Solar Gizmos

There’s nothing cooler (ok, maybe hotter is a better word, in this case) than solar energy and all of the new technology surrounding it. While I was formerly left behind in the techno world, only really knowing about solar power and it’s magical powers of good used in panels and expensive watches, I now know about all kinds of new gadgets available (or soon to be available) which use solar power to operate.

I must admit, it’s like we’re on the edge of living in a sci-fi movie. Perhaps the age of the Jetsons is finally here! This is some really cool stuff.

The first one looks like a curved boomerang — although some say it looks more like a UFO. The solar FlipLite sits concave downward with three solar panels on the exposed side that will soak up the sun all day long and charges the light. When the sun goes down or your power goes out, just flip the device over, so that it sits concave up and the sensors on the bottom will turn the LED fixture on. Although they look very futuristic and sleek, the FlipLite has been designated as an emergency lighting system, so this might not be something you can use every evening in place of turning on your regular lights, but it’s definitely a unique way to brighten up the house in an emergency. (Now, if it could only power up my freezer and keep my ice cream from melting!)

This next one is definitely something I need. The worst part about power outages where I am is that they usually happen in the middle of the night, which makes it less of a pain, I mean, I’m really not aware of the inconvenience at all…that is until I wake up mid-morning in a panic because my alarm clock never went off. MIR has created a solar powered alarm clock that looks like a space satellite and sounds like one, too – a mock satellite beep is the alarm. Its arms gather power from the sun during the day to power the clock and the alarm.

I don’t know about you, but as a parent I am sick and tired of every gadget my children bringing into my home requiring scads of batteries. At one point I told all of their grandparents and friends’ parents not to buy them anything that required electricity or batteries…ever! I may have to retract that rule, though, with new solar powered batteries coming into the mainstream soon. Inventor Knut Karlsen has found a way to wrap batteries in a flexible photovoltaic panel so that they can absorb the sun’s rays and recharge them, although more slowly than their electric counterparts. Still, how cool is that? They’re called SunCat batteries. (more…)

Solar Gizmos