Glastonbury Solar Concept Tent

{Orange} revealed their vision for the "tent of the future" - the {Glastonbury} Solar Concept Tent. This tent utilizes cutting edge eco-engergy technology that will allow campers to keep in touch and power their camping gadgets! Though this tent is only a concept, the vision of the Orange Solar Concept Tent has been designed to celebrate Orange’s 11th year at Glastonbury. Below is a list of the main features and explanations of each:

Photovoltaic Fabric
Latest research shows that by weaving specially coated solar threads into conventional fabric, revolutionary new ways of capturing the sun’s energy could soon become a reality. These radical advances mean that rather than relying upon familiar fixed panels, designers were free to conceive how a tent of flexible solar fabrics might look. The Concept Tent’s solar shell uses this technology to full effect with three directional glides which can be moved throughout the day to maximize its solar efficiency, capturing the optimum amount of energy which can to be used throughout the tent in a variety of new and exciting ways.

Glo-cation technology
To avoid festival-goers ever losing their tent, the Concept Tent would be fitted with innovative “glo-cation” technology. Glo-cation works by enabling campers’ mobile phones to identify their tent using either an SMS message or automatic active RFID technology (a longer range version of that used in London Underground Oyster cards); both would trigger a distinctive glow in the tent helping identify it from a distance.

Wireless control hub
The heart of the Concept Tent is a central wireless control hub which displays energy generated and consumed as well as providing a wireless internet signal; all information is displayed on a flexible, touchscreen LCD display screen. Integrated into the hub is a wireless charging pouch which powers mobile phones and other portable devices without the need for messy wires and multiple chargers. The ‘magnetic induction’ technology passes an electric current through a coil embedded in the charging pouch, this in turn generates a magnetic field which creates a charge and powers the battery.

Groundsheet heat
Also controlled by the central hub is an internal heating element embedded within the tent’s groundsheet; this under floor heating is triggered automatically once the interior temperature falls below a set level. Kaleidoscope Strategist, Finn McKenty, said: “The development of photovoltaic fabric will revolutionize festival tent design, in working with Orange we have created a vision for a solar tent that we believe is a great glimpse of what’s to come.”