When on the road the battery of your phone, mp3 player, or your Iphone goes soon flat. But, you know that there are solutions. Just 1 hour of sunshine = 20 minutes talk time or 50 minutes of MP3 music.

Works with multiple gadgets, including mobile phones, iPhone™, Bluetooth® headsets, smartphones/PDAs, MP3 players, portable gaming devices, digital cameras, GPS and much more (tips for most devices come included.)

With Solio iPhone Solar Charger you can charge your phone from the sun while keeping your mobility. Designed in a foldable three blades fan shape, Solio takes up little space in your backpack but once opened it’s large surface can provide enough power to charge your phone in a time similar to a wall socket charger. And best of all, it does it without harming the environment.

See the promotional video of the product.

There is many more chargers on the market. Here is another one. This compact and versatile charger is a green product which offer a green, and economical solution to charge iPhone, and wide range of handheld device, build-in a 1350mAh high capacity rechargeable polymer battery, equips a large high solar energy convert efficiency solar panel, it collects power directlyfrom the sun when sunlight is available, and store the power inside its built-in battery for future use.

Technorati : Solar Chargers Iphone, hybrid solar chargers
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Concerning the European market it has certainly arguments to seduce the old continent. Already with the price predict of 17 000 (Euros).

Mitsubishi MiEV is being tested with Japanese companies since this autumn and can be recharged on specific terminal in less than 30 minutes. On the domestic sector will be around 5 hours.

Please note that our English colleagues and the European spokesman of the Japanese campaign for the import of the MiEV in Britain, especially since the right-hand drive like in Japan and the MiEV could be sold with just minor changes.

Technorati : Electric Car, Electric Vehicle, Mitsubishi MiEV
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SolFocus Announces that their system is 25% Efficient. SolFocus integrates its CPV panels with its advanced tracking system that continuously aligns the solar array with direct sunlight throughout the day as the sun moves across the sky.

The tracking technology has been developed specifically for S panels, providing a highly integrated and performance-optimized system. The tracking capability of the SolFocus 1100S results in energy generation ideally matched to peak demand periods.

Here are some photos:

Source: EcoGeek and Solfocus

Technorati : CPV, Concentrated solar, Concentrated solar power, SolFocus
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Morgan Solar - a company developping more affordable solar panels, has hot a great article in the Star newspaper. Their solar panels are using revolutionary technology with lower cost materials (acrylic). Their Concentrated Photovoltaic (CPV) systems are highly efficient, easy to build and affordable. Some of their photos on Flick page.

The materials that make up the panels are nothing fancy or expensive, Nicolas Morgan says during an interview at the company’s office. The solar panels are flatter than the competition, lighter, cheaper to build and can concentrate the light at up to 1,500. “This is completely new. Nobody has done it this way,” he says.

The Sun Simba HCPV - Two rows of ultra-thin optics, held together at the ends with a simple endcap. The electronics and PV are entirely contained within the aluminum trays that hold the optics.

Technorati : , CPV, Morgan Solar, Solar Concentrated Photovoltaics
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Air France and KLM engineering (FR) will test MDI’s AirPod vehicles at spring 2009. Those cars are 4 seaters, and they are running on compressed air . They should be availeble in US the beginning 2010.

Some technical details of those cars:

• weight only 220 kg
• 4 places (or luggage space)
• lenght 2 meters
• Using compresed air stored in a tank
• Maximum charge - 300 Kg
• Wide - 1.60
• Time to refill - 1.5 minuts !!
• Maximum speed 70km/h

Source: Air France,

Technorati : AirPod, MDI, compressed air
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They found a hybrid solar system that uses 80 meters long 2-axis sollector with 80 mirrors. Those mirrors are focusing sunlignt onto high-efficient solar cells mounted on receivers which are cooled by air. This system was capable to produce 20 kW of Power. With system like this they continue to experiment.

They developed Combined Heat and Power Solar (CHAPS) system which uses the natural heat generated in the photovoltaic linear concentrators to heat water. With eight collectors, storage for hot water, hydronic in-slab floor heating and gas-fired boosters with a 40-kW inverter.

The team then realized the demand for smaller devices in the market and set to combine both the above mentioned systems to make a hybrid microconcentrator that would be available at a lower cost. The supposed system measuring just 1.7 x 1.5 x 0.2 meters has just 7 mirrors which would focus light onto the 20% more efficient crystalline Si micro PV cells connected to a receiver which will deliver heat to the hot water tank.

The team being working together so they was able to adapt their already proved system to smaller, more economical one.

With the car industry producing hybrid cars I wonder when I’l be able to buy a ‘hybrid’ solar power generator…. Soon I hope.

Source: Trendupdates

Technorati : Efficient Solar, Hybrid solar power, solar water heater
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Marcelo da Luz (canadian) had been able to set a new world record. This Canadian was able to complete 15,000 kilometers in a solar car

He was able to make through the roads of Canada in the fastest way possible. He made that in 140 days.This record was actually held before by one Australian team back in 2002.

This record is now broken and Marcelo da Luz is the lucky one now to hold the record. He used a solar car known as the Power of One or the Xofl.

This solar car can:

• Go up to 200 kilometers for one charging.
• One can achieve 120 kilometers per hour as its maximum speed. (pretty cool).
• The Solar Cells are monocrystaline, 15% efficient
• Battery pack - Lithium Ion, 96 Volts

You can see some great videos from the testing here.

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You can find out the details on this technology on the website of Morgansolar.

Technorati : Morgansolar, photovoltaics, solar concentrated
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The 23% or better AC efficiency reflects the actual electricity fed into the grid after sunlight is first converted into DC (Direct Current) by the photovoltaic modules and then into AC by the inverter under actual field conditions.

Technorati : efficiency, high efficient solar, solar panels
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The Kyocera KC190GT is a very good solar panel for the price and works well in everything from small-scale residential solar power systems to mid-scale commercial projects. Kyocera uses newly developed treatment method processes multi-crystalline silicon cells in order to produce a surface texture that minimizes surface reflectance and maximizes output.

The Kyocera 190-watt solar panel holds its own in terms of quality. It achieves a high level of efficiency (15%), has a 20-year factory warranty, and a 25-year power output warranty — and does all of this for $100 to $200 less than similar models from other brands.

You can get PDF info file here

Technorati : Kyocera Kc190gt, kyocera solar panels
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