A Really Amazing Eco-Friendly Light

Earth Preservers doesn’t usually plug a product. But in the case of “Luci,” we think an exception should be made. Luci is a light that doesn’t need electricity. It’s kind of like a tiny raft you blow up when you go swimming. Inside the “raft” is a tiny LED light bulb that powers up on sunlight. Leave Luci out during the day and you’ve got electricity-free light at night. Given that more than one billion people in the world do not have access to electricity, and that the folks behind Luci -- a company called MPOWERD --  have as their goal to eliminate energy “poverty,” we think you should know about Luci. Please watch.

Say Hello to Luci from MPOWERD on Vimeo.

Bo Obama Holds a ‘Solar’ Inauguration Party

Once upon a time, there were solar panels on the White House. Green energy advocates want those days back. To raise public awareness for their online petition, they have created a video that they say shows how Bo, the Obamas’ family dog, his canine friends, and Bo’s doghouse with a solar-paneled roof, enjoyed the recent Presidential Inauguration. If you want to sign the petition to bring back solar on the White house, go here. To learn more about all this, reads this Forbes online story.

New York Gets a ‘Self-Powered’ Building (We’ll Explain)

Photo: Inhabitat.comIn the same way that a bicycle is a “self-powered” means of transportation, a self-power building provides its own energy.

New York City is getting its first private self-powered building, according to Soluxe Solar, a Connecticut-based company that recognizes companies, individuals and programs that help advance the use of solar power.

The Delta, as the building is called, utilizes solar panels and a vertical wind turbine to meet all of its own energy needs. (With its tight spinning motion, a vertical wind turbine is designed for city use, as opposed to a horizontal turbine, with blades that turn like airplane blades.)

The Delta’s project developer is Volaire Soltaic.

To learn more, read this story from Inhabitat.com

New ‘Transparent’ Solar Cell Could Enable Every Window to Produce Solar Power

Just imagine if every window in every building could be used to generate electricity from the sun.

Imagine how much less electricity we would need from coal and other fossil fuels.

Imagine how much less pollution we then would produce.

All this looks more possible than it did before thanks to a technological breakthrough by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Scientists at MIT have invented a transparent solar cell that they say could be applied to windows without anyone noticing much of a difference.

It wouldn’t cost much to do so, the scientists add, and it would turn every window into a solar collector that could be used to generate pollution-free electricity.

You can read more about it here.

And in this article from RenewableEnergyWorld.com

French Company’s Technology for Charging Cell Phones with Solar Power

How much of a pain is it to keep your cell phone charged?

We’re guessing you’re always having to plug it in. Right?

Well, there’s a company in France that wants to come to your rescue. The company, Wysips is developing a cell phone screen that doubles as a tiny solar power plant.
Courtesy: Wypsis
Basically, you would never have to plug in your cell phone because it would constantly recharge itself using the power of the sun, collected and converted into electricity by Wyspis’ special screen.

If you like, watch a video and learn more about this solar screen here in this Wired.com article.