Solar Energy Search Results

How To: Save energy by installing a solar water heater

Saving energy in your home is as easy as pie. There are many areas of the home that you can tackle. One area that can be helpful is the water heater. There are a couple of water heaters that you can use to not only save energy but money. One way is by using an active or passive solar water heating system.

How To: Build a solar powered USB charger

Want to stop wasting energy charging your USB devices? Transform some cheap solar-powered garden lights into your very own solar USB charger. For step-by-step instructions on replicating this hack yourself, watch this video tutorial. Just watch to see how to build your own solar-powered USB charger with a few solar panels from those garden lights and some floppy disk wiring.

How To: Wire a solar cell into an electrical circuit

The Solar Schoolhouse presents this video tutorial on how to use the Solar Cell Classroom Set. The purpose of this set is to give students hands on experience making electricity using sunlight. See what's inside the set, and then see how to wire three different types of electrical circuits: a simple circuit, a series circuit, and finally a parallel circuit.

How To: Use solar thermal microgeneration

Solar Thermal Microgeneration may be used to reduce your hot water bill, fossil fuel use, and lower your carbon footprint. For water heating, water is collected from solar panels. It is used to heat the water, as it filters through the water heater. Some areas require all new homes to provide an energy rating to buyers. Solar thermal panels harness the suns energy and reducing the need for fossil fuels to heat water. You will need the combination of solar panels, a traditional water heater, a...

How To: Make a solar cell with a condom

Make a solar cell from a condom with this video tutorial. Solar energy is plentiful and better for the environment, so why not take an easily accessible commodity (like a condom), and use it to harvest the power of the sun. To replicate this hack at home, you'll need the following materials: 12 iron hairpins, 2 pennies (pressed before 1982), 2 electrical wires, 1 sheet of aluminum, 2 strong magnets, a condom, and mineral water. For more on making your own condom-based solar cell, watch this h...

How To: Add solar to your home

Each day, more and more people are going "green" and taking the necessary actions to make sure they don't leave a big footprint on the Earth. One way of doing this is by adding solar energy to your home. This is a great way to save money on your energy bill and gives you a good feeling. So in this tutorial, you'll find out what it takes to buy solar panels and how it works in your home. So check out the video above and good luck!

News: Scientists Turn Bacteria into Mini Cyborg Solar Panels

Plants all around us capture sunlight every day and convert it to energy, making them a model of solar energy production. And while the energy they make may serve the needs of a plant, the process isn't efficient enough to generate power on a larger scale. So, scientists from the University of California found a way to treat bacteria with chemicals that turned them into photosynthesis machines, capable of generating products we can convert into food, fuels, and plastics.

How To: Make a Solar-Powered Fan Hat

It's hot this summer, but it's not that easy to cool down when you're on the go. You can't take an air conditioner with you, and a handheld fan will just tire you out, so you'll need to find more creative ways to cool down when you're on the go. One of these ways is a DIY solar-powered fan baseball cap.

News: This Giant Glass Globe Turns Moon and Sunlight into Power—Possibly Even Solar Death Rays!

André Broessel of rawlemon has developed a solar energy generator that can use both sun and moonlight to create usable power. Oh... and it's gorgeous. The device is essentially a huge glass sphere filled with water that uses a ball lens to refract light in a way that increases energy efficiency by 35 percent. It's completely weatherproof and has an optical tracking device, meaning that it can be incorporated into architecture. Here's a concept design of how it could be used to power buildings...

How To: Help NASA Write Code to Fix the International Space Station and You Could Win $10,000!

The International Space Station is a habitable man-made satellite currently in orbit around the Earth. Launched in 1998, the ISS is used mainly as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory where astronauts perform experiments in large variety of fields, including biology and physics. In order to be hospitable for crew members and scientists, the ISS needs energy. To do this, the station uses its solar panels to capture rays of sun and power the station up. In order to garner th...

How To: Use microgeneration to generate power

In this video, we learn how to use microgeneration to generate power. You can start by placing solar panels on your roof which is very easy to get installed. It's not a huge job, it just takes some workers and a meter that is in the house. This will tell you how much power you are getting through the solar panels. Another edition you can have is a panel that will give you hot water, which can save you money on your monthly bills. This will give you confidence in your energy because you are pr...

How To: Install a 1010TR Solar Powered Attic Fan in your home

Everyone should have an electric fan installed in their attic, but who wants to waste electricity on something like that? That's where the 1010TR Solar Powered Attic Fan from U.S. Sunlight Corporation comes in. If you have just gotten yourself one of these energy saving roof fans, you have two options: professional installation or self-installation. This video will walk you through the steps of installing the solar-powered fan yourself, and for more help, download the official installation in...

How To: Awaken chakras

Interested in chakras? Boost the seven energy centers from the base of your spine to the top of your head for optimum health and vitality. Learn how to awaken chakras with help from this video.

How To: Make a portable solar powered USB charger with Altoids

Check out this Greener Business Show video tutorial on how to make a portable solar powered USB charger with an LED flashlight inside an Altoids tin can. You will see in this episode how to modify a solar path light into the Altoids tin so that you can have a nifty LED flashlight and so you can charge your iPod or cell phone in the gleaming sunlight.

How To: Turn Your Old Satellite Dish into an Outdoor Solar Cooker

Harnessing the power of the sun is something that Captain Planet made cool before it was the go-to for renewable energy. Solar-powered energy is quick and cheap, and can make for some really cool DIY projects. And for those of you wondering what you should do with your old satellite, look no further. Aaron from Sharealikelicence offers up a way to create a DIY outdoor satellite cooker. He started with an old Ku Band dish and covered it with aluminum tape, for better reflection of the sunlight...

How To: Make a dye-sensitized solar cell with titanium dioxide and anthocyanin

Discover the power of raspberries! Literally. In this NurdRage science video, learn how some crushed raspberries and some titanium dioxide (TiO2) can create a powered dye-sensitized solar cell. Inside a raspberry is something called anthocyanin, which is a flavonoid pigment. Commercially purchased solar cells are way more powerful than this DIY solar cell, but with a little improvement, who knows. Nurd Rage also lets you know how this works.

How To: Make inexpensive solar panels from broken ones

As far as the world of consumer electronics goes, it doesn't get much greener than recycling solar panels. In this video tutorial, you'll learn how to solder together broken solar panels, giving them new life as a functional AA battery charger, which produces about 6 volts in direct sunlight and about 3 volts indoors. In order to get started on this hack, you'll need a number broken solar panels (which can be had cheap for cheap on the Internet), a low-temperature soldering iron, silver-beari...

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