Smart Tiles-an Energy Infrastructure for the Solar System

摘要

In 7500 BC a starry-eyed dreamer in Anatolia came up with a crazy idea. Take an annoying obstacle to walking-mud. Fashion it into a shape no human had ever seen: a rectangle Leave it in the sun to dry. Make six million of them. Then use these modules to build the cosmos' first garden apartment complexes, the first three-room apartments with surprises humans had never seen before: flat surfaced walls, right angle corners, and single-family privacy. The result: a city of 10,000 inhabitants: Catal Huyuk. We propose a 21~(st) century module with equally audacious possibilities: a Smart Tile with five layers: 1. a layer printed with electronic sensors and antennae for communications and to harvest ambient radio waves and turn them to electricity; 2. a photovoltaic layer for energy generation; 3. a layer of microprocessors and data storage; 4. a sheet battery; 5. and a layer to turn thermal gradients into electricity.