Category Archives: Energy

Energy

Solar Panel Hack – How to Build Your Own Custom Solar Panels!

Posted on June 22, 2010 by max

video://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4BKuH8mqw4&feature=player_embedded

For those of you looking for alternative solar energy that you can actually use for re-charging/powering your gadgets and whatnot, you might want to take a look at this guide that a college engineering student made during his experience of making a custom solar panel for his latest project.

Currently I’m a college student studying computer engineering, and this summer while I was on break I decided I wanted to learn more about solar energy and how to build a solar panel from scratch. My main

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Where does Oil Come From? Where does Oil Go?

Posted on June 22, 2010 by max

Here’s a rather interesting chart that shows where the world oil comes from and where it goes.  Of course, this points out that a good majority (over 25%) of U.S.’s oil comes from its offshore drilling.  Not that they should keep doing that though, I hope they clear that BP mess up soon and start finding alternative ways for energy.

via treehugger, good

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Rubik’s Cube Gadget Charger [Design Concept]

Posted on April 15, 2010 by max

Check out this nifty design of a “Rubik’s Cude” gadget charger that will turn your efforts of solving the puzzle into electricity to re-charge your gadgets.  I don’t know how practical that would be but certainly reminds me of the Bloom Box.  If the design could be further developed into more efficient transfer of energy from motion to electricity, this could be a potential production material.

A concept device from designer Zheng Weixi showcased over on Yanko Design, the Magic – a back

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DIY Pixel Qi Sunlight-proof LCDs coming soon!

Posted on March 8, 2010 by max

The news of the week is that Pixel Qi, manufacturer of sunlight-proof LCDs, is going to be releasing DIY LCD replacement kits that will allow your laptop to use much less power (allowing your laptop to run 20-30% longer) plus the LCDs themselves work well in bright sunlight.

The last time I used my netbook in bright sunlight was at the zoo couple months back and I have to say, you would seriously need something like a DIY Pixel Qi LCD kit replacement if you like the outdoors.

Of course, I think itR

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MN Appliance Rebate gives Minnesota Residents upto $200 Rebate per Appliance!

Posted on March 1, 2010 by max

Minnesota has just started their rebate program for Energy Star complaint appliances to promote energy saving statewide.

This is similar to the PG&G program here in California where I live, PG&E replaced my refrigerator for free with a more energy-efficient one TWICE. Of course, the energy savings over long term could easily pay for the fridge itself plus we are reducing our carbon footprint. It’s good to see that slowly state government is giving out money to promote green energy.

For those of you who have been waiting to get a new appliance, there ne

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ReNu Solar Powered iPhone/iPod Speakers/Recharging Dock!

Posted on February 27, 2010 by max

For those of you eco-enthusiasts out there (like me), you might be happy to learn that ReNu solar-powered iPhone/iPod speakers will be available so you can enjoy your favorite music without adding to the world’s carbon footprint but by using solar power!  You can pre-order yours on Amazon here for $149.

The best part about these new ReNu speakers is that they can even “recharge” your iPod or iPhone using the po

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IllumiCharger Uses Solar Cells to Recycle your Indoor Gadgets via USB!

Posted on February 13, 2010 by max

Here’s an interesting eco-gadget that could proved to be pivotal in recycling all of indoor lights.   The IllumiCharger uses solar cells to recycle you indoor lights and feeding your gadgets via USB ports.

The Illumi-Charger achieves this unprecedented feat by recycling light energy that permeates in any indoor space that has luminescence provided by fluorescent, compact fluorescent, or incandescent lighting. As solar calculators (available in every Walmart or drug store) utilized the light energy inside our school classroom

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What Kinds of Solar Power Incentives are Available in the U.S.?

Posted on February 1, 2010 by max

*Note – This is a guest blog post from Shannon Bell from ResidentialSolarPanels.org.  Thanks Shannon!  I’ve always wondered how government credits work with residential solar panels, now I know.

Over the years, you have seen your power bills increase for a variety of reasons. Sources are inconsistent, and methods to generate power are becoming more expensive. Ultimately, many of the resources we use are non-renewable.

Coal, gas and oil are finite commodities. To encourage people to reduce their dependency upon

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HydroFill – Water-to-Hydrogen Converter! [CES Withdrawls]

Posted on January 16, 2010 by max

Here’s something I missed at CES 2010 but gladly this could be the invention of the decade, a water-to-hydrogen converter. Not only does it convert water to hydrogen, it stores the hydrogen efficiently in solid matter. This means that we could possibly forego gas stations in the future, perhaps just dump some water into your hydrogen-powered car. Exciting!

Named HYDROFILL(TM) unveiled at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The small desktop device simply plugs into the AC, a solar panel or a small wind turbine, automatically extracts hydrogen from it

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Solar DIY – How to Make Solar Powered LED Bricks!

Posted on January 15, 2010 by max

You know every year, solar power is getting cheaper by the dozen, solar lights are everywhere including front yard of many homes that I see in my neighborhood.  Well, there’s a way you can hack those cheap solar lights into solar LED bricks, this instructable shows you how.  Brilliant.

With this in mind, I combed craigslist for some suitably shaped glass blocks, went to Home Depot for the appropriate solar light, stocked up on speaker wire and came up with the Solar Powered Walkway!

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