Solar Energy Catalogues

Making your home solar powered is a great way of saving money, but many people are hesitant to do this.  If you flip through solar energy catalogues, you’re going to see some large price tags.  There’s no getting around it—solar energy requires a pretty big up front investment on your part, especially if you have the goal of moving your home partially or entirely off the power grid.

If you want to start out small, there are several things you can do to reduce the amount of energy you use.  For starters, you don’t have to install those huge solar panels you see in many solar energy catalogues.  In fact, you can install a small 40 watt solar panel to power many different applications.  The 40 watt panel is a midsize solar panel, and it’s designed to provide solar power without straining your budget. Read more

Solar Japanese Lanterns

Nothing sets up an outdoor dinner party than a set of solar Japanese lanterns.  Whether you string them from wires around your table, hang them from trees, or do a mixture, these really neat Japanese lanterns will provide all the light you need.  Once the sun goes down, they will appear to be floating orbs of light surrounding you and your dinner guests.  Even if you aren’t eating sushi or going with an Asian décor, these lanterns will look great.  They go with many different styles of décor.

What’s even better is that these solar Japanese lanterns don’t need any electricity or battery power.  While many lanterns are battery powered, these use special solar panels that power the small but bright LED lights.  The lights shine right through the paper-like lantern material, creating a glow that makes the entire thing look like a bright moon.  These lamps are also weatherproof, so even if you forget to take them down during the rain, they will still function normally.  Once you’re done lighting your garden or backyard with these solar powered lamps, just fold them down and store them away until you need them again. Read more

Household Solar

There are many different ways to make your household a bit more solar powered.  Solar energy is a great way of powering your home and dropping your electric bill a bit.  Some of these household solar methods are easy, but some are a bit more difficult and somewhat expensive.  For example, adding solar panels to your entire roof is not going to be easy or cheap, even though it would save on a good deal of power. Read more

Slate Solar Stepping Stone – (Solar Walkway Light)

I love solar powered items, especially ones that help me out in the dark. I don’t know how many times I’ve left home during the day and returned at night only to realize I didn’t leave the porch light on. It can be difficult to avoid stepping on things or following the walkway when it’s really pitch dark, as it is in parts of my yard. But now I’ve discovered the perfect solution: slate solar stepping stones.

These stepping stones look like normal stepping stones with one major exception: the middle of the stepping stone features an integrated solar cell that charges up during the day. At night, the cell lights up so you can see to walk down your garden path or up your walkway to your front door. The solar cells will provide a good eight hours of light provided they get a full day’s charge, which is enough to illuminate your paths from sunset to sunrise. Each of these stones measures eight inches on each side, and you get two in each pack. Read more

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.