Green Idea: Simple Solar Charger

The SSF (Sustainable Style Foundation) pointed us in the direction of this solar charger for iPods and cellphones.
The Soldius1 will charge your item in two to three hours using the power of the sun. The design is small and slim, making it portable.

In addition to making your music and calls "zero energy" you can pick your favorite color: It's available in white, black, PINK, green, blue and red.

Available at earthtech for $109.99 (currently includes 10 free iTunes downloads with purchase).

Comments (8)

Yeah, $100 and a few hours...

Or you can try the $20 USB iPod charger that runs off two alkaline batteries...

http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=14

posted by Julian (v1.0) on 2006-10-31 09:24:07

yeah, but what will charge your two alkaline batteries?

posted by angelune on 2006-10-31 10:00:52

$100 is scalpingly expensive. The recent tendency to add a premium to 'green' products = quadrupling the usual price, in this instance. You can get a small solar charger easily for $25 or less.

there are other ways to do this a little greener. for one, you could pay your electric company to get energy from all renewable sources (at least in ny and nj you can do this, a bunch of other states too), then charge some sort of cheaper recharger at home, whether battery or not.

posted by robin on 2006-10-31 10:15:42

But what do you do when your alkaline batteries run out when your at the beach, hiking, or chilling in the park ? You can buy more batteries which is not an eco-friendly choice or you can be strapped to a power outlet!

posted by Frank on 2006-10-31 10:21:13

Rechargable batteries you can use in your remote control, flashlight or any other device that takes batteries. The solar do-hickey is swell but if we're talking about minimal environmental impact let's take into consideration the production on solar devices from the photovoltaics to the plastics to the fancy packaging that the above device certainly comes in...

posted by Julian (v1.0) on 2006-10-31 10:24:53

Regarding the price EarthtechProducts.com has a holiday promo code: "holidays" that will give you $10 off all orders of $99 and up...plus the 10 free itunes downloads....looks like a great value if you are the "outdoors type"

posted by frank on 2006-10-31 10:27:57

...Or get stranded on a mysterious desert island. (sorry, couldn't resist)

But I do find it counterproductive that green products are so much more expensive. Sure, I'd like to be more energy-aware, but sometimes I just can't afford it.

posted by Jackie in Phoenix on 2006-11-01 16:45:10

....Or a nice worry free camping or beach trip (sorry coun't resist I bought one)

posted by jojo on 2006-11-05 20:04:11