Archive for: solar
- November 15, 2010 12:13 am
Many cities and states are enacting laws to restrict driving with your cell phone to your ear. I am as guilty as the rest of you on this one.
One solution is to succumb to Bluetooth headsets. Another is to fork over a grand when purchasing a vehicle for the Bluetooth connection option. Here is where the NoiseHush N650 comes into play. It is a run of the mill Bluetooth device, but it is equipped with a small solar panel on the back to continuously charge the battery when the sun is present.
As cool as it sounds, that solar cell slapped on the front isn’t worth $59 on its own. With that said, does the rest of the device perform well enough to stand out, and should the NoiseHush become part of your arsenal? Hop inside to find out…
- September 24, 2010 8:07 am
T-Mobile has been called a lot of things over the years. Though “Green” isn’t something that immediately comes to mind. But that’s exactly what you could say now that Team Magenta has deployed their first fully self sufficient, solar-powered cell site in Chalfont, Pennsylvania.
With 12 solar panels affixed to the station, power is harnessed directly from the sun…for free. Even more cool is that in times of low network usage, the tower can even give back pent up energy to the utility company who then in turn resells it to customers. Ideally, this is how the US electric grid should operate in the future. For now we’ll have to deal with this single cell site. Speaking of which, this earth-loving style costs upwards of 2x-3x more than your standard tower, so don’t expect uptake and adoption to be quick. Think of it more of a “proof of concept” for now. 20 years in the future, however, I wouldn’t mind seeing quite a few more of these around. You?
When people talk of vast solar farms in 2010, the common image that penetrates our minds is that of a massive piece of land housing thousands, if not tens of thousands of individual solar panels. It’s certainly a site to behold. Even much smaller scale farms look immense when a birds eye view is taken. But a new technology will drastically cut down how big a solar panel is and how it’s made. Not only that, it will change what solar panels are… (Hint: Spray on tan)…
We’ve seen plenty of solar-powered chargers before. But this one is slightly more advanced than your typical sun sucking device life giver backer in that it features multiple USB ports. More ports + more potential power = happier geeks who venture far from outlets. Woo hoo all around, right? $22 seems pretty reasonable considering what you get.
[Product Page: Brando]
Of all the accessories one could buy for a camera, a robust or spare battery is perhaps the most important. What good are all the other knick knacks if you can’t even take a simple picture? That’s why all photographers planning to be out and about shooting for days on end need one of these — a solar powered camera strap.
The only negative about the solar camera strap is the release date. Speaking of which, the solar powered camera strap is only a concept at this stage. So don’t hold your breath in regards to picking this up anytime soon. Though I’m sure someone out there in invention land has to have a working prototype with plans to manufacture. Anyone?
Talk of massive solar farms powering anything larger than a small city has until now, been left to science fiction. From what we’ve seen so far, there just hasn’t been enough space to build a solar farm big enough to consume all the energy of a given city or town. But that could all change, thanks to a gargantuan 6,500sq. mile solar farm being built in the Sahara desert…
If you’re looking to relieve some of the pressure off your wallet when it comes time to pay those monthly energy bills, what can you do? Turn off the lights, buy more energy efficient appliances, or live off the land in a tend in the woods? All are notable options. Though the last isn’t exactly everyone’s forte.
If none of those strike your fancy, you could always outfit your roof with some of these terracotta roofing tiles complete with built in solar panels. Dubbed the “Tegolasolare“, these clay tiles aim to make your energy bill more manageable and your energy footprint smaller overall.
The tiles themselves measure 46 x 46cm with the actual solar part of the tile clocking in at 29cm x 29cm. But even at that size and considering a roof full of tiles, you’re only looking at 3-5Kw of energy produced each day. In the grander scheme of things, 3-5Kw of “free energy” isn’t going to help you out much, as 3-5Kw is but a small portion of a typical person’s daily usage. But hey, every little bit counts, right?
Is it possible to get excited over a roadway? If the roadway in question is a materialized version of the various concepts that have wandered past my eyes in the last few years, then yes. The prototype above is the work of Solar Roadways and shows just how sweet the concept really is. I know it’s weird, but I can’t wait until i start driving on these roads. We’ve still got a few years though 
Besides looking helluva cool, there are some actual real-world uses such as (obviously) better night visibility, energy storage/sharing of energy with smart grid, and possibly even mild snow melting support. Anyone else geeked about some new fangled transportation paths?
Gizmodo > GadgetReview
- February 19, 2010 10:50 am
It isn’t too often we see a corporate minded gadget get us all hot and bothered. I mean, the differences between the corporate world of gadgets and the consumer world of gadgets are like comparing the a horse and buggy to flying cars. But every once in a while, a gem makes it’s way past our visual receptacles and excites us. In this case, it’s the CubeTube.
Everyone knows what a solar panel is and what it’s main function in life is — to recycle solar particles into usable energy for whatever plugs into it. An office uses a ton of energy but has generous amounts of worker bees crammed into tiny cubes, away from the outside world (and sun) meaning any solar advancements have to typically be thrown outside or on the roof of the business costing eye bleeding amounts of money. And we all know how giving your typical business is with modern tech. That’s where CubeTube comes in.
Taking solar recycling and giving it back to the people, the CubeTubes sit atop your cubicle or desk and actually draw the ambient light from indoor lighting — not solar/sun light — to recycle into usable energy. Color me thoroughly impressed yet skeptical. I mean, even the best solar panels have a pretty paltry efficiency rate with real sunlight let alone a few fluorescent lights. Are the photovoltaic cells really that good at their job? I simply don’t think so. Michael Trei of Dvice thinks the same too. Also, if these photo cells are so efficient with light (and can run off of indoor lighting no less), I’m pretty sure we would have seen a much larger media presence and more implementations already, wouldn’t you say?
In the end, I’m highly intrigued though still a fence sitter at this point. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until “sometime next year” before getting our hands on some. What do you think: Do these seem plausible or do you see “late-night infomercial” written all of this?
Dvice
