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Steven D. Shepard "Many, many of the products we already know and use are currently available in solar powered versions. These products include battery chargers, cellular telephones, computers, fans, flashlights, fountains, garden lights, generators, gifts, hats, lanterns, lamps, lamp post lights, mobile displays, motion detector lights, personal computers, pumps, radios, security lights, signs, sports bottles, toys, ventilators, visors, wells, and the list goes on and on." |
Steve Shepard is a partner in a small family business, SBT Automation doing business as SBT Designs. SBT Designs, sells, installs and services automatic control systems, fiber optic lighting systems and solar products and systems for residential and light commercial clients in the South Texas region and offers retail sales of these products on the Internet at www.sbtdesigns.com . Mr. Shepard has been engaged in the automatic test and control industry since 1979 and can be contacted at (210)698-7109. Questions or comments concerning this article can be Emailed to sbtauto@juno.com |
Situation: The year two thousand looms directly ahead. With it, real and imagined problems of computer glitches and power outages caused by the lack of preparation from government agencies and utilities. In addition, federally mandated electric utility deregulation is being implemented all across the USA creating consumer confusion about where to obtain power. Now that’s a situation.
With
these imminent problems on our future horizon there is a justifiable interest in
alternative power sources, back up power sources and alternately powered products like
solar power systems and solar consumer products. Solar consumer products are solar powered
versions of many of the common and familiar electrical and electronic products we use
today in our homes and businesses. Solar consumer products can help consumers with our
little situation while providing convenience and energy savings.
Today, many people know about using solar power for power systems. Often, solar is the only power option available for remote and rural locations in and out of the world. While residential solar power systems still cannot compete in price per kilowatt hour with commercial and government subsidized rural utility power - solar power is a known, reliable and economical technology for long term use. Time has shown us that solar powered products are proven in the field for use in our space satellites and space stations where dependable power is absolutely required in critical situations. They are also excellent products for use here on Earth.
Many, many of the products we already know and use are currently available in solar powered versions. These products include battery chargers, cellular telephones, computers, fans, flashlights, fountains, garden lights, generators, gifts, hats, lanterns, lamps, lamp post lights, mobile displays, motion detector lights, personal computers, pumps, radios, security lights, signs, sports bottles, toys, ventilators, visors, wells, and the list goes on and on. In fact, any product that can be powered by DC voltage is a potential candidate for a solar power system and there are a host of manufacturers producing high quality products solar ready.
Solar energy is nearly free energy. Think about it, solar light energy rains upon the surface of the Earth from the Sun every day of the year. Utility companies must dislike this deceptively simple and natural system because the even the basic component used in solar power is made from the most simple of all materials - sand.
The photovoltaic solar power cell is made from silica sand and is doped with other materials in a manufacturing process. This right combination of materials is actually sensitive to intense light energy. What provides us with the most intensive light energy in the solar system? The Sun, and intense incandescent lights can also excite a solar cell. When we expose solar cells to photon light energy the very electrons in the solar cell atoms are excited and bumped loose. When these loose (or free) electrons are provided a conductor and a difference of potential they flow as direct current (DC) electricity.
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Retail costs of solar generated power still remain on the order of thirty-five ($0.35) to fifty ($0.50) cents per kilowatt hour. What is hidden in these costs (and the utilities don’t want you to know) is the knowledge and information that once system hardware costs are paid that yearly maintenance and operation costs of a solar power system are a small fraction of monthly commercial electric power bills. The owner/user of solar power system essentially is a electric power producer and as such is capable of becoming independent of year two-thousand potential power failures and black outs, commercial utility power bills and government mandates imposed by rural electric co-operatives.
There are only two basic types of solar products or systems. The first type of solar product is the direct application product that immediately applies the energy collected or harvested by the solar panel as electricity. Electric power is directly applied to a motor, pump or circuit to provide work or produce the effect desired. An example of this type of product includes a solar well or solar radio.
There are at least three different types of solar radios available
today. Typically these products have the capability to operate from multiple power
sources. 
The Global Solar
Dynamo radio (like most solar consumer products) has an on board solar panel installed
right across the top of the product. This AM/FM transistor radio will operate strictly
solar from the on board solar panel when full Sunlight is available while simultaneously
charging an internal Ni-Cad button battery. When the Sun is not available the radio can
operate solely from this internal battery. This handy radio offers the additional
capability of charging the on board battery from a built in dynamo that is turned with a
mechanical crank located on the side of the radio. And again the radio will also operate
from common AA batteries and will accept an AC power adapter transformer.
