Portable Solar Battery Charger

You’ve probably had this happen to you: you’re out of the office or out running errands, and you suddenly realize that your cell phone is dead. Even worse, you’re out of town for a business conference and you forget to pack your cell charger. What happens if you’re out camping or hiking and need to charge your phone? When your battery runs dead in these cases, you can always turn to a universal solar charger to repower your phone (of course, this assumes you remember to pack it!).

A universal solar charger, or portable solar battery charger, is basically a solar panel on the go. It’s small and light, and you can easily fold it up and stash it in your backpack, briefcase, or even your purse. Whenever your phone has gone dead, you just pull out the universal solar charger, connect the necessary adapter to the mini-USB cord, plug that into your phone, and set the solar panel in the sun. After two to three hours, you’ll have a fully charged cell phone! There’s no need for electrical outlets at all, and you can charge your phone anywhere.

The universal solar charger comes with a number of different adapters so you can use it with almost any phone, including those made by Motorola, Nokia, Siemens, Ericsson, Samsung, and Sony. The charger even works with most BlackBerry models and iPods, too, so you can charge up your smartphone and keep your music playing.

While it is another piece of equipment you have to carry around (and, let’s face it, if you forget your phone charger, you may forget the portable solar battery charger as well), it’s one that can actually replace several different chargers. If you travel with your spouse, for example, and you both have cell phones, you can take the universal solar charger instead of both chargers. You can also leave the iPod charger at home so you have less stuff to keep up with.

Sanyo Solar Module

Many people are interested in adding solar paneling to their home because they believe it will save them money.  However, when they see just how much solar panels cost, they realize they won’t actually make back their investment for years.  Fortunately, solar panels are becoming cheaper and cheaper.  The Sanyo Solar Module is an example of a cheaper solar panel that generates a good amount of energy and pays for itself fairly quickly.

This solar module can produce around 16.2 watts of power per square foot of solar panel.  When everything is added up, that means that each Sanyo Solar Module will provide 195 watts of energy per hour, which isn’t bad at all.  This allows you to get as much power as you possibly can with a small number of solar panels.  The Sanyo Solar Modules also need fewer attachments and materials, so you save there as well.

There are some solar panels that claim to provide a certain amount of energy, but the actual amount of power is much lower.  Sanyo’s panels, however, provide you with all of the power they say they do; in fact, in some situations, the panels may even generate more power (such as during an incredibly sunny day).

In addition to these many benefits, the Sanyo Solar Module is also one of the lightest solar panel.  In addition to providing solar power and helping drop your use of traditionally-created electricity, the modules are also packaged in eco-friendly packaging that uses a minimal amount of cardboard.  This also reduces the amount of fuel necessary to transport the modules, plus it means more modules can be transported in the same vehicle.

Each panel costs $1,245.  While that is a lot, the amount generated from the panel will pay for itself fairly quickly.

Sun Cookers

Do you enjoy camping but hate all the stuff you have to drag out to the campsite with you? For some people, building a campfire and cooking hotdogs over it is great, but if you’re going to be camping out for several days or even a week, there’s only so much you can cook on your fire. You probably won’t want to eat hotdogs for every meal, but it can be difficult to cook other types of food over an open fire. You can take a small grill with you, but that often means taking grilling accessories, charcoal or other fuel, and more.

However, there is a new alternative to cooking outdoors: sun cookers. You may have never heard of sun cookers before, but they are basically a solar powered way of cooking meals. They can make a number of great dishes, and one of the best things about them is that they require no fuel at all! You don’t have to gather wood, purchase gas, or get charcoal. Instead, all you need is a sunny area to set up your sun cooker. Once you’ve found the ideal spot, you just unfold the solar reflectors and put your food in the cooking area. The glass door lets you watch as the sun’s rays cook your lunch or dinner while you wait.

Sun cookers come with built-in thermometers and are adjustable. They heat up to 350 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, which is enough to cook many different meals. The interior of the solar oven is large enough to fit several dishes at once. While it’s not the fastest cooking oven around—it takes about 40 minutes to cook a cup of rice—it can provide you with alternatives to eating hot dogs every day. If you go camping often, one of these sun cookers may be exactly what you need to open up your menu.

