun’s light throughout the day, far more than they need to survive. Our device, the Power Pot, will safely absorb this excess energy and and transform it into electricity, accessible via an external outlet on the walls of the Pot. The energy collected by our Pot can be used anywhere from homes to schools to regions off the grid; essentially, anywhere a plant will grow within it. The Power Pot is the seedling awaiting to grow into the future of solar energy."