Solar powered products like solar radios, solar laptop battery
chargers and other solar products find excellent application for many outdoor activities. 
A solar radio is valuable as
an emergency radio, it is good for hunting, fishing and camping. I use one myself when
outside gardening. It is a surprisingly durable product. A solar laptop computer charge
kit would allow a computer user to operate completely solar in the field in the event the
laptop battery is depleted. There is a laptop charge kit available from Keep It Simple
Systems (KISS) that also offers the option of charging common Ni-Cad batteries of various
sizes. There is even a product called Green PC that is a tower personal computer system
that will run completely on solar power.
Another example of a direct application solar consumer products are toys like the Solar Sun Dancer which is a rainbow colored CD like disk that spins when exposed to light. One manufacturer we like a lot is Solar World which is an American manufacturer who makes a broad line of solar powered gifts and tools. Solar World’s gifts are truly unique and made to order by hand. They feature scale model windmills, ski lifts, oil derricks and mines. These scale model gifts include working fan blades, buckets and other moving parts that only require light to attract the eye and attention.
Solar World makes even more exotic products like a Solar Sun Tea maker and the Solar Sports Bottle. These products automatically stir their liquid contents when used outdoors. Solar World makes practical products like solar power packs and one of the many solar flashlights that are available. What makes their flashlight so special is that their’s is a high impact plastic, heavy duty solar flashlight that is nearly indestructible. It also has the capability to charge it’s own D cell batteries and offers an adapter for charging smaller C cell batteries.
Solar flashlights have taken the brunt of criticism of all the solar consumer
products. For some strange reason Americans are unable or unwilling to understand that
solar flashlights are not used during the day when the Sun is shining and a flashlight is
not required. Cheap jokes about solar flashlights may be indicative of the dumbing of
America when used by those who lack the education to communicate or use technology based
concepts, ideas, products or solutions.. Solar flashlights are highly intelligent and
reliable products that are their own battery charger. They are in fact, used in the dark,
when they are required, powered with free energy from the Sun.
The second type of solar product are products that are used primarily as an energy collector or harvester. These products are typically systems that harvest Sun energy and store that energy in a battery or battery bank. Solar power systems for homes or offices are the most extreme and expensive version of this type of solar product or system.
Smaller and less expensive versions of these products also harvest and store energy in an internal power system. An example of this type of product are solar garden lights. There are multiple versions of this product available. The most well known version is a inexpensive product made by Seimens which I have sold and used in the past but would not recommend again.
There are newer and superior versions of this product available that are smarter products because they use a bank of industrial sized light emitting diodes (or LED) as an illuminator. These large LEDs are low voltage components, LEDs come in various colors, require far less power than traditional light bulbs and are not sensitive to temperature changes like a fluorescent light bulb. A bank of LEDs can produce light levels on the order of one hundred lumens or more and illuminate all night long when combined with the proper battery.
Solar Sun-Light, Inc. makes a small, white, barrel shaped garden light with a clear plastic lens around the circumference of the fixture that is a fine quality and absolutely stylish product. Their garden lights do use the industrial LED bank as an illuminator. The light produced by this product is a warm, gentle lighting effect that bathes a walk way or garden area. This product sells for around one hundred dollars list price but is guaranteed for five years by this American manufacturer. Very few outdoor residential or commercial lighting products carry such a guarantee. Some of these solar consumer products can be seen on our Internet web site at www.sbtdesigns.com .
One of the justifications for considering or using solar consumer products is that they can quite literally be installed and used anywhere commercial power (or any power) is not readily available. Solar consumer products can be applied and used anywhere we have Sun energy.
Residential solar power systems are typically applied at homes, offices, cabins and sites (like space stations) that are located far away from the commercial power grid and where it may be much too expensive and even impossible to run new power lines from the grid. While it is not necessary that we all leave the grid and start producing our own power it is possible for all consumers to help conserve our country’s energy resources and save money while contributing to the renewable energy industry by investing in and using solar consumer products.
The fact is that no one knows how long our nation’s and the world’s oil resources are going to last. Solar products and systems offer every consumer, user, home and business owner the opportunity to contribute to the conservation of these resources by using an alternative, renewable and practically free energy source - the Sun.
When a consumer considers purchasing an electrical or electronic consumer product for personal or home use chances are that many times there is a solar consumer product available that will do the same job as the common commercial consumer product. Chances are even greater that the solar product will do the same job more efficiently, independently and more economically while providing the consumer the confidence and satisfaction that they are making an ecologically smart purchase.
We always remind our local and national elected representatives that we support solar energy and we vote.