Water Distiller Review

Are you looking to drink more water but don’t think your tap water is good enough?  Some people turn on the facet and get some very nasty looking water.  Others, especially those who have older homes, find flecks of things like rust in their water.  No one wants to drink water like this, but buying all that bottled water seems like it will cost an awful lot of money, not to mention the build of BPA in the system over time.  The same goes for installing a water filter system—the filters have to be changed monthly, and they can be quite expensive.  However, with a Home Water Distiller, you don’t have to worry about cost.

What does a non-electric water distiller do?  It uses any heat source to create pure, distilled water that is perfectly safe for drinking.  All you have to do is add in the water, put it on a heat source like your stove, and in just an hour or so, you’ll have water with absolutely no impurities in it.  It can create 3.2 qt. of fresh water in one use, so if you and your family drink a ton of water a day, you may need to constantly use the distiller.  This may not be the best option ever.  However, if you’re out camping or are traveling to an area where the water is questionable, creating this amount of pure water in an hour is certainly reasonable.

But why drink distilled water?  Well, according to many studies, distilled water has a number of benefits.  It has no parasites or other harmful things in it, and it can actually help your health.  Drinking a good amount of pure water every day can help you look younger, make your joints move better, and help flush out toxins and other wastes from your body.  It’s also helpful in combating some diseases and illnesses.  Drinking distilled water is, therefore, absolutely essential if you want to live healthy.

Click Here For The Non-Electric Water Distiller Available @ Real Goods Solar

Solar Hot Water Panel

Many people are looking for ways of cutting costs, and while installing solar paneling on their homes may not be the best cost-cutting method, adding a Solar Hot Water Panel can considerably help. In addition to cutting your electric bill down, a solar hot water panel is also a great way of becoming a little more ecologically friendly.

One of the top solar hot water panels was created by Heliodyne. The Heliodyne Cool Climate Packaged System is a hot water panel system that has been designed to work in all weather regions and with all types of water. It works with hard water, in areas that often have freezing water, and even in areas where there is little sunshine. The system is available in two mounting options: rack or flush. The Heliodyne is a closed loop system, which means that the heat transfer fluid actually moves through the collectors, not through the water. This results in fewer problems with the system and causes less wear on the parts.

How does the Heliodyne Cool Climate Packaged System work? Well, when the system has enough heat stored in the collectors, the system automatically turns on your water pumps. The solar fluid starts moving from the collectors into the heat exchanger. There, the heat is transferred from the fluid to the water in the tank. The solar fluid is them pumped back to the collectors, where it gets heated before going through the cycle again. As long as the collectors have heat stored in them, the cycle will continue. If it’s cloudy for several days and the collectors don’t store up heat, a backup system will come on that heats water using standard methods.

In addition to the standard system, a premium package is also available. It features upgraded heat transfer capability that will monitor how well the Heliodyne system is working and allow you to fine-tune how it works. It also comes with a Wi-Fi hub that gives you the option of accessing the system from any computer.

Swimming Pool Solar Heaters

Keeping your pool nice and warm during the cooler months can mean all the difference between swimming in it and letting it sit there. After all, who wants to go swimming in a cold pool? Some old style pool heaters had to be plugged in or ran off of gas. However, there are two issues here: one, you never really want to have any electrical cables around your swimming pool, do you? And two, if you’ve got an indoor pool, it’s not a good idea to have anything that creates gas fumes unless you’ve got a door or window open. It can also be a pain to have to purchase fuel all the time.

However, there is one solution to keeping your pool warm and avoiding both electrical cables and gas. The answer: Swimming Pool Solar Heaters. By making use of solar heating, you can make your swimming area much safer. You can also reduce the amount of CO2 emissions you create since you won’t be using fossil fuels to heat your pool. You also don’t run the risk of any sort of accidental electrocution since you won’t have any power cords running to your electric pool heater.

Most kits that provide solar heating for pools include several commercial-grade solar panels. These panels can easily be installed near your pool or on the roof of your pool house, and they feature UV inhibitors and are reinforced to withstand storms. There’s nothing really complicated about installing them, and most people can have their solar heating solutions up and running within an afternoon. The instructions provided with each solar heating kit for pools make it very easy to install the system. These solar panels will even work with most other heating systems so you don’t have to install a new pool heater of any sort. If your pool requires a powerful heater or you don’t get that much sunlight, you can easily extend the solar cell grid with additional solar panels to increase the amount of energy you harvest. The basic set up costs around $370 at Real Good Solar.

