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Solar Notebook: Go Anywhere...Sustainably

Solar-powered laptops sure would be a great thing to have in mass production to (1) cut down on energy consumption and (2) not have to worry as much about the battery dying. One concept design which looks interesting is by Nikola Knezevic of Nikoladesign.

Kenzevic's solar-powered laptop design is said to have "complete power autonomy." Power instead is supplied to the computer by an attached large solar panel. This panel, when not in use, can be detached. A smaller built-in battery would run the system at that point. There is also a DC in jack built into this design, just in case, we suppose, you happen to have a rainy day.

What seems to make this solar-powered design also more generally functional is proposed built-in GPS, Internet browsing, and satellite telephone access. We could certainly see a lot of uses for a portable device such as this, especially when hiking deep in the woods where you don't find any power outlets.

[via BornRich]

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written by Magnulus, March 01, 2008
What if... What if they made a solar panel that wasn't stuck to the laptop, but which could be connected to the power port to either support the machine during use or recharge it?
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written by RhapsodyInGlue, March 01, 2008
I'm not sure I would agree with the first premise... that having solar panels on mass produced laptops would cut down on power use.

Here's the reason... Only so many solar cells are produced each year. We're supply constrained. So putting solar cells on laptops means less that go on roofs. With the laptop, the percentage of daylight hours a person is likely to be outside, in direct sun, facing South, with the panel properly angled is likely to be very small compared to having that same panel grid connected mounted on a roof.

Having said that, I'd love to have one of these for backpacking when I'm doing a bunch of digital photography.
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written by Aaron, March 01, 2008
What are the chances of being able to read a laptop LCD screen in bright sunlight?
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written by jason, March 01, 2008
well ok, what about dealing with temperature with the laptop overheating when you have that thing on top of it?
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It would be useful if the solar panel
written by weee recycling, March 02, 2008
available separately so that it could be used with any laptop or battery charger.
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This functionality is already available.
written by Carl Foner, March 03, 2008
You can already buy small solar panels that are made to charge pretty much any existing laptop. And items such as Voltaic's upcoming Generator bag can power a laptop from the solar panels built into the laptop bag.

Also, I don't know if anyone remembers the Powerbook 1400, but that laptop had a section of the outside casing that could be changed, ostensibly for cosmetic purposes. A solar panel attachment was actually built that fit into that BookCover slot.
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Already Exists
written by josh, March 22, 2008
Anyone remember the $100 laptop? They use solar or human power. The idea is to give children in the developing world access to computers. This model might be more modern, but it's just a more upscale model. You can read about it here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6994957.stm

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A truely green laptop
written by zach, November 20, 2008
www.poweredgreen.com

Now thats a novel idea.

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