WHAT ARE SOLAR CHARGING TABLES?

Increasingly, communities are turning to compact solar energy charging stations to help meet energy demand. One of the most flexible and easy-to-install that I’ve seen is the ConnecTable Solar Charging Station, produced by CarrierClass Green Infrastructure.

The ConnecTable resembles a nicely designed picnic or cafe table with one notable addition. It has an “umbrella” made from photovoltaic cells that convert solar energy into electricity. Sockets on the PV pole let consumers plug in to charge cell phones, iPads, lap tops and other mobile devices. They can also be used by crews in times of emergency to power any number of communications devices.

A big benefit of the ConnecTable is its portability. While some models can permanently be installed at college campuses, office complexes, resorts, parks, or shopping malls, they can also be brought in if an area’s utility grid goes down as a result of a big storm or other natural disaster. While several people can sit around one table, multiple tables can be combined to form a micro grid and backup power source during extended power outages.

As for affordability, qualifying organizations may be eligible for low-interest financing of the tables through the Sustainable Energy Fund. Tables qualify for the 30% investment tax credit offered to businesses that install solar. Colleges can also use designated green funds to purchase tables.

Keep an eye on other products CarrierClass Green Infrastructure (CCGI) has in the works. The company designs, sells and installs solar electric, solar thermal and custom off-grid solar power products for both commercial and residential customers.  As the reliability of traditional power supplies come into question, innovative solar technologies like those being developed by CCGI can be expected to play an increasingly important role in helping all of us stay plugged in.

Related articles

Rechargeable Batteries and Eco-Friendly Flashlights Will Help You Survive the Next Power Outtage

The post Solar Charging Tables Power Up Campuses, Malls, Disaster Areas & More appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Why don’t we ask the eleven people who were killed when the oil rig they were working on exploded last week in the Gulf of Mexico?

Or the fishermen whose livelihoods are about to be destroyed by the oil slick, now bigger than the state of Rhode Island and growing by 42,000 gallons every day, that’s inexorably moving toward land?

Or how about BP, the company running the drilling operation, that can’t figure out how the heck to cap the leaking oil well that once fed the rig because it lies 5,000 feet below the surface of the sea?

Or President Obama, who recently announced his (misquided) support for even more offshore oil drilling?

Maybe we should just ask ourselves. After all, we’re the ones driving the gas-guzzling, oil burning cars and trucks and SUVS that make it easy to turn our heads and look away. We’re the ones who keep voting for politicans who put petroleum before people. We’re the ones who convince ourselves that, if environmental disasters don’t happen in our backyard, they’re not our problem.

Wake up and smell the burning oil fumes. At any given time, oil is either a disaster waiting to happen, or a disaster we’re watching happen. There are over 8100 oil spills of some magnitude in the U.S. every year, more than 22 every day. The amount of air pollution and water pollution and habitat destruction caused by our addiction to petroleum is not just unsustainable. It is shameful.

Yes, we can all “conserve.” We can drive more fuel efficient cars, and carpool, and insulate our homes and office buildings, and pump up our tires…the list goes on.

But that is not enough. It will never be enough because oil is so toxic: one drop can contaminate a gallon of water. Burning it is creating the climate change that has put the entire globe at risk.

No, we can’t just use less oil.

We have to use no oil.

It is time to shut this industry down.

NOW.

The post Oil has got to go. Now! appeared first on Big Green Purse.