- Basic solar technology includes buying a solar-powered battery recharger, which can recharge a small device such as a cell phone or digital camera. They have been used safely by campers and hikers for several years. Place the charger on a sunny windowsill that receives at least five hours of direct sunlight a day to recharge a small device or batteries.
More expensive, but just as easy to use, is a solar panel that can recharge a laptop. These panels are larger, usually not collapsible, but also can repower very small appliances. These panels are highly portable and can travel in a car trunk to a cottage or campsite, which means you can have electricity available away from home without transporting fuel. - Most people have built a solar cooker as a school project or for a science fair. Kits for solar cookers are available online, but the basic plan requires a box at least the size of a shoe box, a darkened bottom to store heat, foil to mirror the sides--though the foil must be very flat--and a foiled parabola (curved shape) to direct the light. A small box like this on a very hot day could cook a hot dog. Larger solar cooking kits, with lots of sun and a large parabola, can boil rice. The success of the solar cooker depends on how much sun it gets and how many items you want to prepare.
- Solar lanterns are a substitute for kerosene lanterns. They require no flammable fuel and do not emit carbon dioxide. You can make a small solar lantern, also known as a sun jar, out of a jar, an LED light, glue and Ni-Cad (solar light) batteries.
Use a jar with a lid, no bigger than a Mason jar and preferably frosted like a light bulb for light diffusion. For the LED light and batteries, you can disassemble and recycle parts from a set of solar-powered garden-stake lights. Remove the LED light, batteries and charger from the solar stake light and glue it to the lid of the jar, making sure not to obscure the solar panel with glue. Allow the glue to dry on the lid, which will take 24 to 48 hours.
Once the lights and battery are fixed to the lid, refasten the lid to the jar. The lantern needs a minimum of five hours of direct sunlight to charge before you can set it out on the table at a cottage or campsite for a few hours. The light emitted by the jar is not enough to read by but will provide illumination during dinner or conversation.
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