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Sounds like technology is making a difference in the lives of the victims of the Haitian earthquakes. Several different companies that produce products that use solar power have been sending equipment as part of the aid mission. Among the equipment are lights for hospitals and solar panels to help with water purification.
The solar powered lights are being placed in hospitals, enabling doctors to continue to work after dark, and the solar panels are being used to power water pumps used in the water purification process. In addition to water and light, a Dutch company is donating solar powered cell phones in order to help with communications. Last but not least, another American company is shipping solar powered ovens, which will allow people to cook without use of charcoal or other fuels.
Nani Kore (”What’s This?”) is the name of a Japanese TV show that digs up bizarre things and phenomena observed around the world and explains how they work. In the latest show, they presented a house in central Tokyo that proves solar power can be used in a residential setting without those expensive solar panels and cells.
Just take a set of orbs that look like giant light bulbs, install them on your roof and watch them reflecting the light of the sun into your house. This obviously just works during the day, but if you have buildings around your house that block the sunlight, the orbs might help to light up dark rooms and save electricity costs. And they look kind of cool, too.
Watch this video (clip in Japanese) to see how the roof orbs work:
My first experience with solar energy was in Cub Scouts, when we made a solar-powered hot dog cooker. Unfortunately, solar technology hasn’t advanced terribly much in the intervening decades. At the consumer level, solar power still isn’t particularly useful for very much outside of a few niche markets. i.Tech has a couple of products that make a real effort to bring usefulness to solar power for the average user: the SolarVoice 908 Bluetooth headset and the SolarCharger 906 multi-device charger.
SolarVoice 908 Features
up to five hours talk time; infinite standby time in sunlight
A2DP for streaming multimedia audio
innovative ear buds specifically designed to allow air to reach the ear canal, which eliminates “plugged-ear” sensation and fatigue
multi-point connection allows simultaneous pairing with two mobile phones
MSRP: $74.99
Pros
charges via USB, A/C, or sunlight
A2DP support allows you to listen to music when not on a call
extremely comfortable
Cons
Pricey
extremely slow solar charging
SolarCharger 906 Features
about the size of a deck of cards
can store charge for up to one year
charges in four hours via USB, 22 hours in direct sunlight
MSRP: $59.99
Pros
charges via USB, A/C, or sunlight
works in extreme temperatures: stores charge up to 158 degrees F, charges devices at up to 127 degrees F
includes adapter plugs for many common accessories
Cons
included cables are “charge only”, and not regular USB data cables
assortment of connectors aren’t easily managed
extremely slow solar charging
Review
Speaking solely for myself, I’m not particularly keen on Bluetooth headsets. They have a certain utility, but I’m not often in situations where that utility is really necessary. If I were, though, I think the SolarVoice 908 would be my headset of choice. The earbud really is extremely comfortable to wear, and just as the marketing material suggests, I never experienced the “plugged ear” feeling that I get with other headsets.
In most respects, the SolarVoice 908 is a pretty run-of-the-mill headset: sound quality is okay, but not superb; it’s lightweight and comfortable; and the buttons are too small to use without looking at the darned thing. The fact that it can be charged by sunlight, though, is a pretty big draw. It comes with a little cradle that you can mount to your dashboard, or office window, so that you can easily let it soak up the rays when it’s not in your ear. Solar charging is extremely slow, so you’re not likely to rely solely on solar power to keep this thing going. The notion of “infinite standby” is neat, but requires “optimum sunlight”, which isn’t likely to happen for most folks, most of the time. It’s a nice fall-back, though, and may help you out if you’re the kind of person who forgets to plug in their devices regularly.
The features that sway my opinion of the SolarVocie 908, though, are the A2DP support and multi-point connectivity. If you’re going to have a Bluetooth headset stuck in your ear, it might as well be doing something. A2DP support lets you stream media from your fancy smartphone, allowing you to enjoy (regrettably mono) music. It’s handy for audiobooks, too! And multi-point connectivity means you can keep the SolarVoice 908 paired with two devices simultaneously. That’s probably not a big deal to most people, but it’s a nice feature to have, if you ask me.
The SolarCharger 906 gets a very big thumbs up from me. It’s small, lightweight, and extremely useful. It’s the kind of accessory I really don’t mind carrying around with me, because there’s almost no penalty to doing so. When I need it, I can pull it out of my manbag and charge my devices.
The SolarCharger 906 charges pretty quickly via USB (about four hours), and provides more than enough juice to keep my iPhone going for a couple of hours. If I’m on a long drive, or visiting friends, I can simply leave the unit on the dash of my car, or propped in a window somewhere to soak up some solar energy. Full charge by sunlight takes 22 though.
