Well it looks like solar power has finally come of age and has passed it's troublesome adolescence of inefficiency and high costs. Researching the past few days on it's developments has been more than interesting, it's been a hoot. With innovators and internet collaborators people around the world are taking solar energy to a new level.
There is more than one option of just sticking a few Photovoltaic cells on your roof and getting a few watts energy into your home. People are now using it in a myriad of ways, providing hot water, for heating, for cooking, for cooling (yes, cooling??) and of course generating electric without using the PV cells.
The most useful site I found for the various uses of solar and of other renewable home built contraptions was called Instuctables. On the site is endless information on DIY projects in just about every category you can think of, many using recycled material as an added green bonus. One of the great ideas I came across which apparently came from Archimedes was the Solar Death Ray. Think childhood, magnifying glass, ants multiplied 100x. Check out www.solardeathray.com to see what ordinary house hold objects can be vaporized using a few mirrors and a sunny day.
The solar death rays use a parabolic mirror to concentrate the sun many times over, generating colossal temperatures up to 600C-700C. That heat can then go on to vaporize water, which the pressurized steam could run a turbine to generate energy. Or if the budget allows for, the installation of a Sterling engine, this uses difference in gas or liquid temperature in a closed loop to drive pistons which drives a generator. The possibilities seem almost endless.
More consumer products seem to be incorporating solar cells into their designs to be able to charge anywhere. One of my favorite innovations from the big nasty corporations is Samsung's new solar phone , a phone that charges itself AND it includes components recycled from plastic bottles. Seems that corporations have started to wake up to being a bit more responsible but this can only come about from consumer pressure and choice. Another product which I like the Idea of is the Solar bag. More and more manufactures seem to be sticking PV cells on the side of thier bags to recharge all manner of electronic gadgets, I even saw a designer bag/purse incorporating PV cells for the fashion conscious (but probably made in a sweat shop in Asia so I wouldn't buy it myself, plus I'm a guy).
The products themselves are more expensive than those without solar capacity, but I believe people will take better care of them, use the product longer thereby reducing material consumption. Win-win situation, you can have your cake and play your Gameboy Advance in the middle of the Sahara desert.
Really looking forward to getting to Israel and picking up a few mirrors from second hand stores, conducting some of my own experiments with the solar death ray.
Hmmm I wonder how long it takes to vaporize an oil executive??
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