Harnessing solar energy as a renewable power source has long been a feature in green living and solar backpacks is one of the offerings. Even the US military, which has adopted the use of renewable energy in its overseas missions in various ways, has equipped its troops in Afghanistan with solar backpacks. Of course it does make a lot of sense for them because solar backpacks are powered by sunlight.
Well, it’s not only the US defense troops that can benefit from using solar powered backpacks. People, and not just followers of green living, are finding it increasingly convenient to use them. Solar backpacks are made to serve the same function as a regular backpack, with the additional convenience of being a source of power for portable electronic appliances. The backpack is equipped with a solar panel which harnesses the natural resource of sunlight, and converts it into reusable energy. In the high tech gizmo world today, staying connected ALL the time is the one thing most people cannot do without, and a solar powered backpack offers you a way out.
A solar backpack usually contains a solar panel with a battery and can provide users a power source of up to 120 watt-hours a day. This can be used to recharge various gadgets, right from a BlackBerry to a ereader. The backpacks are light weight and easy to carry. In fact, the convenience offered cannot be ignored, and not only backpackers but even families on vacations and college students are opting to use solar backpacks.
Which leads us to the question- which solar backpack is the best? While all solar powered backpacks work the same, they do have different features that may be appeal to different tastes and requirements. The current range covers many varieties- smaller, convenient solar backpacks for school to the larger, more powerful ones for rugged camping trips. The most popular backpacks are the Helius, Goodhope, Eclipse or the Voltaic solar backpack. You may need to consider which one works best for your need, based on:
Style and Size
Almost all solar backpacks have a basic design based on functionality but the Goodhope backpack scores over the others in this area; it looks trendy and is a good value for money. The Helius backpack are more of a standard size and design while Voltaic offers backpacks that are not only larger in size but also carry a bigger battery, which leads us to the next feature of battery capacity.
Battery Capability
A larger capacity battery usually carries a pricier tag like the Voltaic backpacks. Most batteries have enough capacity to recharge a smart phone at least twice, but laptops typically cannot be charged from a solar backpack. Also, longer trips or multiple gadgets require more power so you may want to explore the option of a higher capacity battery offered by Voltaic.
Additional Features
Most backpacks give you the option of charging the batteries using sunlight or a USB port. This is a big plus for your gizmo charging requirements after sundown. There are others which offer features like removable solar panels (example: Voltaic Off-Grid) or even allow you to charge multiple devices at the same time.
Whatever your requirement, there are solar powered backpacks available to suit almost every taste and price range, so make sure of your backpack ‘must haves’ before you shell out money on your green living purchase!!