This would be a good device to take camping, to be sure. Leave it out to charge while you hike, or hunt, or do whatever it is you do when you’re in the woods, away from your computer. You could then power an iPod or other media player to keep you entertained through the long, dark night. It might also be a lifesaver, should you need to make an emergency cellular call after a couple days in the rough.
Juggling the various adapters included with the SolarCharger 906 is a nuisance, and it would have been nice if some more elegant storage mechanism was provided. Instead, you get a clear plastic box, with individually wrapped adapters. Also, keep in mind that the cable provided with the device has a micro USB connector, but does not carry any USB data signaling. It can only be used for charging devices. In order to minimize the number of cables you tote with you, set theirs aside and use a regular USB data cable: it’ll allow the SolarCharger 906 to charge your devices, and allow your devices to connect with your PC as expected.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has big plans: It wants to conquer outer space to generate solar energy by 2030. The idea is to collect solar power in space and beam it down to earth, in the form of lasers or microwaves. The so-called Space Solar Power System project is led by big corporations such as Mitsubishi, NEC, Fujitsu und Sharp.
As a first step, JAXA wants to deploy photovoltaic elements in outer space where they will be assembled in the form of dishes several square kilometers in size. Solar energy in space is about five times stronger than on earth, and the solar enery will be transformed into power in space.
The dishes are supposed to zap the lasers and microwaves to gigantic parabolic antennae located on earth, probably in remote areas such as dam reservoirs, for example. JAXA wants to begin conducting feasibility tests with a 100-kW demo system before eventually boosting that number to 1 Gigawatt.
Panasonic has on display at CEATEC a “1.5 kWh battery module [made] from 18650-type (18 mm in diameter x 65 m in length) lithium-ion battery cells, which are widely used in laptop computers, to provide energy storage solutions for a wide range of environmentally friendly energy technologies.” String a couple of these suckers together to store the juice collected from the solar panels on your house, for example.
If solar power is to sissy for you, maybe you’d be interested in the Panasonic Fuel Cell Cogeneration System, which “generates electricity and hot water simultaneously at home”?
What a market leader and major dealer in capital does publicly with their money is revealing. One of the things I admire about Microsoft is that through their Labs and Research initiatives, they’ve done a lot of good work in fields only tangentially connected with Microsoft markets. Google has some initiatives of their own (if you didn’t know), and green power has been among their favored funding targets for a few years now.
Recently they’ve decided that solar power isn’t efficient enough. Well spotted, Google! They must have Binged it. Of course, they’re no stranger to the green. They’ve got millions invested in renewable energy, two solar power firms in particular (eSolar and BrightSolar), but they’re also calling for backup from the government and other major investors. Their goal is to halve (at least) the cost of solar energy production facilities.
To be precise, their goal is “sub 5 cents a kilowatt hour,” which, depending on your area and the technology employed, may be as little as a third or a quarter of current solar costs. They’ve got their own research being done internally moving towards improving the mirrors and heliostats used in solar farms; they’re not simply funding research through their investments. Doubtless the companies they’re working with will aid in the prototyping and manufacture of whatever Google cooks up, having facilities for that purpose already. There’s no timeline yet — they’re letting science take its course.
The news, or rather clarification of Google’s position since it was no secret they were interested in this technology, came at the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit, where Google’s green man Bill Weihl spoke on their goals and the state of the green energy industry. There wasn’t much to announce, since they’re only planning to show some tech internally in a few months — Weihl did indicate that this was a long-term commitment on Google’s part, though far from sufficient to create lasting change.
Their total contribution may be around $100m, but they’re hoping the government might shell out $20-$30bn over the next decade to move things forward. You and everybody else, Bill.
While the developed nations of the world spend huge amounts of money trying to eek out just a little more efficiency from traditional solar panels made from silicon, an industrious young lad from Nepal has figured out how to use human hair to get 9V of electricity from the sun. The fine articles are a little light (ha!) on the science, but even if there’s some hyperbole in these reports you’ve got to admit that it’s still wicked cool to use human hair to convert solar rays into electricity.
Milan Karki has been on a quest to find reliable, renewable energy for his little village for some time. When he realized that Melanin, the pigment in hair that produces color, is a conductor of electricity he knew he was on to something.
‘First I wanted to provide electricity for my home, then my village. Now I am thinking for the whole world,’ said Milan, who attends school in the capital, Kathmandu.
