I recently had the idea of a solar powered laptop. Why should I need a power outlet when I have a windowsill?
Paul Wolfe | Homepage | 02.16.07 - 11:13 am | #

A 90 watt laptop run for 6 hours needs a minimum of 600 watt hours of energy. In NY, I would need 200+ watts of PV to do this, in California, 100 watts of PV would work. PV works better outdoors than inside a window.
Steve Spence | Homepage | 02.16.07 - 5:28 pm | #

How long do you think it would take a PV power provider to pay itself off if someone purchased it only for recharging a laptop? This is just to help paint a clear picture from a cost/ benefit analysis.
http://spigreensearch.blogspot.com/
Paul Wolfe | Homepage | 02.17.07 - 1:34 am | #

If there was no other way to power the laptop, the payback is immediate. This was the situation for our house. No grid, so payback was at time of installation. It avoided a $30k power line installation.
Steve Spence | Homepage | 02.17.07 - 3:27 pm | #

You also had instant payback by decreasing CO2 emissions. Not to mention sustaining the landscape and decreasing your dependency!
Paul Wolfe | Homepage | 02.17.07 - 7:14 pm | #