According to Tripadvisor, in 2010, in travel decisions, travellers expect to be more environmentally is up to twenty-two percent. Moreover, forty-four percent of travellers prefer to stay at green hotel or environmentally-aware hotels. Actually, thirty-three percent of travellers booking decide hotels which have green policies. (Varner, 2009)
Based on current global warning and rising energy costs, the requirement for sustainable energy, saving money and environment is an urgent thing above all others. That's why solar power becomes very popular option faster than ever. Nowadays, this sustainable energy has produced so many products such as solar film, solar panel, solar pool heater, solar cell… and almost these products are created by two types of solar panels including photovoltaic modules which convert solar heat into energy, and solar thermal collectors which can store the heat from sun and transfer to the place where needs heating. (Solar Energy Advantages organization, 2007)
Solar is the best sustainable energy which meets demand energy. Compare to wind, water, heat and wave energy, solar energy is more stable, available, flexible and abundant than other energy. Actually, this energy has potential than other energy in economy; the United States solar industry forecasts more than four hundreds forty thousands permanent, full-time jobs in 2016. In technology, using solar energy efficiently is current trend in the world, so many innovations based on solar panel are created such as solar lounge table, solar charged vehicle, solar lamp, solar charged and solar window, and this is an innovation which is in progress. (Solar energy, 2010)
This is an operation of solar panel system: sunlight is the form of renewable energy, and solar panels collect and convert it into electricity which can be used to support for electrical loads. Solar panels are composed of a great number of individual solar cells which are themselves comprised of silicone, phosphorous (the negative charge) and boron (the positive charge). Photons are absorbed by solar panel and in doing so initiate an electric current. That energy strikes the surface of the solar panel which allows their atomic orbits knock out electron. At the same time, this electron releases into the electric field creating by the solar cells which cal pull all these free elections into a directional current. Photovoltaic is a name of this entire process.
Therefore, how many is solar panels necessary to provide enough solar electricity to supply? All need support from an inverter which can converts the DC current (or the direct current), produced by a solar panel into AC current (the alternating current), solar panel arrays can be sized to satisfy all demanding electrical load requirements. (Yedda, 2009)
Can ordinary windows be turn into solar panels? This is job which MIT scientist is researching by the magical blend. Absorbing light while re-emit energy into the glass by a wide colour range with complex systems. That energy is gathered in the window's edge and converted electricity. This can bring hope to a commercially-ready version in future. With this innovation, skyscrapers don't only satisfy the space of living, but also it can provide energy for whole city. Besides, we can save space for huge solar panel, and cost for install energy solar. In general, this product can provide another view for developed cities. (ubergizmo, 2008)
Among solar energy products, solar window film is more popular. Actually, its function satisfies consumer demand such as controlling up to (78%) the effects of solar energy; blocking harmful UV rays up to (98%); absorbing glare under any circumstances including direct sunlight, or sunlight reflecting from snow, water or surrounding windows; providing interior temperature balances and climate control; minimizing damage of shattered glasses by holding it together as a "safety net"; having uniform design which can support the appearance of hotel; maximizing the saving cost for electricity and easy to install in hotel. (Euroguard, 2009)
Other function of solar panel is to generate heat. Solar panel can collect the heat in sunlight, and this system is called solar thermal collectors. This is a special solar panel which is made for specific absorb the sunlight to produce the heat. (Pakhare, 2007)
Today, there is trend of applying solar optical affects on the thermal of window, especially the windows which used by the thermal and optical effects of solar screen material. Actually, the Window 4.1 program is recommended to apply the thermal calculation on the window (Finlayson et al. 1994). According to the direction of John Elliot Engineering Associates, Inc. (1982), Yellot Solar Energy Laboratory are implementing some program which includes measure of the thermal properties of the solar screen material, applying the spectral database for Varicon glass products on the glass optical properties. (Energy savings 4 you, 2002)
An operation of solar thermal collector will explain with a simple example below: solar panel is a closed box which has a top made of transparent material by glass. When sunlight radiates through the glass, it also heat up the inside of the box. If the inside of boy has black colour, so, it strengthen absorption more heat. The thermal is collected inside the box can be used for heating air.
