We've all heard of parking lots that charge cars while they wait out in the sun to be driven, now here's an inverse take on that concept. Since people's cars spend more time parked than they are actually driven, why not harnest some energy from parked cars instead of just letting the cars sit there?

 

That is the driving idea behind one entry from the "Think Outside the Parking Box" competition cosponsored by site, Designboom and auto manufacturer, Nissan. 

 

The design seen here, known as the Solasis Light Tower, won second place in the competition. The system works by having a parking lot full of Nissan Qashqai's (a car similar to the Nissan Rogue) that have been outfitted with solar panels and special mirrors.

 

 

When parked at certain angles, sunlight is reflected into a large solar concentrator. The solar concentrator works by transferring the concentrated heat to water so steam can be made to drive a turbine that generates electricity.

The two designers Klaud Wasiak and Yongbang Ho, also focused their design concept on the glass and mirrors on the vehicle. By have the side view mirrors and small mirror inside the cars track the sun to optimized the reflection of solar rays into the concentrator.

One downfall with this design, is that the cars and parking lot are stationary. This means, that as the earth rotates the sunlight will be reflected onto the buildings behind and beside the collector. So I guess those people will only be working in the winter.

 

Currently, there are no plans to build this solar collector parking lot, but with a few tweaks to the concept, this thing might showing up to a city near you soon.

 

Source: Designboom via Inhabitat