Posts Tagged ‘solar power’

3 Unique Ways to Generate Power in Your Home @ GreenUPGRADER

Want to have some fun while also conserving energy and reducing your carbon footprint? These unusual power-generating systems are sure to make your friends and neighbors take notice.

Everyone knows that you can put solar panels on your roof, use a dual-flush toilet, or install a tankless water heater if you want to conserve resources in your home, but there’s nothing exciting or unique about these green upgrades. The key to making conservation a regular part of home life is designing technologies that can be integrated seamlessly into the structure and decoration of the building.

Here are 3 unique ways that you can generate power, and an interest in sustainable living, just by making your home more beautiful!

Solar Ivy

Inspired by the ivy that decorates the exterior walls of older brick homes and reflects the organic essence of nature, Solar Ivy (also pictured at top) was designed by siblings Samuel and Teresita Cochran for a thesis on Sustainably Minded Interactive Technology in 2005. Lightweight and flexible, this “ivy” can  be mounted on to a vertical wall, not only creating a pleasing aesthetic but also expanding the area of power generation. Each “leaf” features a thin photovoltaic panel, and 500 of them on a sunny wall can generate close to 250 watts of power. (more)

4 Ways To Charge Your Phone (Without An Outlet) @ Crisp Green

We’ve all been there. The dreaded beep, and your phone goes dead. There are no outlets in sight. Panic ensues as you actually try to remember someone’s phone number…

These days, mobile phones are much more than just a way to have a conversation with someone that’s far away. Phones are also cameras, camcorders, personal assistants, calendars, computers, bookstores, and GPS devices.

But all this extra functionality comes with a price: the need for constant charging. If you’re tired of being a slave to the power cord, here are some innovative ways that you can stay juiced without an outlet.

Number 1 is Dirt and Number 2 is your voice! Check out the article for the other two.

Solar Plane Completes World’s First International Flight @ Care 2 Make a Difference

The Solar Impulse, the first plane in the world to be powered entirely by the sun, recently completed its first international flight — from Payerne, Switzerland to Brussels, Belgium.

After a flight lasting 12 hours 59 minutes, using no fuel and propelled by solar power alone, the Solar Impulse HB-SIA landed safely with pilot André Borschberg at the controls.

“The objective is to demonstrate what we can do with existing technology in terms of renewable energy and energy savings,” Borschberg told Reuters by telephone during the flight. (more)