When I was growing up, the only solar power I ever saw in use were cool calculators that you could only use if you were in a sunny room and very large and unsightly solar panels that questionable people installed on their roofs. Now that we’re all pretty much in agreement that solar power, in whatever form, is totally cool and smart, new solar gadgets and gizmos are popping up all over the place. Check out these nifty innovations:

Solar Powered Golf Carts. While you’re out enjoying the links and the gorgeous sunshine, your transportation can be soaking up the sun, too. Solar panels atop the golf chart can charge the motor’s battery to keep you moving from hole to hole. A controller will keep the panels from overcharging and will store power to be used by the battery when needed. One notable drawback, though, these carts do not currently have a back-up system, meaning that if your battery is low and you get caught on a cloudy day you may need to rely on your weight-lifting skills to get your cart back to home base.

Window-hanging Solar Panels. Not everyone has the budget or space for a traditional solar panel, but new technologies are making it possible to bring panels to a smaller scale. Veranda Solar has made a lightweight, diminutive solar panel that a do-it-yourselfer can install outside a window, onto gutters, or onto balconies in just an hour or two. The panels won’t store enough energy to replace your utilities, but it will be able to offset them some. The nice thing about these panels (aside from their costing only about half the price of a traditional solar panel) is that they are actually pretty attractive.

Bluetooth Speakerphone. Scosche has come up with a solar powered speaker phone that pairs up with your regular Bluetooth handheld communicator to give you a hands-off way of keeping in touch. The solar panel can stay in your vehicle or a sunny place in your home and store energy, which can then be used to power the speakerphone. The gadget has only three control buttons: volume up, volume down, and hang up. When you’re missing the sun’s rays for too long, you simply use the device’s USB charger cord to power back up.

Multifunctional Solar Devices. What normal solar panels are to a home’s heating bill, Chromasun’s multifunctional solar devices are to the air conditioning. The devices, which come in a 10-foot by 4-foot box, are comparable to a miniature solar thermal plant on your home. Studies have found that typical solar panels, solar systems, and PV systems are only about 20-40 percent efficient, while Chromasun’s device has reached a level of about 75 percent efficient. While these devices can help save you money on heat costs, they are targeting the air conditioning market because the high efficiency level allows these devices to help save energy costs in both extremes of weather. Chromasun has realized that air conditioning costs can be much more draining around the nation since the height of the day’s heat generally comes at peak energy hours, meaning we use more energy at a more expensive rate during the summer months.

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Posted on April 1st in Solar Products by Jennifer.