‘First I wanted to provide electricity for my home, then my village. Now I am thinking for the whole world.”
So says Milan Karki, an 18 year old who grew up in rural Nepal, who believes he has found the solution to the developing world’s energy needs: hair. The hair replaces silicon, a pricey component typically used in solar panels, and means the panels can be produced at a low cost for those with no access to power, he explained.
He idolizes Thomas Edison, and learned about the static charge held by hair by reading a book by physicist Stephen Hawking.
This story originated from a British tabloid, the Daily Mail, which is not a good source for technical information. The reporter who wrote the story didn’t examine the panel closely and is not a trained scientist. Despite what the story says, hair is a very good insulator. Hair does not generate electricity when exposed to sunlight. Even melanin, separated from hair and purified, does not generate electricity in this manner; it must be combined with organic dyes and it only enhances their ability to generate electricity. In short, this story is nonsense and most news outlets are issuing retractions. You may Google “nepal hair solar hoax” to see examples of dissenting news articles or click on this link for a summary: http://sites.google.com/site/edwardcraighyatt/hairsolarpanelnepal
Yeah, so we got punked too. But in our defense, we’re not even marginally an equipped news organization, so we’re really sort of at the mercy of those that are. And, since the NY Times linked to it (http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/currently-on-our-radar-2/) we thought it was legit. Our mistake.