Logitech's Solar Powered Keyboard. Available for ~80$ Image: Logitech
Intelligent Energy can be a source of power for a sensor in a farmer's field or atop a suspension bridge, or for a light switch, cell phone, thermostat or computer keyboard or “for-the-road” products. The example of Logitech's wireless keyboard is just one out of many innovative products, which work without conventional batteries. The trick is to draw small amounts of current from tiny solar arrays, then send the current to products that use power-stingy components. “Renewable Energy” is beginning to have a slightly different meaning for many hardware engineers. For them, it's a matter of putting energy directly into their products, rather than into the electrical grid.
Chinese mobile phone maker Umeox Mobile's latest offering announced at the Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelona, Spain, is due to hit stores later this year. Named after the Greek god of the sun, the Umeox Apollo sports a built-in solar panel on the back for keeping the phone running when you can’t get to an outlet – provided you can get to some sunlight, of course.
The Umeox Apollo with its in-built solar panel (Image: Mobile Crunch)
But it's not just small corporate produced high-tech solar devices, which are increasingly present on global markets, it's also people's inventions of small scale solar powered devices, that make a difference:
The Sol Cinema (Image: Sol Cinema)
The Sol Cinema is a solar-powered mobile cinema squeezed into the confines of a 1970s Euro-Camper three-berth caravan. Four lithium batteries from an electric car are charged by 120W solar panels to power the 220V LED projector. There is seating for eight adults. Billed as the world’s smallest solar-powered cinema, the Sol Cinema is a not-for-profit venture operated by the arts and media charity Undercurrents.
If you are interested in the topic of building solar-powered devices on your own. From how-to-s to video tutorials - there is plenty of information available online.
