11:51 a.m. – Modified: 2:18 p.m. by Dolorès CHARLES
A solar tree in Laval (53)
Credit : Hervé LOUIFI
It’s not always easy to find charging stations for your PC or phone in public spaces. A Mayenne resident has found the solution, Hervé Louifi, a metalworker by profession, has designed a tree-shaped structure with small photovoltaic panels to enable recharging.
A practical, ecological and free object! Some have dreamed of it; Hervé Louifi has made it! This metalworker has recently settled in Saint-Georges-Buttavent, a town near the city of Mayenne. Hervé has built a tree that runs on solar energy to recharge his mobile phone, but potentially also a PC, a scooter and why not later a bicycle or an electric car.
“We are going to add a stand-alone solar street light.”
The idea seems simple, but it still had to be implemented.I had a little dream and the next day I started working on it … and that’s where it started. I made the steel tree and we started working on the panels. They are photovoltaic panels, not solar. Today, we can find panels, but very large ones and we made them almost to measure. Then, we used polycarbonate sheets on which we fixed the solar panels. The prototype is 4m and the second will be 6m, because we are going to add an autonomous solar street light.. Today we have integrated USB ports to charge the phone and also the laptop.”
An idea “awesome” and friendly
At the foot of the tree, benches have been installed to make it a place for socializing.It’s a friendly corner… Today with the phone, we lose this friendliness! Everyone is alone, we are all glued to our phones, to the tablet… I have noticed since I put the tree in front of the workshop, that people come and sit down; we chat even if we don’t know each other. I find that extraordinary! It’s time to recharge, or time to eat your sandwich for example… it depends on the subjects but I really think the idea is brilliant!”
First meeting in Mayenne
The 4m model is installed in front of his workshop in Saint-Georges-Buttavent, the starting price is set at 15,000 euros excluding tax.
The idea today is to have this invention approved in order to sell it on a large scale to local authorities. A first meeting has been set for September 25 with the city of Mayenne, but Rennes or Le Mans are also said to be interested.
