Recycled Materials = Reduced Cost?
The New York Times had an article in the Sunday business section about how sustainability is tied to positive economics. We agree to a point...
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Small-scale Solar Trackers
Solar trackers can increase power generated by a solar panel by orienting the panel towards the sun throughout the day. This decreases the...
Interactive Solar Mobiles
If you find yourself in Philadelphia, the Schuylkill Environmental Center has a pair of interactive "robotic creatures" designed by artist Mark...
Solar Pump Electric Charging Station
The team at Sol Design Lab in Austin showed off their retro-modern Solar Pump Station at this year's Maker Faire. The design couples an iconic...
Three Ways to Power an Arduino Off-Grid
This post is out of date. Please head over to our updated Solar for Arduino guide for more information. We get a lot of...
Mounting Small Scale Solar Systems
Have a solar panel and are looking to mount it? You have a lot of options, from the standard ground mounts, roof mounts, pole mounts, to RV...
Economics of Phone Charging in US vs Kenya
We recently read a report by the GSMA that lays out the economics for solar charging phones in developing countries. In one field study in Kenya,...
Solar Gas Detector
We love it when people mod our bags to suit their own purposes. A company outside of Alberta, Canada is taking our Converter solar backpacks,...
Charging an iPad — More like a computer than a phone
We test-charged an iPad with our solar backpack and it worked, but with two caveats: 1) The iPad charges from a USB port like a phone, but its...
Solar-powered Drip Irrigation System
A new Stanford University study claims that solar-powered drip irrigation systems can be used to irrigate farms and improve yields in...
Build your own Solar Charger
Make Engineering Intern, Tyler Moskowite, modified the fantastic Minty Boost charger to work from one of our 6Volt solar panels. He's getting...
Estimating Panel’s Voltage and Power with a Ruler
One of the most basic things one needs to know about a panel is how much total power it puts out and at what Voltage and Amps. Even if you...
MacBook Solar Charger
Location: Sub-Saharan Africa Charges: MacBook Pro. Canterio International is an NGO that works with orphans in sub-Saharan Africa. As part of the...
Small Scale Inverters for Solar – Not Yet an Option
One of the most frequent questions we get is "can I plug in to your bag with a standard wall plug?" Based on experimentation, a review of...
Solar Bicycle Trunk Bag
One of our customers was inspired by a previous post on solar panniers to trick out his bicycle with a solar powered trunk bag. He gives detailed...
Power at Taravale Sanctuary
Location: The Australian Wildlife Conservancy Mount Zero / Taravale Sanctuary. The Backpack's owner is Jay Riedl, the Development Executive for...
Solar charging cell phones in Tanzania
Location: Kwala, Tanzania Solar Charges: A variety of devices, but cell phones were the most critical. The solar Messenger bag was used by...
Live-Blogging at the Olympics
Location: The half-pipe at Cypress Mountain at the 2010 Olympics Solar Charges: AT&T Mythic phone, Samsung HMX-R10 camcorder and Samsung TL225...