I know not strictly anything to do with solar power and the green amongst you are probably going to get annoyed but I thought I’d bring up Portable Generators and point out how they could help you at home in an emergency.

Now I love solar power it’s cheap (once installed) and non polluting. The problem comes when we want more power. For charging small electrical devices like mobile phones and Ipods solar power works great and doesn’t cost very much.

But when we want to run TV’s and refrigerators off solar energy then we hit a few problems. It can be done but you’ll need a lot of solar panels, batteries to store the power and a sophisticated power management system to regulate the entire system. These systems cost many thousands of dollars and it takes many years to recoup the money.

If however you just wish to have power in an emergency a cheaper option is to buy a Portable Generator and fire it up in the event of a power outage.

These small Camping Generators are small, quiet and aren’t particularly expensive. A 1Kv inverter generator would set you back a mere $300-400 dollars and would be powerful enough to run some lighting a freezer and a small TV.

Power whenever you need it for as long as you have gasoline to power it.

It’s not Environmentally friendly but when you consider this is an emergency generator not one you’ll be running 24×7 just when you really need it it’s green credentials don’t really matter that much.

Portable Generators – Not Solar But I Like Them is a post from: Solar Battery Charger Reviews

Beating it’s own record Solarmer has produced plastic solar cells with nearly 8% efficiency. This is the highest seen for any OPV cell so far. It is thought that Organic Plastic Photovoltaic Cells are going to be the future design of choice for solar panels. The material is thin, lightweight and as can be seen  pretty efficient.

It is hoped these cells will become available sometime in 2010. This is pretty amazing when you consider the company is relatively small at only 25 employees.  It has been making great strides in Solar Power innovation for a number of years now and this is just the latest one..

Before we all leap for joy though remember traditional solar panels have been built with just short of 40% efficiency so this technology has a lot of catching up to do.

Plastic Solar Cells Get More Efficient is a post from: Solar Battery Charger Reviews

We all want to save money and installing Solar Panels in your home is certainly going to do that (although it will take a while to break even). But if you spent $900,000,000 it could take you many lifetimes!

Well that’s what India is investing in Solar Energy in the first phase of a possible $20 billion project. The problem is in trying to reduce the cost of Solar Energy production which when working at this scale is up to 2.5 times as expensive as producing electricity from coal.

This means that the Indian government is going to have to subsidize the Solar Panel makers to make the scheme viable. Even so, this is a large Solar Energy project and is certainly a move in the right direction. At some point we are just going to have to bite the bullet and not use the extra cost of producing Solar Electricity as an excuse to do nothing.

If we are serious about reducing emissions we are just going to have to do it – no more dragging of feet and whining about cost. We should take a leaf out of Indias book and just get on with it.

I Wish I Had 900 Million Dollars To Spend On Solar Panels is a post from: Solar Battery Charger Reviews

Well it’s official flying solar panels do exist! The BBC has reported that a prototype of a solar powered plane have been revealed. This plane is destined to attempt an Atlantic crossing sometime in 2012. Weighing in at a whopping 1500 Kg this plane is no lightweight and all going well should be ready for it’s maiden flight in a couple of weeks.

It’s wingspan is over 60 metres and covered in high efficiency soalr panels to provide the power to charge the batteries and power the plane to an estimated speed of 70 kph. Not bad for plane that’s powered by the suns rays.

Solar power has come a long way from the clunky solar panels we’re used to seeing adorning roofs and looking pretty ugly. They are now lighter, more effiecient (generate more power) and look a good bit better than their predecessors.

To read the full article head over to the BBC and check it out for yourself.

Test Looms For Solar Plane

Flying Solar Panels Batman! is a post from: Solar Battery Charger Reviews

The ZyRUS Sun Drive is being touted as the worlds first Solar Battery Charger with an inbuilt USB drive. How useful the USB drive is in reality is another matter.

The four functions of the device are:

• Solar charger – The device has a small solar panel on the top for charging the internal battery.
• USB charger – The internal battery can be charged via a USB port
• Flash Drive – Can store documents on inbuilt Drive (2-16 GB)
• External Battery – It has a built in lithium battery (400mAh) so that mobile devices like your phone / Ipod can be charged from this device.

The ZyRUS comes with a number of charging tips that will fit the most popular devices and a couple of USB tips.

This device is small and will easily fit in the palm of your hand and looks really cute however although it may garner some admiring glaces from your friends how useful it is is open to doubt. With a measly 400 mAh battery don’t expect it to be charging many devices I would guess if you’re lucky it may just recharge your Ipod once though I doubt it would even manage that.

Its USB drive isn’t much better with a maximum storage of 16 GB it’s a tad light for me. Also will the tiny solar panel ever fully charge the battery? Again I have my doubts.

Bottom line I’m not all that impressed but if you just have to have the latest gadget / toy then this one will turn a few heads just don’ expect to have bucket loads of battery power in your pocket!

The ZyRUS Sun Drive Solar Charger With Built In USB is a post from: Solar Battery Charger Reviews