<![CDATA[permies: Latest posts for the topic "electric solar panels using Pokeberries"]]> http://www.permies.com/forums/t/109/solar/electric-solar-panels-Pokeberries JForum - http://www.jforum.net electric solar panels using Pokeberries "Purple Pokeberries Hold Secret to Affordable Solar Power Worldwide"  from Science Daily  that seems very in line with permaculture principles.   Apparently the red dye from the pokeberry coats the fibers of the solar cell acting as a photon trap and absorber.  This is especially helpful because the solar cells will efficiently collect light from a wide angle range, from sun up to sun down without having to reorient the panels. 

This is my first post on this forum, I look forward to sharing permaculture ideas with all of you.  ]]> http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/33380 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/33380 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/38701 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/38701 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries
"Purple Pokeberries Hold Secret to Affordable Solar Power Worldwide"

Although the article doesn't specify why the pokeberries (isn't that what's in Captain Crunch?) work, I suspect that the solar cells in question are more efficient at the lower light wave frequencies, and the dye produced by the berries is just the right color to provide maximum power to the cells.]]> http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/38715 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/38715 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries
I hope the process they use to fix the dye is eco-friendly.]]> http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/38746 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/38746 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries
Muzhik wrote:
Although the article doesn't specify why the pokeberries (isn't that what's in Captain Crunch?) work, I suspect that the solar cells in question are more efficient at the lower light wave frequencies, and the dye produced by the berries is just the right color to provide maximum power to the cells.


[glow=red,2,300]DO NOT eat poke berries the whole plant has poison and, unless you are willing to get sick, do not eat poke. [/glow]

You can find recipes and authors (like Euell Gibbons) that recommend eating poke. The plant can poison you and make you sick.
                                -----------------------------------------------------
The berries have a ruby red color and i suspect that might trap light and enhance light on the voltaic cell in some way. Ruby tubes are used in lasers.]]> http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39018 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39018 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries organic or inorganic, react to different frequencies and the layers add up to give greater output. The problem with multi-layer designs has been very high manufacturing costs. To get solar to the masses requires simplicity, cheap, readily available materials, durability in sunlight and weather, recycle-ability, easy installation on various surfaces and mounts, and good output efficiency to reduce panel size. It's like different battery types; no single design seems to do everything well.

Bob.]]> http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39030 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39030 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39149 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39149 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries
I do not think Poke grows where I live.

So you eat the leave but not the berries?

How do you eat the leaves? raw? cooked? in tea?

Why do you eat it? taste? nutrition?

Do they have natural toxins? is the trick to eat a small amount of the top of the pant & avoid the toxins?]]> http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39180 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39180 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries
i eat it as a green like spinach

i cook it most of the time boiled twice sometimes mix in eggs

i like the taste and nutrition

the berries are super toxic along with the stalk 

the smaller top leaves have only a small amount

my mom taught me how to eat it , grandma taught mom, great grandma taught grandma . and so on ]]> http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39195 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39195 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries
My conclusion is that the plant contains poison at all stages and you can get away with eating a small amount, but it is accumulative and you can get sick by eating too much. So i would only eat it in small amounts and only if there was not anything else to eat.

SO try it IF you are willing to get sick. Some people eat it - I won't.

I saw a recipe for arthritis that included whiskey and poke root... I wouldn't try it. ]]> http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39235 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39235 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries alot of folks here eat Poke Salad
(Parents, Relatives, Friends and such) i know of none being poisoned here eat Poke my dad taught me to only pick the young shoots never any over 1' tall (i suspect it can be eaten taller, but dad just liked the tender sprouts :p) the whole stalk can be cooked like boiled spinach and eaten, the larger the plant gets the more toxic it becomes and the berries are very bad given my understanding of the old timer lore. so thats what i know on the subject hope it helps
]]> http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39273 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39273 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries
So if the berries are rich in pigment do they use them to make textile dyes & such?]]> http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39280 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39280 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries
Dianne Keast wrote:
So if the berries are rich in pigment do they use them to make textile dyes & such?


I believe the United States Constitution was written in ink made from poke berries.]]> http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39299 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39299 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries
Dianne Keast wrote:
All very interesting, thanks folks.

So if the berries are rich in pigment do they use them to make textile dyes & such?


I admittedly know very little about natural dyes, but being as the berries are poison it might not be the best idea to use them, you never know how little it might take to make on sick, even with skin contact]]> http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39304 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39304 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39350 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39350 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries
Well, any iteration of PV tech may be "too expensive" at any given moment, so we just built our system over a 28 year span, adding panels or upgrading charge controllers as needed. Modularity is the one big advantage PV has over many other energy sources.]]> http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39389 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/39389 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/41483 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/41483 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries

Despite my sarcasm, there is a lot to be optimistic about technology-wise.  The solutions are already out there, implementation is the real frontier.  Need to change our heads more than develop new technology, but I'll take all the thinner, cheaper, more efficient I can get.  ]]> http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/41491 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/41491 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries
yukkuri_kame wrote:
Need to change our heads more than develop new technology, but I'll take all the thinner, cheaper, more efficient I can get. 


At this stage of my life, I'll settle for thinner...]]> http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/41517 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/41517 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries
Muzhik wrote:
Although the article doesn't specify why the pokeberries (isn't that what's in Captain Crunch?)


Just LOLed a bit. Good stuff.]]> http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/41889 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/41889 Re: electric solar panels using Pokeberries http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/41917 http://www.permies.com/forums/posts/preList/3946/41917