solar power

Five Green Devices Every Home Should Have

jplatt — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:44:18 -0400

You don't have to install huge solar panels on your home or drive a hybrid vehicle to go green. Sometimes, the best steps to take are the littlest ones. With that in mind, here are five green devices that should be in every home, all of which are easy to find, and none of which will break the bank.

1. A battery charger. Too many of our devices and tools still need batteries, which end up in landfills and leach toxic chemicals into the ground. Stop the cycle by making the switch to rechargeable batteries. They'll save you money, reduce your waste, and make a huge difference.

2. A solar-powered calculator. Why use batteries at all if you can choose a device that doesn't need them?

3. A solar-powered charger. For the devices that don't take your conventional AA batteries, try picking up a solar charger. You can use the device to charge your cell phone, MP3 player and other portable devices. Several are on the market, with prices starting under $100.

4. Solar-powered LED flashlights. These great new devices use both solar cells for power and low-energy LED bulbs to provide bright light. I picked one up at my local drug store last week for 15 bucks, and it's the best buy I've made in a long time.

5. An ENERGY STAR-qualified fill-in-the-blank. Just about any appliance you want to buy comes in two flavors: an energy hog, and an energy-efficient version. Look for that ENERGY STAR logo whenever you buy an appliance or piece of electronics. You'll use at least 25% less energy, which will save you plenty of green.

What other green devices do you think everyone should embrace? Post your ideas here.

Grand Theft Solar

jplatt — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 09:10:42 -0400

I guess oil prices are really getting to people. Some folks are so desperate to get out from under the finger of the energy companies, they are resorting to stealing solar panels. In fact, solar-panel thefts are dramatically on the rise, as the expensive components become prime targets for well-trained thieves.

It makes sense, if you think about it. A solar-panel array can cost tens of thousands of dollars. I'm willing to be there's already a huge black market opening up for selling "hot" solar cells, and that's only going to increase as solar gets more and more popular.

If you've got solar cells already, it might be time to look into extra security for your house, such as motion-detector lights. Or maybe we should start installing LoJack on our solar cells.

Actually, this could be a very good business opportunity for someone: develop a security system to protect solar cells for people and companies. New technologies always open up new markets for industrious people, why should criminals be the only ones to benefit?

Want Solar Power? Let RoofRay Calculate Your Solar Potential

jplatt — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:48:24 -0400

Thinking about putting solar panels on your house, but not sure how effective they'll be? RoofRay has an answer.

This great online tool uses Google Maps to calculate the amount of energy that you will likely be able to collect by placing solar panels on the roof of your house or business.

RoofRay is incredibly simple to use. You put in your address, and it pulls up a satellite image of your house or business from Google Earth. Once that image appears, you click on the corners of your roof, and the RoofRay system calculates the approximate square footage of your rooftop. Then you drag a small indicator to tell the calculator which direction your roof slants. RoofRay already knows how much sun your part of the country gets, so its calculators do the rest.

According to my test of the system (which took all of 45 seconds), putting solar panels on my house could generate up to 11,000 watts of electricity at peak performance.

RoofRay also tells me which months will be the best for my solar panels (obviously, December and January won't be ideal). Next, it tells me how much I can expect to save on my electric bills each month of the year. Finally, it estimates the costs of my solar panels, deducts likely state and federal rebates or tax credits, and tells me how much the panels will cost or save me over their anticipated 25-year life.

According to RoofRay, installing solar panels will cost me about $100,000 to start, but create a net positive cash flow of more than $88,000 over 25 years. That's a pretty good illustration of the effectiveness of solar power.

RoofRay won't connect you with contractors to install your solar panels, but if you're just looking for information, this could be the first step toward your energy independence.

SunLight Flashlights Save Energy, Save Lives

jplatt — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:32:31 -0400

Imagine a rural area in central Africa, with no running water, no paved roads, and no access to electricity. Life there is dependent upon daylight. Once the sun is down, work comes to stop, unless you can afford expensive gasoline, kerosene or batteries.

But what if there's a medical emergency in the middle of the night? How can a doctor help someone he can't even see?

SunNight Solar Enterprises has a great solution with its two new solar-powered flashlights. The SunLight SL-1 ($20) and SL-2 ($25) offer bright, white light through energy-efficient LED bulbs. Their batteries fully charge during the day, and can hold from 5-10 hours of illumination, depending on the model. The SL-2 can also be used as a room lantern, replacing the need for costly kerosene lamps.

The flashlights are rugged and waterproof, designed to be used for years on end without need to replace batteries or bulbs. This makes them perfect flashlights for anyone who needs them, in any situation.

SunNight is committed to getting its flashlights into the developing world, where they are most needed. Not only can you buy one for yourself, they offer a buy-one-give-one program that has already delivered thousands of flashlights to needy areas around the world. They also have a WarLights program, allowing soldiers to give lamps to people in warn-torn areas of Afghanistan and Iraq, and will soon introduce several other giving programs.

So give the SunLight flashlights a try. You'll save money on batteries, and support a company that's going exceptional work in the process. (Me? I think I just found this year's Christmas presents.)

LED Plus Solar Equals a Great Outdoor Lamp

jplatt — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:21:36 -0400

As we've written here before, LED light bulbs are poised to become the next big thing in lighting. They're even more energy efficient than CFL bulbs, and they last an incredibly long time.