Peak CO2 Emissions by 2020

While some people may wonder if the world can really peak its CO2 emissions by 2020 in order to, as ecological experts have said, avoid irreversible damage to the planet, those at the recent Major Economies Forum say it can be done. One of those saying this the loudest was Ed Miliband, the UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary.

The forum, which took place in Mexico, featured representatives from around the world in what was basically a follow-up meeting to the forum that was held last December in Copenhagen. These meetings are designed to put together the next set of Kyoto Accords, and the attending countries all have committed themselves to not just make the peak year but actually to beat it if at all possible.

According to scientists, if we delay the peak for another ten years, the overall temperature of the planet will rise a half degree. That may not seem like much, but it will be irreversible. Some models have shown, though, that developed countries may be able to reach their emission peak by 2015 if they work at it. This would be followed by at least a three percent per year decline in carbon emissions up to 2050.

As part of this initiative, Miliband and the UK ecological team have created the Act on Copenhagen website and movement. They hope to educate the public on how to limit their CO2 emissions and put pressure on various officials and companies to take the 2020 peak very seriously.

While 2020 is only 11 years away, many countries are already making good progress. Of course, this doesn’t mean people can stop working to reduce their emissions. In fact, there’s still a long way to go to meet the peak year, but things are looking good.

Organic Beauty Products Launched in the UK

While the UK has seen a fair number of organic beauty products hit the shelves, none of them have had the fair-trade seal of approval on them until now.  The Fairtrade Foundation has recently given five different companies their seal of approval.  They include Boots, Essential Care, Lush, Bubble & Balm, and Neal’s Yard.  The 57 different products that have been licensed by the foundation contain at least one fair-trade certified ingredient.

So what does that have to do with green news?  Well, the fact is that these natural ingredients are often grown and sold by farmers in third world countries.  The Fairtrade Foundation guarantees that these farmers get a fair price for their ingredients.  This means that farmers are encouraged to grow these natural ingredients, which include things like sugar, brazil nut oil, and Shea butter.  In addition to getting fair prices for their products, companies also invest a bit in the community, giving money to local schools and other groups.

While going green does mean supporting companies and products that help the environment, buying products endorsed by the Fairtrade Foundation also helps the world.  By helping those who grow the natural ingredients found in the beauty products sold by these companies, we’re helping promote farming and organic products.  Many of the farmers who grow these products do so using green technology or, at the very least, avoid damaging insecticides and other harmful things.

Backyard Wind Turbines

If you’re looking for the newest thing in backyard wind turbines, here are three different options.  Each one will help you generate a large amount of wind power for your home, but there’s a major catch—none of them are cheap.

The Wind Dancer is an eight-bladed top of the line wind turbine.  It was actually created by a father and daughter to provide power to their home.  In addition to pulling in a great amount of wind power, this copper-colored turbine looks pretty, too.  The Wind Dancer is strong enough to handle large gusts of wind while still working with just a light breeze.  It’s also very silent.  This is because of the way its fan blades are shaped.  Unlike some backyard turbines, the Wind Dancer does not need a tall tower.  The Wind Dancer is sold by Wind Simplicity, and their systems range from $27,000 to $69,000.

If you want something a bit cheaper, the Wind Terra is also available.  It can be mounted right on your roof, so you don’t have the cost (or the eyesore) of a tower.  The Wind Terra works with almost no wind at all.  This is because its blades actually spin horizontally, maximizing the amount of energy it can product at lower wind speeds.  This backyard wind turbine option costs around $11,000.

The third option is the Skystream.  It also uses a very low amount of wind.  With this turbine, you actually mount the inverter right on the turbine itself, so the power is generated right there.  The turbine connects right into your power grid, so it provides your power right away instead of going through a battery (although a battery is available).  However, the Skystream doesn’t provide a large amount of power, so you’ll need several to really make a difference in your bill.  This system costs around $13,000.

Boon Pickens Investment in Residential Wind Turbines

Power On with Wind! 1000's of wind turbines and construction is taking place across the nation’s wind belt, from Texas to the north. To date T Boon Pickens has invested more than $2,000,000,000.00 (billion) and once complete, Pickens says the project will generate enough power to meet 20% of the nation’s power needs. Food for thought, eco friendly, but not so friendly towards the birds. If you have any further information, like how the power would connect to existing grid systems, we encourage you to leave a comment below.

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