Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Green at blogging, but not green at being green.

After my slow start at blogging, here's another post.

North Americans have been slow to adopt alternative small energy. For example, solar and wind generated energy.

On our recent travel to the Dominican Republic, where hydro costs are high and many of the people are less economically advantaged, we spotted many small solar panels and windmills. It was very encouraging to see so much advertising for the use of solar and wind systems.

We saw many black tanks on the roofs of houses and condos. Basically, the water in the tanks is heated by the sun. What an ingenious idea. It's a very simple and primitive idea, yet at the same time it is something we do not practice much of in North America.

I would like to see more of us adopt small energy systems in our own daily lives. If taking the plunge with experimenting with alternative energy is too big a step for you, why not try taking baby steps? For example, try one of these solar backpacks.

Eclipse Solar Gear bags enable you to recharge your batteries with the help of solar energy. You won't have to worry about your batteries dying out on you. Just let the sun work its magic and your ipod, cell phone, digital camera, MP3, PDA, GPS, and whatever other gadget you have will get charged by the sun's energy.
Reviews for these new bags are mixed. According to some, the price is a bit hefty and charging time is long. It's still a great step in the way of using natural energy though!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Okay, I'll be the first leave a comment!

Hooray for Hubby for finally posting another entry! LOL! ;) Cool ideas. I think the concept of solar charging your batteries for your electronic devices is really neat. I've read some reviews saying that the charge time is long, the equipment is expensive, and little juice is given for such a long charge time. This may be, but at the same time, I think it's a great idea. Baby steps and we're on our way to a greener planet and a greener lifestyle.

Heidi said...

Welcome back, Farmer John!

I've always been fascinated with solar and wind generated energy. During architecture school, we talked about the beauty of solar and wind energy, but some of us are skeptical with the lack of sunlight in North America, particularly in Canada.

So it would be completely sensible for the warmer climates to take advantage of their abundant sun!! They're so smart!

Unknown said...

Just checking in to see if anyone had posted anything new lately.

I must admit that lately I've been feeling rather tapped for ideas :( Not just for posts for the green blog, but I've been feeling quite uninspired for my own blog too :(

TTYS, CK! XO

Shannon said...

Great idea! Too bad I live in New England and it is spring. I am pretty sure the 'April showers...' saying came from here! The sun comes out some time in June. I am counting the minutes!!