Israeli researchers working in the Negev Desert have created a wallet friendly solar power system. The researchers system limits the quantity and size of photovoltaic panels by utilizing a solar dish. The solar dish is not much different than the satellite dishes we are all familiar with.

In this system, the suns rays are focused on a concentrated array of photovoltaic panels from a relatively small glass dish. The ability to focus a more concentrated light source onto the panels produces a much greater energy yield while benefiting the consumer by offering higher energy output while minimizing the materials cost.

Learn more about this topic or other solar items at Amazon books.

Ladies, are you tired of dropping calls when you are out because of a low or dead battery on your PDA, Cell or IPhone? Well, Noon Solar has got you in mind. That is why they recently developed the world’s first solar handbag. With a flexible, light weight, solar panel embedded fashionably into the fabric, you can recharge all of your handhelds on the go.

Although Noon Solar’s handbags won’t remove you from “the grid”, they will begin moving you fashionably into a renewable direction. Isn’t it time you took a baby step toward solar power?

Seriously, I think its another good example of trying to find the right application for the concept.  I’m still looking for a good back pack solar solution myself although I have to wonder how many rays a hand bag is going to pick up as they tend to be tucked away where you can’t see them on the floor of a car, under a desk etc.  Besides, most hand bags, (like my backpack) need a good deal of slimming down and you can’t put Phentermine diet pills in a hand bag to make it slimmer.  You have to exorcise the demons by dumping stuff out.

I write another blog from time to time called Maven Mapper’s Information – the Light and Maven Mapper’s Information – The Dark.  The purpose of the latter is to talk about technology that doesn’t quite work or preferably to talk about technology that could work if it just had that certain something.

This evening I wrote an article inspired by a trip to a very cold and chilling movie theater.  I came up with the concept that a vest with a built in heater (already exists today) could be powered or have the power replaced by solar energy.

The vests that exist today are typically powered by a 9 volt battery, not the most efficient power source or battery these days kind of like the eca stack of power consumption. 

But consider backpacking or spending some time out of doors during the day where a solar battery could be charged based on solar cells in your backpack or sewn into your jacket or clothing.  Then as the temperature starts to drop that power collected could be used to heat up your clothing, your jacket, your boots or even the liner of your sleeping bag at night!

Maven Mapper’s: Temperature Sensitive and Self Adjusting Clothing

This week and I got started working with my Solio portable charger, a photovoltaic solar charger that also has a built in battery for transferring a charge to other electronic devices.  First off the design packaging is relatively simple, and there are no tricks or anything peculiar that is required to get at the actual device. 

The first thing I did was look at the quick start guide as I attempted to make heads or tails of what I was supposed to do with the device first.  Now the quick start guide shows the device connecting to a laptop computer at step one.  This does not seem to be necessary actually, but an option.  There are two ways to charge the device:

1. plug the device into your USB slot on your computer and charge it there, or
2. set the device out in direct some light and let it charge from the sun

There were no written instructions on the quick step guide and no other instructions elsewhere in the package, so I guessed and stuck it out in the sun, while I went to get a Jura capresso for my coffee snob wife.  That did seem to work just fine, and so I was off and running.  Once the device is charged up my next experience with it.

I was somewhat impressed with just how slim this device is, how light it is, and the hiking like clamp connected to the top of in case you want to hook it to a backpack or something.

The buttons an LED readouts work very well and remind me of some extremely rugged equipment that I used to use the military. 

Living in New England my whole life, I understand the importance of having a ready power supply for the inevitable ice storm, blizzard or Nor’easter. Having recently moved into my first home, I’ve been attempting to lead a more eco-friendly existence in regards to my family’s energy consumption.

Although I haven’t been able to invest in a photovoltaic panel array, I did invest in a 40 watt Xantrex solar generator for the aforementioned harsh winter months. I have to admit that I was surprised to find an eco-responsible and comparable alternative to the gas powered generators at a competitive price in my neck of the woods. Since then, I have been researching a variety of other solar powered alternatives such as lighting options and small home appliances and it looks like my dependency on foreign oil will soon be a thing of the past.