A solar thermal energy system to heat air is not too complicated. A glass top is attached to a box. There is an inlet pipe in box for cool air. By using a fan, the cool air can go into the box. In the box, the cool air moves through the inlet pipe. With the sun rays and the temperature in box, cool air becomes warmer. Furthermore, if cool air continues to be pushed into the boy, the warm air has to get out from the box through the outlet pipe. Now, you can use warm air to heat your home. In reality, this large system is more complicated. (Make It Solar, 2005)
The big weak point in solar systems is that it just works when the sun is shining or on summer. Therefore, rain season, winter, cloudy day and night, solar energy is worthless, and we have to use natural gas to produce electricity or heat air. However, this project doesn't means depending on solar energy entirely, or replaces current electricity system by solar energy system. It just shows you the benefit of limit or conservation of scarcity energy by using unlimited energy. Today, according to United States Census Bureau, in 22 March 2010, the world population is up to six point eight billion peoples (6,809,900,000). If six billion people don't use scarcity energy during one hour, so how many energy we can save for future, how many money we can save, how much pollution we can reduce? These questions are answers for benefit of sustainable energy, especially solar energy and why we apply it in hospitality industry now. (California Energy Commission, 2002)
Charging Table
The table design's mission is to comfort business traveler. As long as hotels lead in this product, business travelers don't need to bring chargers or adapters for any of their digital devices. Since 2006 there are several countries and European Union start to set a standard for cell-phone digital chargers. The reason for this standard is to reduce waste of charger. According to the analysts of Global System for Mobile Communication Association (GSM), there are 12 hundred million mobile phones were sold out, 50%~80% among the number are in placement demand. It means there are about 5~8 tons' charger doesn't need to be produced (Ms. Xiao Li Chen, 2009). GSMA are looking for a way to reduce 51 thousand tons of redundant chargers each year (Jonathan Ong, 2009). According to consumer's foundation, Chinese Taipei's survey, there are 99% of population support that all chargers should be Unified Specification (Ying Lan Liu,2008).
China
In 2006, ministry of industry and information technology of the people's republic of china publishes a regulation- Mobile Handset Charger and Interface Technology Requirements and test methods ordinance. Ministry of industry information (MII) revises unifying charger standard regulation in 2010. MII has announced that government of china levies all mobile handsets should equip with a standard USB charger. The only difference of regulation between 2006 and 2010 is the connection of cell-phone and charger become three-stage structure and chargers should be able to charge different brand models of cell-phone through the USB access (Chi Ru Chen, 2010). Nokia's mobile phone chargers are produced to reach China's regulation- three-stage structure and also the interface of the cell-phone is following the criteria. Another two well-know mobile phone companies- Motorola and Sony Ericsson are planning to change their cell-phone interface to meet new standards of China (Chi Ru Chen, 2010).
European Union
According to Jonathan Ong's report "International Telecommunication Union, a branch of the United Nations, has finally approved a standard for a universal phone charger to be used for all mobile phones in the near future." This statute will benefit each of digital users that can charge their mobile anywhere by any kind of charger. This enactment also reduces the amount of unnecessary cell-phone chargers. The GSM Association also predicts there will be almost 50% reduction in standby energy consumption (Jonathan Ong). It will be one of the specific action which protects the environment from battery harm reflect to the draft Copenhagen Agreement toward mitigating global warming. From Yi Hau Yu's report she says consumer protection association in Berlin requests this ordinance shouldn't just for cell-phone but also used on all small digital devices' charger including MP3, camera, and PDA (Yi Hau,Yu).
Wireless Charger
A company called Powermat has introduced wireless charger to the market. This technology has been used for individual or office. "This is the charging station you always dreamed of. One cord, one mat, one place to charge all your handheld devices. (Powermat USA)" This is the purpose what Powermat wants its consumer experiences. Powermat's new innovation brings consumers an easier, more comfortable, convenient life with a wireless charger in hand. The wireless charger can charge either kindles, eReaders, digital Kodak cameras, Bluetooth headsets, many mobile phone brands and models. In our product we are going to use this kind of technology in hospitality industry.
Multi Voltage Power Adapter- Chinavasion
More and more business travelers go abroad and the needs of multi power adapter growth. This innovation provide multi-voltage power adapter for huge range of digital devices such as cell-phones, digital cameras, laptops, MP3 or MP4. Most of famous brands of laptop can be used by this product like Acer, Asus, IBM, HP and so on. People can choose voltage range from 12 to 24 volts for laptop or 5 volts of power output through the power adapter indicates. With this technology installs in our energy table people only choose the country where they come from, what kind of digital devices they are using and the brand of their digital devices then they can start to charge their battery.
Hand-Touched Screen
Hand-touched screen is widely applied in mobile phone, laptop, and PDA. People are not unfamiliar using hand-touched screen. One of the most well-known company using hand-touched screens on its product is Apple which even apply an innovation-multi touch toward its products (Apple, 2010).
Solar Battery
How can people use electricity after the sun sets? The solar energy can be stored in the solar battery. This technology is used on solar heater or individual. Many people already recognize the importance of using rechargeable batteries rather than disposable ones (solar home, 2009).
