The two objects that I am committed to creating for our first project as mentioned in my previous related post is a power-generating garden tool and a solar curtain. While the garden tool is remaining mostly unchanged the solar curtain has changed into what I am calling solar paddle lights. The garden tool will no longer have a music player component even though the language of the iconic earbuds sticking out of the tool’s handle was interesting. The main point of this piece however was to offer an intervention into the way that we consider our energy sources and how they are generated and quantified relative to our physical labor. The garden tool will have a kinetic energy generating/storage device in the handle that can provide a charge to music players and other electronics via USB. 5 minutes of working in the garden equals 1 minute of music on an iPod Nano. The garden tool would have different tool tips to swap out like an ice chipper, hoe, and rake. When work is done in the garden, the tool is brought into the home and housed in a box that, together with the handle, work as an aesthetic object as well as a surface for charging objects.

The solar paddle lights have photovoltaic cells on one side and an acrylic covered LED light source on the other. Using a wall mounted attachment next to a window, the paddle lights charge during the day and then can be placed in a table top pad, mount to a wall either at the window or somewhere else in the home as a reading light. It can also function as rechargable flash light.