LEDs are making their way into all kinds of new devices, and here's one of my favorites: a solar-powered outdoor lamp, now available from ThinkGeek.com. ($59.99)

This mountable, adjustable outdoor lighting system comes with two LED light arrays (each with five LEDs) and a nice-sized solar panel. A day's sun can charge the device for around 4-8 hours, depending on how many of the bulbs you want to use at a time. The lights can automatically turn on at dusk, or you can control them with an included infrared remote control.

We have solar-powered accent lamps all around the outside of our house, but they're fairly dim bulbs. LEDs offer a brighter, whiter light while using less power, so they're an ideal application for solar-powered devices.

Mobile Fun Announces Solar-Powered Case for 3G iPhone

jplatt — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:15:41 -0400

With more than a million 3G iPhones already on the streets, it's no surprise that companies are announcing accessories to help make the new phones even more fun -- and even greener.

The latest will soon be available from the UK-based company Mobile Fun. Their Apple iPhone 3G Solar Charging Case not only protects your precious phone, it comes with a solar panel to charge your device.

The solar panel isn't the only green option in this neat little case. It includes a high-capacity 1500mAh battery, so you can store solar energy until you need to use it. You also get a mini USB to USB cable, allowing you to use the case to charge any other small device that has a USB port.

Mobile Fun says its carrying case will charge an iPhone in just three hours, and it works in any lighting situation without needing to placed in direct sunlight.

Available later this month, the cases will sell for £27.95. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Mobile Fun ships to the U.S., which kind of figures. Other countries always seem to get the best green toys before we do. But keep your eyes peeled -- it probably won't be long before this device or something like it is also available in the States.

Carry the Power of the Sun on Your Back

jplatt — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:00:00 -0400

Do you carry a lot of portable devices with you? Well now you can charge them on the go with the new solar backpack from gadget4all.com.

While solar backpacks aren't new, this latest model is priced at just $48 -- less than half the price of the Eclipse Solar Gear Laptop Backpack and one-fifth the price of the popular Voltaic Solar Backpack.

While the Eclipse and Voltaic models offer a few more bells and whistles, Gadget4all's device is no slouch, and comes at a better introductory price point. It comes with a 5.5V solar panel and has an output of 5.8V, allowing it to charge any small portable device such as a cell phone, MP3 player or GPS unit. On cloudy days, it can also be hooked up to a computer's USB port for additional charging capacity.

Worth a look for the road warrior or the student looking forward to the start of school in just six weeks.

Reasons Why Anyone Can Go Solar

jchait — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

One of my favorite books, The Solar Living Sourcebook, notes that too often people sort of whine about locating the perfect plot of land for a solar powered home, when really solar can work for every location, just to varying degrees.

They make a good point.

Obviously, there's more sun on a mountain in New Mexico then in a valley in Northern Oregon. However, there's still sun everywhere, and if you have sun, you have solar potential. Basically any amount of solar power your home can use is a good deal for the environment. Any amount you can use is just that much less used from non-renewable sources, and that much money saved.

The Solar Living Sourcebook notes the following ideas:

Anyone can utilize solar power to a degree. You have to use what you have, make the most of what's available, and use super smart before building planning.
Work with nature, not against it.
You don't have to accomplish great strides all at once. Simply working hard to reduce your dependency on your heater and AC is a good start. Learning to use less is a key point. Sure your plot may not produce enough solar power to have your electricity running 24/7, but should it? No one needs their lights or TV on all day.

Learn more about solar power:

On the Go? Charge Your Devices with a Solar-Powered Briefcase

jplatt — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Road warriors, are you always looking for a wall outlet to charge your cell phone, GPS, MP3 player or PDA? Well seek no further, my friends, because the outlet you need could soon be hanging from your shoulder.

The new Juice Bag ProFolio from Reware is the latest in a growing line of solar-powered bags that you can use to charge your portable devices. The ProFolio is about the same size as the briefcase you've got now, but it comes with a nice one-foot-square array of solar panels that add just half a pound of weight to what you're already carrying.

That extra weight can take some pressure off of you and make it easier to charge your devices on the go. Just plug your devices into the bag when you're in the car, on the plane, or in a meeting, and they'll be fully charged in 2-4 hours.

Sadly, the ProFolio doesn't pack enough juice (pun intended) to charge a laptop, although it is big enough to carry one. Maybe the next generation of bags will do better.

But until then, the ProFolio could be a flexible and affordable alternative for charging your devices. It's just $299 right now, although that introductory price will soon jump to $399.99.

Oh, BTW, the ProFolio is made out of recycled materials. Just in case that little bit of green information helps you make your buying decision.

The World's Greenest Garbage Can

jplatt — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:00:00 -0400

Did you know that the average garbage truck gets just 2.8 miles to the gallon of diesel fuel? It's true. In fact, garbage trucks get the worst fuel economy of any type of commercial vehicle.

Why such bad gas mileage? Well, garbage trucks are big, fleets tend to be pretty old, and their drivers have to make stops every few hundred feet while keeping engines running the whole time.

With this in mind, and with fuel prices soaring, it makes sense for municipalities, universities and businesses with large campuses to find ways to cut their garbage collection costs. The BigBelly Solar Compactor can help.

No bigger than any other outdoor garbage receptacle, the BigBelly uses the sun's rays to power an internal compactor which crushes its content, allowing it to hold five times as much as your average garbage can. This means it doesn't need to be emptied as often, which saves fuel costs, cuts labor costs, and reduces a whole lot of greenhouses gases in the process.

The BigBelly Solar Compactor costs $4,000 -- but BigBelly says the device can pay for itself in just a year and a half. And that's not trash-talk.