Solar Chargers For Electronics Advancing

Solar power is highly sought after, even in times of economic downturn. The declining cost of solar power, mixed with government incentives, is enabling greater use of the alternative energy. However, most solar energy is used for homes and businesses and not electronic devices. One company is hoping to change this.

Powertraveller, a Britain based company, is working towards making solar power the go-to option for charging electronics. The company creates solar chargers for such devices as cellular phones, iPods, PDAs, laptops and countless other devices.

The chargers are mainly for small electronic devices, but can be used with laptops to provide approximately 25 percent of the power needed while in use. Plans are in place to create a larger portable charger for laptops in order to attain more energy from the sun.

Powertraveller, along with other companies like it, is trying to make compact traveling devices more efficient. The percentage of sunlight actually converted into energy is low, but is steadily improving.

The head of Powertraveller, Jerry Ranger, stated: “Previously we had around 15% efficiencies, we’re now on the verge of getting 20%, and within the next 18 months we expect to deliver around 22% efficiencies.”

The quickly transitioning efficiency of such devices is a good sign for solar power overall. Continued use and advancement of the technology will only make the energy more common and therefore reduce emissions around the world one laptop at a time.