Solar in Thirty Second Segments

I made these thirty second public service announcements for public access TV around 1991. They served as intro and outro to the videos of the Boston Area Solar Energy Association lectures I shot and cablecast on Cambridge Community TV for a few years. The tape archive of all those lectures needs to be digitized.



The modern history of solar is hidden in plain sight but the best book I know on the earlier 2500 years is still A Golden Thread by John Perlin and Ken Butti.



I still don't understand the relationship between a calorie and a watt. I understand the btu though. Sorry, physicists.



These two trick questions were collaborations with the polymathic Ed Hill.

Minimum Solar Light

Combine one of the new powerful LED lights powered by a couple of CR2032 button batteries like the Energizer Trim Flex LED with a solar panel from a novelty solar hat fan or one of the PV chips from a solar education kit, connect them together, possibly with a IN4003 blocking diode between the solar panel and the batteries to prevent electrical discharge through the panel at night (correct me if I'm wrong), and you have an effective solar rechargeable light suitable for reading.

There is a button battery solar charger which works fairly well. There is also the Micro Solar LED which I have not tried yet. You can also buy rechargeable button batteries and AC chargers.

I'd like to see solar light as available and affordable as a disposable cigarette lighter anywhere and everywhere around the world. Right now the price for this level of solar light is between $20 and $10. Commodity production and pricing should bring that down to $5 to $1.


Solar PSAs
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=gmoke

Solar Experiments
http://solarray.blogspot.com/2006/03/solar-video.html

Interviews and Site Visits
http://energyvision.blogspot.com

Crossposted to http://gmoke.dailykos.com


Solar IS Civil Defense