Solar power via human hair is not only remarkably cheap, it’s also something that could be field serviced by nearly anyone, which I think is the real take-away from this story. It’s one thing to install a solar power solution, but it’s another to maintain it over the long haul. If villagers in Nepal can service these things themselves, look out world!
What fun is going to the beach if you can’t bring a half-dozen portable electronic devices along with you? And let’s not forget how difficult it is to keep all those juice boxes cool. Yes, I said juice boxes. Drinking beer in the daytime makes me sleepy. Anyhoo, this bag features solar charging, speakers, and it’s insulated to keep your favorite libations cold.
At $85, the Picnic Plus Cooladio Solar Cooler is a bit on the pricey side, but maybe you happen to be pricing coolers, backpacks, solar chargers, and external speaker sets simultaneously. Let’s see what Sports Authority has to say about this product:
The Cooladio solar cooler from Picnic Plus is a thermal foil-insulated cooler and a solar-power docking station in one! You can plug in anything that needs charging or power - such as your cell phone or MP3 player - and keep your food and drinks cold at the same time! The Cooladio delivers on sound performance as well, with 2 speakers that offer crisp highs and thundering lows. There’s even a headset jack so you can enjoy your music in privacy.
Both crisp highs AND thundering lows? Oh my, please be careful. Those speakers do indeed look crisp and thunderous.
Reboots of anything can be hit or miss, but Casio hit this one out of the park with the GW6900 G-Shock. A twist on the iconic DW6900, the new kid on the block features non-stop, tough solar power and self-adjusting multi-band 6 atomic timekeeping. The non-stop solar tech is easy to figure out, but in case you’re unfamiliar with atomic timekeeping then here’s the lowdown from Casio.
Self-Adjusting Multi-Band 6 Atomic Timekeeping - Compatible with all six transmission stations worldwide, Multi-Band 6 is a radio-control system built to receive time calibration signals from up to six transmission stations: two in Japan and one each in North America, the United Kingdom and Germany, plus the new station in China.
Through a miniaturized, shock-resistant, highly sensitive amorphous antenna and large-capacity, power-saving LSI, stable operation of watch functions including 6-station radio wave reception are achieved. With Casio’s Atomic Timekeeping Technology, you will always have ultimate precision.
The sun jar is a pretty cool item. I mean, it glows, looks cool, and it’s a solar powered light. I actually have one of these I bought for my son to use as a nightlight. We even covered these about a month ago — there’s a site in the UK that sells them from about $33 US, plus shipping.
So you don’t want to spend the money to have one shipped from the UK? Build one yourself. Lifehacker posted a set of instructions for converting a solar powered lawn light into a jar, and it looks pretty easy to do.
All the parts to build one will cost you about $45 (slightly more than the other one, oops), but when you’re done you’ll end up with a pretty neat light. If you build one, post a picture of it here, I’d like to see what you come up with.
Launched earlier this week from Oregon Scientific is the first of many solar powered gadgets under the +ECO line, the Clima Control personal weather station.
It tracks the temperature and humidity in up to four separate locales within your home or outdoors with the help of wireless temperature and humidity sensors. The solar panel located on the back of the +ECO Clima Control juices up in roughly eight hours and will last up to three months before the battery is depleted.
Later this summer, OS will launch two additional +ECO line solar-powered doodads.
The first, the +ECO Solar Weather Station will monitor current indoor and outdoor weather temperatures, humidity and shows an iconic future weather forecast, as well as the precise Atomic time. Second, the more compact +ECO Solar Weather Clock will monitor the current indoor and outdoor weather temperatures and humidity, as well the Atomic time. Both products are equipped with detachable solar panels and remote wireless temperature and humidity sensors.
This may sound ridiculous first time you hear it, but Japan is thinking about solar power from panels located in space to mother earth, or to be more exact, the nation of Nippon itself. According to the Nikkei (one of Japan’s biggest newspapers), the government plans to ask local technology companies to participate in the endeavor as early as next month.
The project is aimed at finding ways on how to convert solar energy into microwaves first before converting them back into energy on the surface. This would make it possible to generate solar power regardless of the weather on earth.
A satellite is already scheduled to be launched in 2015 in order to collect initial project-related data. The Japanese government hopes the space solar energy system to be in place and ready by 2030.
Via Nikkei [registration required, paid subscription]
Sounds like technology is making a difference in the lives of the victims of the Haitian earthquakes. Several different companies that produce products that use solar power have been sending equipment as part of the aid mission. Among the equipment are lights for hospitals and solar panels to help with water purification.
The sun jar is a pretty cool item. I mean, it glows, looks cool, and it’s a solar powered light. I actually have one of these I bought for my son to use as a nightlight. We even covered these about 
