täts

Täts is a fictional term used in speculative fiction to describe a class of energy-harvesting devices integrated into urban infrastructure. In the imagined setting, täts are modular units deployed on buildings, street furniture, and transit hubs to collect ambient energy and feed it into a decentralized power network. The concept was developed by a consortium of researchers in the late 21st century and popularized in science fiction literature and media as a symbol of distributed resilience. Each täts unit combines a small photovoltaic array, an energy harvester for ambient heat or radiofrequency signals, a microcontroller, and a fast-energy storage system. The devices communicate through a secure mesh protocol, enabling self-healing routing of electricity and dynamic load balancing across neighborhoods. Installations vary from a few watts in small kiosks to kilowatts in larger façades, depending on exposure and storage capacity. In-world governance covers safety, privacy, and maintenance requirements, while designers emphasize aesthetics and urban integration. In cultural contexts, täts appear in novels and TV series as representations of energy autonomy and smart-city technology, prompting debates about surveillance, equity, and resilience. Critics warn of cyber risks, e-waste, and the lifecycle impact of production and disposal. See also: microgrids, energy harvesting, smart cities, mesh networks.