Researchers at Queen Mary University and Imperial College London are reporting that exposing solar cells to pop music makes them convert sunlight into electricity up to 50 percent more efficiently.
Solar cells, expensive to produce, create up to 40 percent more electricity while listening to the higher pitches found in pop and rock music. Similar tests conducted with classical music, typically of darker tones than pop, did not yield the same beneficial effects.
"There are lots of places where this might be useful," says Queen Mary University researcher Steve Dunn, referring to the strategic placing of solar panels in noisy public places. "On top of air-conditioning units, on military vehicles or on military personnel where lightweight power sources can be used to supplement heavy power requirements."