Hasta La Gadget!

Heating bills can cause quite a big hit in your monthly expenses, depending on which country that you live in, but this does not mean that you should go freeze yourself to death during winter by being a miser, right? After all, a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do, and that would include making sure that his family has the bare necessities for survival, including a roof over their head as well as three square meals. The thing is, if you have already made it in life and happen to own a home with a swimming pool, why not add something nice into the equation? Most public pools come with a shower outside for you to wash yourself down before you jump in, as well as help you get acclimatized to the water temperature. Why not go green with the $199.99 Solar Shower?

The Solar Shower is extremely cost effective and a snap to set up, where it will then be able to provide cold, warm or hot showers without causing another dent in your wallet. After all, the heating is done by the sun itself. All that you need to do is to mount the Solar Shower on a wall, make use of the included free-standing base, and you’re good to go. It will hook up to a standard garden hose, which means it should not be too difficult to find a place for it in your garden. The large column fills will take around 2 minutes to fill up with water, and it takes approximately an hour to heat up, depending on weather conditions, to deliver a water temperature of up to 130°F (55°C).
[ Solar Shower provides free hot water copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Kyocera has just installed what they call a “Solar Cycle Station for EV (electric vehicles)” at the headquarters of Shintec Hozumi Co., Ltd. which is located in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Kyocera designed and constructed this particular system in order for solar-generated power to juice up electric vehicles, and it also doubles up as an emergency power source in the event of a disaster such as an earthquake, helping contribute to the efficient use of clean energy as well as disaster prevention.

Kyocera’s “Solar Cycle Station” has been touted to be an environmentally friendly solar-powered recharging station, where it was first mooted to help out electric-assisted bicycles at the beginning of this decade. It was in 2012 that the company began to supply the Solar Cycle Station for EV, where it has been modified and improved to power electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Carrying the dual mission of protecting the environment and saving electricity costs, Shintec Hozumi decided to install a 230kW Kyocera solar power generating system on its headquarters’ rooftop, so that the entire building will be able to draw from at least one source of clean energy. We do hope to see such initiatives take place on a mass scale in the future, that is for sure. [Press Release]

Kyocera Installs Solar Cycle Station For Electric Vehicles In Japan , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Green, kyocera, Solar,

There is nothing quite like solar power that flies the renewable energy banner high, and here we are with the Solar Impulse 2 that has the grand goal of circumnavigating around the world using solar energy harnessed from the sun alone, and nothing else. Is it possible? Yes, considering its predecessor, the Solar Impulse, has had quite its fair number of adventures in the past. With the Solar Impulse 2, this unique aircraft intends to take off from the Persian Gulf, before it makes its way over to India and start to go around the world. The only time it will touch down would be to switch pilots.

Just what will the Solar Impulse 2 offer? For starters, this particular aircraft comes with a 236-foot wingspan, and will be covered in 17,238 solar cells. That would mean the Solar Impulse 2 is wider than a 747, but the cockpit has enough space for just one pilot at any one time. The entire shebang is made of carbon fiber and tips the scales at a mere 5,000 pounds, which is a relative lightweight, of course. The engines themselves are 90% more efficient compared to the turbofans that power commercial jets, and expect the Solar Impulse 2 to cruise at an altitude of 28,000 feet to maximize its solar ray intake.

At night, the Solar Impulse 2 will drop down to 16,000 feet at night, with a top speed of 40mph – and the pilots will have to get accustomed to the cramped space for hours, or maybe days at a stretch – without air conditioning or heating to work with. Expect the round-the-world flight to happen sometime between April and July next year. [Press Release]

Solar Impulse 2 Wants To Circle The World On Solar Power Alone , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Green, Transportation, Solar,

Using solar panels to harness the power of the sun is definitely not new at all, and best of all is, you do not need any kind of direct sunlight for it to work. Well, new technology is constantly being researched and developed to increase the efficiency levels of a solar panel, not to mention make them a whole lot more robust as well as giving them the ability to withstand abuse. Nokia too, intends to look more into sustainability initiatives, and in the video that you can view above, Nokia’s “Solar Energy Suit” might be able to keep your smartphone juiced throughout the entire day.

Of course, this is still extremely early in its research and development phase, but to be able to keep a Lumia 1520 handset fully charged all day long with indoor light is not an achievement to be sneezed at. Imagine the future where you will not need to remember to plug in a charger to charge your handset at the end of the day, and it would also mean one less power adapter to carry around whenever you go traveling into a foreign country.

I suppose it would be rather weird to wear the solar panel suit of armor all day long, but hopefully advancements in the future will not make wearing one of these to be a social faux pas.

Nokia Solar Energy Suit Could Offer Alternative Phone Charging Option , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Cellphones, Green, Nokia, Solar,

Israel is a hotbed of technology and research, being an oasis of sorts in the desert, too. Still, water is a precious commodity, and all effort must be made to conserve as much water as possible. Ketura Sun, a large commercial solar field in Israel, has a special method of cleaning its solar panels using robots. What makes these robots special would be the fact that they do not need to make use of any water at all throughout the cleaning process, ensuring that they thrive in their jobs while being in the Negev desert.

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Ecoppia E4 Robots Clean Solar Panels Without Using Water original content from Ubergizmo.