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Thread: solar for personal electronics

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    Senior Member Tara_SW's Avatar
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    Default solar for personal electronics

    I saw similar stuff this morning on a news clip about the electronic convention going on in Las vegas this week. Now we can use mini solar panel to charge cell phones, laptops and more. Pretty cool stuff, especially for those of us interesed in using less carbon based energy.I did a brief search and found a few links to give an example of what's available. Hope my fellow electronic geeks will enjoy
    Last edited by Tara_SW; 01-07-2008 at 05:07 PM. Reason: another link

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    Default Re: solar for personal electronics

    This is just a guess, but I'm betting that everything that went into maufacturing, packaging, shipping, etc for these things more than offsets anything gained by not charging these things via an regular outlet.

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    Banned Katrine's Avatar
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    Default Re: solar for personal electronics

    Is this crap as stupid an idea as ethanol is?

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    Senior Member Tara_SW's Avatar
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    Default Re: solar for personal electronics

    hmm. I thought it was pretty cool even just from the gadget stand point. Guess I'm the only one. Oh well

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    God/dess xdamage's Avatar
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    Default Re: solar for personal electronics

    Quote Originally Posted by lezmaka View Post
    This is just a guess, but I'm betting that everything that went into maufacturing, packaging, shipping, etc for these things more than offsets anything gained by not charging these things via an regular outlet.
    Hmmm. That is a very good question in terms of how green it really is. Not to mention that at $99 it will take a lot of use before the thing pays for itself.

    Of interest, I know a guy who started a company that sells a lot of solar cells to the 3rd world countries where sunshine is plentiful, but the catch and patents he has are that they augment the cells with large mirrors (light collectors to focus more light on the cells). A square meter of mirror is a lot less expensive to manufacture than a square meter of solar cell

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    Default Re: solar for personal electronics

    Quote Originally Posted by lezmaka View Post
    This is just a guess, but I'm betting that everything that went into maufacturing, packaging, shipping, etc for these things more than offsets anything gained by not charging these things via an regular outlet.
    It depends on how long you use it. I don't know about mini ones, but I think about 2 years of use "justifies" the regular ones, energetically speaking. That was a year or so that I learned that, tho, so it could have improved since then.



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    Default Re: solar for personal electronics

    Quote Originally Posted by Lena View Post
    It depends on how long you use it. I don't know about mini ones, but I think about 2 years of use "justifies" the regular ones, energetically speaking. That was a year or so that I learned that, tho, so it could have improved since then.
    Hmm, well if that is two (2) years of continuous use to justify it, and this thing spends most of it's time in a bag between uses ... well you know.

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    Senior Member Tara_SW's Avatar
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    Default Re: solar for personal electronics

    Quote Originally Posted by xdamage View Post
    Hmm, well if that is two (2) years of continuous use to justify it, and this thing spends most of it's time in a bag between uses ... well you know.

    any change of opinion on that if it were used daily?
    I was thinking of getting solar chargers for the laptop & cell phone and using it instead of the wall socket.

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    Default Re: solar for personal electronics

    Quote Originally Posted by Tara_SW View Post
    any change of opinion on that if it were used daily?
    I was thinking of getting solar chargers for the laptop & cell phone and using it instead of the wall socket.
    Actually let me be clear. I don't really have any opinion against it as such. I just find these kind of things interesting. I'm not a great believer in conspiracies, but there are a lot of products sold that are bunk for various reasons (e.g., packaging that costs more than the product; product that costs pennies to make but sells for many orders of magnitude more; products that appeal to the "Green" mindset but actually are wasteful for various unstated reasons; etc.).

    So I just think it's interesting to ask the question.

    p.s. Presumably the more you use it, the more likely you reach the break-even point and get ahead.

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    Senior Member Tara_SW's Avatar
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    Default Re: solar for personal electronics

    Quote Originally Posted by xdamage View Post
    Actually let me be clear. I don't really have any opinion against it as such. I just find these kind of things interesting. I'm not a great believer in conspiracies, but there are a lot of products sold that are bunk for various reasons (e.g., packaging that costs more than the product; product that costs pennies to make but sells for many orders of magnitude more; products that appeal to the "Green" mindset but actually are wasteful for various unstated reasons; etc.).

    So I just think it's interesting to ask the question.

    p.s. Presumably the more you use it, the more likely you reach the break-even point and get ahead.
    well hey there's nothing wrong with asking question! now forgeting the possible green benefits for a sec- other cool uses for these products I've thought of are camping, survial gear, use during a power outage.

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    Default Re: solar for personal electronics

    ^^^ Yes, it would be useful for those reasons assuming weather allows.

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    Default Re: solar for personal electronics

    I want the TV that has to be powered with pedaling.

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    Default Re: solar for personal electronics

    Quote Originally Posted by Susan Wayward View Post
    I want the TV that has to be powered with pedaling.
    Hehehehe, that could solve several of America's problems in one step! Obesity and chronic tv-overwatching!

    Make them mandatory!

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    Default Re: solar for personal electronics

    I think it is fantastic! I find myself in places that have limited electricity access, and a gadget like a solar charger would come in damn handy.


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