For music-lovers, DAB Radios are great, they deliver crystal-clear sound without the usual background hiss that you get with analogue. However, high quality audio comes at an environmental price, since DAB radios guzzle far more energy than old-school receivers.

Step forward UK company Roberts, which has just launched SolarDAB, the first ever solar-powered DAB radio. The unit comes with an integrated solar panel on the top, which absorbs direct sunlight in order to power the radio. Under good conditions, this should also be enough to charge the batteries, which are capable of delivering 27 hours of play time per charge, enabling use away from direct sunlight.

The power level generated is indicated by an on-screen display, and there is also a good old mains adaptor for use when visiting less sunny areas. The unit also boasts a text-display and a line-in socket, so that users can plug in an MP3 when they’re bored with the radio. This goes quite a bit beyond the eco-improvements made by the Pure Evoke-1S by getting that good old sustainable charge factor into the design.

At £80 (around $160), the unit isn’t particularly cheap, but given the exceptionally high energy-usage of DAB radios (and rocketing energy prices), it’s likely that it could pay back the initial cost over a fairly short period of time – a sound investment!

Via Roberts Radio

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