DETROIT – Imagine being able to power your house with solar “energy cubes” that you can stack up like LEGO pieces to create a network of energy. It sounds like something out of sci-fi movie, yet this remarkable idea invented by a Swiss company may one day actually provide us with inexpensive, clean energy across all grids.
From a distance, Switzerland-based Power-Blox’s PBX-200 looks like a cooler box you’d commonly see on a beach; however, that couldn’t be further away from truth. These “solar boxes” have batteries powered by portable solar panels, and just one of them can supply the majority of a home’s energy demands.
This is a system that adapts to your needs since the solar boxes can expand, divide, and re-group. To create energy for a community, the batteries in the blocks can merge to form an energy swarm, as the boxes can easily be plugged into another box.
Power-Blox technology is unique in that it combines the ease of use of a solar home system with the power of a mini-grid. The system was created by electrical engineers who were inspired by nature, specifically, a school of fish.
The PBX-200 series, like fish, may grow, split, and re-group, with the batteries combining to form an off-grid “energy swarm” with limitless application possibilities.
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