SolarHome from partsonsale.com A solar electric system, specifically designed to power a full sized computer system and can also act as an emergency power system for your home. The only catch is that the cost at $3,695.00 is significantly more than most home computer systems. But if you use your computer in a remote area or if the power is unreliable and you use your computer for your business and can’t afford to be without power, then this may be a practical solution.

There are also a few solar laptop computer chargers. sierrasolar.com sells the Notepower Solar Laptop Computer Charger. They claim this device will provide enough power to run and/or charge most laptop computers including nearly all Macintosh as well as PC portables. You just easily set up the solar array, put it in the sunshine, plug in a 12 volt DC lighter adapter and you’re set. A 10 foot cord allows you to be in the cool shade while the solar module does it’s thing in the hot sun.

Approximately two billion people around the world still live without electricity, a world that now uses the computer as an indispensable tool for nearly every area of activity. Getting access to computers for schools in remote areas of developing countries is gaining attention. One computer that seriously tackled this issue is the Solo computer that is designed for very low power usage and is designed to be used with solar panels. (note solar panel on the left side of the photo) Here is a great article that explains more about the solar powered Solo computer.  Here is another link that talks more about using solar powered computers for education in developing countries.

Yesterday’s post examined some eco-friendly options for computer printing paper. Today I wanted to look and see about any greener options for a printers on the market.

As you probably know, the big companies making printers: Epson, HP, Canon, etc often sell their printers at cost or even below cost so you will be forced to use their proprietary ink cartridges sold at exorbitant prices. Refilling these cartridges yourself is one way to beat the system, and their are many solutions on the web in terms of good quality inks and refilling systems and kits. Echostore.com has a variety of options to refill your ink cartridges and seems reasonably priced.

If the thought of doing this all yourself seems too messy or worrisome then you might consider going to your nearest Walgreens, apparently they now have a program to refill your printer cartridges. Here is a link to more info. I found this information about walgreens at worstedwitch.com has a terrific post on ecological issues around print cartridges. (more…)

Trillions of paper reams are rotting in landfills slowly decomposing and releasing methane, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere – adding its small contribution to global warming. In my little home office I want to reduce my paper usage and figure out ways to green my printing, so I looked around the web for some solutions.
It seems crazy that most paper is made from cutting down trees, nearly half of the trees cut in North America go to papermaking. A fascinating article (part of a comprehensive look about paper usage) is on conservatree.org that gives an terrific overview on the history of paper making and the how paper making effects the environment. Another great article on how to print more greenly is at ezine articles.com on the process of eco friendly printing.

So what’s the best paper to use?
Conservatree rates and lists computer papers and give a great deal of information on choosing the best earth friendly paper. (more…)

Rent or Buy Environmental and Nature DVD’s at Green Planet Films.com
Green Planet Films currently has and extensive selection of green DVD’s with 40 related to various environmental issues. The average price is 7.99 to rent. You can also purchase the dvd’s for a variety of prices. Some great titles on important topical environmental issues like Boiling Point with Ross Gelbspan on Global Warming. Other promising titles related to green solutions like green building, environmental justice, energy issues, recycling and many more. Their website also feature podcasts and other resources.
World at Waste – a dramatic film about recycling (if the preview is represents fairly the entire movie – might be a bit over dramatic!) . They have a preview you can watch. (http://www.recyclemovie.com/)

How to Save the World From the Green Planet website “This is not your usual doom and gloom experience – it gives great optimism for the world and WHAT ORDINARY PEOPLE CAN DO.”

The UV HAWK™ $29.99 fusiontank.com

Add another thing to your list of things to be paranoid about. The giant hole in the ozone was thought to be well on its way to being healed with the elimination of refrigerant chlorofluorocarbons, the elimination of damaging aerosols in spray cans, and other such chemicals back in the late 80’s. But now scientists have discovered that the ozone hole has expanded again, the ozone hole over the Antarctica is now estimated to be the size of North America!

The New York Times yesterday had a frightening article about the rapid increase in the number of people in China and India who can now afford to buy air conditioners. This combined with factories operating at full speed making millions of new cheap air conditioners makes a dangerous scenerio. Even if these new air conditioners use the HCFC-22 refrigerant which is about only 5% as harmful than the previous chlorofluorocarbon, when you add millions of new air conditioners you are seriously putting the ozone at risk, not to mention the extra greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere from the extra power usage.

With real health risks now at stake there is a gadget called the UV Hawk that could come to the rescue. A tip of the branches to treehugger for their post on this new device (2/21/07 post) (more…)

SOLAR POWERED RODENT REPELLER

at global-merchants.com $59.95 each $110.00 for 2

Pesky critters ruining your day, but you are too nice to just whack them? Now you can rid your garden of rodents in a more earth friendly manner – without traps or chemicals and using solar power. Just stick in the ground and let it do it’s thing, that’s it.

