Underwear. Jewelry. Music. A place to hang out and drapes to hang up. Solar power has it all… Oh yeah, and it may power our economy for eons to come, but that’s beside the point. Today is all about the weird, wacky and wonderful side of solar energy. It’s about the awesome, quirky and sometimes completely unnecessary power of human inventiveness.

Below are 15 of the strangest uses for solar power that we could find. They may not make much sense to most of us, but they may be just the ticket for those certain special people. Without fail, they all have one undeniable redeeming quality: a clean and renewable future, be it in fame and fortune or out-of-this-world obscurity. So without further adieu, we now present to you…

#1 – The Solar Necklace. This illuminating idea for a piece of jewelry, as popular as its successors may be at raves or aging Phish concerts, is a bit, well, square. Designed by Mae Yokoyama, the Lux is created using thin, rectangular solar panels with LED lights embedded in the necklace. To be worn at daytime parties? Or maybe fox hunts?

#2 – The Solar Xylophone. “Here Comes the Sun,” sang The Beatles. I’m not so sure they meant it this literally, and I’m positive that George Harrison wasn’t playing a solar-powered guitar, but times have changed, and this curious instrument is wired into a solar amplifier. Each key on the xylophone is overshadowed by a mallet wired to its own solar panel. As the panel collects solar energy, it inspires the mallet to strike the corresponding key on the xylophone. I would say that the sun is officially here.

#3 – The Solar Bra. Take your clothes off! In the name of renewable energy, of course. This has got to be one of the strangest inventions I’ve ever seen. The Solar Power Bra is a unique energy maker that allows women to kill three birds with one stone. Not only do you get a tan, you also get to wear a solar panel that powers a small billboard (also on the bra) and keep your summer thirst quenched with two reusable drink containers mounted on the bra cups. Must be seen to be believed.

#4 – The Alpine Capsule. This is probably my favorite of all our wacky solar products. It is at once a strange offshoot from an alien movie and a truly badass way to go camping. From Lovegrove Studios, the Alpine Capsule looks like an otherworldly orb with a super-reflective surface. Upon entering, however, residents get an amazing 360-degree view of surroundings in all their natural beauty. By the way, it’s powered by solar panels and a vertical axis wind turbine.

#5 – The Pool PC. Is your lust for constant internet access interrupting your swim time? If yes, then you need the Pool PC. This plastic and waterproof personal computer floats and is solar-powered (so stop trying to kill yourself with extension cords in the pool!). It has a touchscreen interface, uses the pool water to keep itself cool and is designed specially to fit onto any floating pool ring or tube… not to mention a built-in GPS, Bluetooth and Internet access.

#6 – The Solar Lounge. There’s nothing more depressing than sunless, dead-end bars. Mercury House One takes care of all that. What we avid cocktailers get here is a full bar that is mobile and powered by solar energy. It is “a habitable unit designed as a mobile lounge, integrating functional and aesthetic considerations.” I’m assuming by “functional” that they mean it has some powerful gin and tonic on the gun, and by “aesthetic” they’re referring to the fine Carrara marble exterior, backlit at night with an egg- or pod-like shape. It’s a fine addition to any festival or town square.

#7 – Wi-Fi Flowers. When I see flowers blooming in springtime, I immediately think of long afternoons spent surfing the Internet in some fantastical Alice in Wonderland setting. On Chicago’s Navy Pier, celebrators of the launch of the new Toyota Prius enjoyed 18-foot tall flower sculptures that provided seating for up to 10 people, pumping out free wireless internet in the meantime. Wacky and wonderful to be sure, but where are they now? Surely, free Wi-Fi flowers would come in handy year-round.

#8 – It’s Curtains! With solar-powered curtains, you can block out the sun even while collecting its abundant energy. The passive solar home of the future, with all its strategically placed windows, will not be all passive after all. In the heat of summer, simply close the curtains. In doing so, you’ll prevent unwanted solar heat gain while simultaneously collecting solar energy with curtains sewn using nanotechnology and organic solar cells.

#9 – The Solar Floating Alligator Head. Um… yes, that’s what I meant to write. It’s called the Swamp Eyes Solar Alligator and it floats in your backyard pond like a scarecrow for predatory birds and other invading fowl that might want to harm your koi, goldfish, or unusually-timid-but-very-real alligator. Solar panels built into his nose collect precious energy during the day to make his eyes glow ominously at night. Captain Hook, beware!

#10 – The Solar Neck Warmer. Having grown up primarily in Michigan, I can attest to the bright beauty of sunny days in winter, but that doesn’t necessarily make it any less colder. Folks who understand that seeming contradiction will appreciate the solar neck warmer, which looks like a fleece turtleneck attachment equipped with a heating element connected to a small battery (much like an electric blanket). One catch: you have to buy the miniature solar panel separately. One bonus: hand warmers are also available.

#11 – More Flowers. All Wi-Fi aside, there’s more to the solar-powered flower than one might think. First of all, we have Solar Night Flowers, which are plastic, floral, solar-powered lights with several fibrous LED stamens that create a strange but undeniably curious light. Secondly, we have the Solar Night Garden, which has a higher and much larger purpose: to delight passersby at the recent “Light in Jerusalem Festival.” It begs the question, “Whooooooo are Youuuuuuu?”

#12 – The Solar Necktie. Now you have the perfect reason to keep that suit jacket unbuttoned. The solar-powered necktie comes complete with a pocket (on its backside) for a cell phone, camera or MP3 player. The front – in fact, the tie itself – is made from solar fabrics using flexible thin-film amorphous silicon solar panels. This little invention from the folks at Iowa State University may just put a stop to this whole “business casual” movement.

#13 – The Sun Shade. Okay, so this idea is not about harnessing solar power – it’s actually about blocking out the sun, but is wacky enough to make onto our list. The “Sun Shades” are a weird but apparently feasible piece of geo-engineering introduced as a potential solution to Global Warming. The idea is to launch trillions of tiny spacecraft, or “flyers,” made of transparent film into space, each one about two feet in diameter and 1/5000th of an inch thick. They would be strategically guided (using solar power) to stand between the sun and the earth, effectively providing shade for us terra-firm creatures and our ever-warming planet. Sounds impossible, right? Well, creator Roger Angel is getting some serious attention from scientific circles and the federal government.

#14 – The Solar-Powered Jack-o’-Lantern. I think this idea is a bit more clever than wacky, but it’s getting to be the time of year when it’s just plain relevant. And I suppose Halloween is our wackiest holiday, and costuming aside, nothing symbolizes the eeriness of autumn more than the jack-o’-lantern. Well, you can learn how to incorporate solar power into this year’s festivities with the simple addition of a solar garden light to your creation’s scary innards.

#15 – Found In Space. Last but not least, we present a concept so superficially wacky that you wouldn’t believe it was real if it weren’t getting so much attention (not to mention funding). Space-based solar power involves the collection of solar energy by satellites beyond Earth’s atmosphere (where the sun shines 24/7) and the subsequent beaming of that energy to receivers here at ground level using microwave radiation. Sound a little Star Trekkie? Well get ready to tune into your local news rather than the Sci-Fi Channel. The government is recommending it and at least one utility is already purchasing the power (in advance, of course). By the way… space solar power=SSP=it already has its own acronym!

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Posted on October 6th in Solar Products by Dan.