Sunday, September 16th, 2007

Convert Your VW Into an Electric Vehicle!

Yes it’s true! You can convert your VW into an electric car with the kits available at e-volks.com. It’s pretty amazing really. I read about this website in Make magazine, and it looks really cool. The guy in the article made his car not only electric, but solar as well, by [...]

1 Comment » - Posted in DIY Projects, Solar by Mark

Thursday, February 15th, 2007

Thin-Film Solar Bags Charge Your Device Anywhere

Reware has a trio of nice-looking bags that have thin-film solar panels built right into them. I have not seen the product with my own eyes, or tested it in any way, but they look really cool. Check it out for yourself:
Reware solar bags
Check out the Power Pockets while you’re there, and they [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Gadgets & Products, Solar by Mark

Tuesday, October 24th, 2006

General Motors Goes Solar, with Some Help from Some Friends.

The idea of solar power holds spectacular promise. The Sun is, after all, the Sun. However, for most people, or corporations, the startup costs of installing a solar power system outweigh the financial return. It will take years to recoup the cost of putting up solar panels. However, if incentives are available to help consumers [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Solar by Pete Lauf

Friday, September 8th, 2006

Solar Fan (part 2)

Read part one here if you haven’t already seen it.
I put the new larger motor that I got at American Science and Surplus into my solar fan. Unfortunately even though the guy tested it for me in the store, the juice that my solar panels were giving it just wasn’t enough to spin it [...]

No Comments » - Posted in DIY Projects, Solar by Mark

Monday, June 12th, 2006

Renewable Energy Featured in Portland Rose Festival

This year at the Portland Rose Festival, the Waterfront Village had its power supplied from new wind farms in Oregon and Washington. To add to the Renewable Energy awesomeness, Portland General Electric made a float for the big parade that shows off “energy-related sustainable technology.”
Read more about PGE’s contributions to renewable energy and the [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Wind by Mark

Wednesday, June 7th, 2006

Construction Crews Lead the Way with Solar Equippment

I’ve been seeing more and more solar panels on construction and municipal equippment lately. From solar powered flashing lights in school zones, to solar call boxes and message signs on the highway, renewable energy is popping up all over and making life better by providing power in remote areas.

No Comments » - Posted in Solar by Mark

Monday, June 5th, 2006

Spinach Solar

This is pretty old news (in fact, two years old today) but it’s so awesome that I wanted to post it for anyone else who might’ve missed it.
A bunch of engineers at MIT made a solar cell out of spinach. For real. They looked to nature for inspiration, and realized that since plants [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Solar by Mark

Thursday, May 25th, 2006

Better Mileage (and cool tricks) From Your Toyota Prius

There is a new breed of hot rodders sprouting up these days: techies. All kinds of people are finding new ways to hack and modify their Priuses to make them have incredible mileage (100+ mpg) or do cool tricks (like maintain your 12V battery with a solar panel).
Read the CNET News.com article here.
Get your [...]

1 Comment » - Posted in General by Mark

Tuesday, May 9th, 2006

This is Awesome… and what we should all be doing.

The San Diego Unified School District has just worked out a great deal with Solar Integrated Technologies to get new roofs on many of their schools that are integral solar panels!  So each school not only gets a new roof for free, but they also get to buy the power from that roof for less [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Solar by Mark