The powerful sonic wave vibrations that it emits is like playing loud Beethoven to a bunch of loud teenagers hanging out in convenience store parking lots – they are so out of there.  It effectively repels underground moles, shrews, gophers, groundhogs, field mice and squirrels. It is weather resistant and will give years of operation.  The range of coverage is approximately 4,500 square feet, according to the global merchants website.

Sounds good to me, now all I need is a lawn or garden!

Book on how to build a wind turbine $25.39 US

This is a 64 page book that shows how to build a wind turbine yourself. There is an impressive amount of information and pictures on their site regardless if you are like me and have no intention of buying the book or building anything more complicated than a paper airplane.

With enough determination and ability to learn, however, it seems possible to build your own wind turbine that under the ideal circumstances possibly produce enough power to significantly reduce or even eliminate your electrical bills. You could also even put any surplus energy back into the grid and help even more to reduce greenhouse gases.

Don’t despair if you don’t have the tech savvy or the time and inclination to do it yourself. Bergey Windpower company is one of several companies now making wind power available for homes and small businesses. They have extensive information and solutions on their website about how one could go about setting this up. Some states, like California, even offer significant tax rebates that can help lower the cost by up to a half. A small turbine can cost anywhere from $6,000 to $22,000 installed, depending upon various factors

Here is a link to the faq section of the American Wind Energy Association website that discusses “What do I need to know to purchase a residential wind turbine?” This site has one of the best sources of information that might answer any questions you might have about the feasibility of wind energy for your home as well as broader questions about wind energy. One last link for even more information about wind power is the Windustry.org site which is a terrific resource for all things related to wind energy.

Klean Kanteen at KleanKanteen.com $17.95 ultralight stainless steel 27oz water bottle.

Ok, so it isn’t a gadget per se. The shiny metallic glint threw me off. However, it’s green cred is considerable. I was just reading a great article about plastic pollution at alternet (discusses plastic pollution in general) and it got me thinking about plastic water bottles in particular and the various ecological issues surrounding their increasing use. MSNBC has a decent overview of the the problem in this article (from March 2005). Basically, in the past few years there has been an astronomical increase in bottled water, in the US consumers are using up to 70 million bottles each day and up to 89% of the plastic bottles are not recycled according to Container Recycling Institute. Furthermore, many experts say many times there is no good reason to pay for the bottled water as it is often no better than tapwater and can cost up to 10,000 times more!

Each day in the US more than 60 million plastic water bottles are thrown away. Most end up in landfills or incinerators, and millions litter America’s streets, parks, rivers and the ocean. In the Pacific Ocean there is an area the size of Texas that is nothing but millions and millions of floating plastic crap. Most states don’t have a bottle bill that includes bottled water and often people are away from home when they drink bottled water so they just toss it instead of recycling. Here is another terrific article on the whole issue of bottled water ecology from the container-recycling.org.

Using a refillable container like the ultralight Klean Kanteen or other such “gadget” will go far to help solve this problem.

Another consideration is the new biodegradable bottles made from corn starch like Biota Spring water. They have an interesting video on biodegradable bottles and other information you can watch here However, one issue with this bottle beside buying bottled water when you probably would be just as good with tap water, is that these corn starch bottles may not break down in a closed landfill – as they may not have the microorganisms and composting temperatures needed to degrade. Still, it is far better solution than what is currently available.l

The Center for Biological Diversity is offering free ringtones of various endangered creatures for your cellphone.

I have used only one ringtone now for the past couple of years – that of a dog barking. I still get a kick out of being in an elevator or somewhere when I get a call and a dog starts barking, I am always disappointed if no one else is on the elevator! Imagine setting your cellphone to a rare frog croak, owl hoot, wolf howling or Beluga Whale call. You can also set ringtones to the calls of the Blue-throated Macaw, Boreal Owl, Mountain Yellow-legged Frog, Yosemite Toad, or any one of over forty other endangered critters. While you are at their website be sure to read up on the great work they are doing in protecting wildlife extinctions and the extensive information they have on the extinction crisis and most importantly, what you can do about it.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national non-profit conservation organization dedicated to the protection of imperiled species and their habitats. Find out more about the Center for Biological Diversity’s work to protect endangered species and wild places

Infinity Solar Charger and flashlight $19.95
Infinity is a solar charger designed to charge phones and mobile devices. One nice aspect is that at $19.95 it is more affordable than similar chargers – at least from what I could find from a couple of google searchs. Infinity SE is a pocket size mobile device charger with an inbuilt battery that stores power for later use. It should prove a great addition device for emergency kits. In areas that often have power outages the built in flashlight that provides lighting for over 72hrs could provide critical help. The triple action Infinity SE can be charged with the sun, AC/DC adaptor or a car charger.  Their website claims that the “Infinity is able to plug and power 98% of the worlds mobile devices.” more info at www.infinitysolarcharger.com