Home Solar Panel Kits Come To Costco

Home Solar Panel Kits Come To Costco | EarthTechling

Costco members will soon be able to add solar power systems alongside power tools and pancake mix on their shopping lists. Euegene, Oregon based Grape Solar has recently announced that several of its solar kits will soon be available through Costco’s website in the ”Hardware” section under the Generators & Backup Power subcategory. Costco members will have a choice of 880W, 2300W, 3680W or 5060W ready-to-install kits, with prices ranging from around $3,600 upwards to around $18,000.

The solar kits are “grid-tied” systems that include Grape Solar panels, inverters, and racking systems that are ready to install onto the roofs of homes and other structures. Grape Solar says the kits are designed to be expandable, so customers can start small and grow their system over time if they wish. In order to facilitate installation, Grape Solar says that they developed a network of over 5,000 installers who will be available to provide locally based customer support.

More @ EarthTechling

Pepsi bottles: no more plastic

Pepsi bottles: no more plastic - CSMonitor.com

• 

This product image shows the new Pepsi bottle made entirely of plant material. The bottle is made from switch grass, pine bark, corn husks and other materials. Ultimately, Pepsi plans to also use orange peels, oat hulls, potato scraps and other leftovers from its food business. The new Pepsi bottles are scheduled to begin appearing in 2012.

More @ CSMonitor.com

Micro petrol engine

New mini petrol engine

New mini petrol engine

SCIENTISTS have built the smallest petrol engine ? tiny enough to power a WATCH.

The mini-motor, which runs for two years on a single squirt of lighter fuel, is set to revolutionize world technology.
It produces 700 times more energy than a conventional battery despite being less than a centimeter long ? not even half an inch. It could be used to operate laptops and mobile phones for months on end ? doing away with the need for recharging(...)

More @ The Sun

Aerial ropeways: automatic cargo transport for a bargain

Aerial ropeways: automatic cargo transport for a bargain

These days, we use them almost exclusively to transport skiers and snowboarders up snow slopes, but before the 1940s, aerial ropeways were a common means of cargo transport, not only in mountainous regions but also on flat terrain, with large-scale systems already built during the Middle Ages.

Cargo tramways can be fully or partly powered by gravity, and some deliver excess power that can be utilized to generate electricity or to drive cranes or machinery in nearby factories. Some innovative systems have been constructed in recent years.

More @ Low-tech Magazine

A brave new world of fossil fuels on demand?

A brave new world of fossil fuels on demand

In September, a privately held and highly secretive U.S. biotech company named Joule Unlimited received a patent for “a proprietary organism” – a genetically adapted E. coli bacterium – that feeds solely on carbon dioxide and excretes liquid hydrocarbons: diesel fuel, jet fuel and gasoline. This breakthrough technology, the company says, will deliver renewable supplies of liquid fossil fuel almost anywhere on Earth, in essentially unlimited quantity and at an energy-cost equivalent of $30 (U.S.) a barrel of crude oil. It will deliver, the company says, “fossil fuels on demand.”

More @ The Globe and Mail

Horizon MiniPak personal fuel cell charger hits shelves for $100 -- Engadget

Horizon MiniPak personal fuel cell charger hits shelves for $100 -- Engadget

Designed for charging portable electronics on the go, the MiniPak has two refillable cartridges, each with the juice equivalent of around 1,000 AA batteries. The MiniPak -- which uses Hydrogen to produce electricity -- isn't the first portable fuel cell, but it's certainly the cheapest.

More @ Engadget [Video]

This Solar Charger Runs Devices Directly | EarthTechling

This Solar Charger Runs Devices Directly

"According to Suntactics, its new PC5 unit is different from other portable solar chargers in that it doesn’t send power to an internal battery that then charges your device. Competing products, Suntastics says, “are literally charging a battery from a battery. The solar panels on them are too weak to charge the USB handheld device directly.” Not so with the PC5: “The PC5 solar charger has 5 watts of solar power potential as compared the ~2 watts in most of the other chargers. The PC5 will not only charge the USB handheld device, it will run it on dead batteries.”
Portable solar charger, SunTactics, PC5"



More @ Earthtechling