Easily once a week in my spinning class one or another instructor will say to us, “Don’t you think we should be generating our own power here?” We always nod our sweating heads and keep pedaling. But the fact is that alternative power — in the form of photovoltaic cells — will one day roof our homes, decorate our cars and (who knows?) clothe our children.

But for now, there’s something you can buy that will actually use the power of the sun to recharge your devices on the move. That’s a line of solar computer bags from Voltaic. They come in knapsack and messenger styles, but they all work similarly.

Each bag has three solar panels embedded in them, generating 4 watts of power in full sun. That, according to the company, will power three hours of iPod play or 1.5 hours of talk time on a typical cell phone. The bags include a Lithium Ion battery to store surplus energy and a set of common adapters for you to plug in your handheld devices for recharging. If the sun doesn’t come out, you can plug the battery into an AC travel or car charger.

On top of that, the company uses fabrics for its packs made from recycled soda bottles, which apparently uses less oil to produce (and explains the slight Nehi Orange scent radiating from the sample I got close to recently…)

This year, the company plans to issue a new model, called the Generator, which is powerful enough to recharge a notebook computer.

You don’t have to reside in the outback of a developing country to appreciate the magic of these devices. The mechanics add a bit of extra weight to your luggage, but I’d say that’s a small price to pay for carrying the power of the sun on your back.

Posted on February 10th, 2008 by dian