I love the idea of free power 2 to keep my electronic devices going, especially if I’m in a park or by the sea. So if there was some way whereby I could combine the two, then I’d be as happy as a pig in a poke.

So enter into the story – solar chargers, with a few million terawatts beaming down on us every day (not where I live) the sun is the most abundant renewable energy resource we have, so it makes sense to make good use of it.

Up until now solar chargers have been bulky affairs that cost a lot, needed almost a Saharan sun beating down on them to get even a few minutes of power out of them. Well they have certainly moved on and have become so much more efficient and dressed in a variety of practical guises.

Solar backpacks, where the panels are sewn into its design, so that you can walk round and charge up your devices. Or you can buy just a simple solar roll? Now that a green mobile phone would make.

A simple roll out panel that you can layout on a table, or rock and connect to it with a USB connector, eco-geek-chic never looked so good.

Some just charge when the solar panel is being used and have no storage capacity, others come with a battery to store the power generated. Some will charge a mobile phone in 2 hours, but then others won’t generate enough power for a laptop, so ease of use, wattage, their efficiency and output is what you are paying for, so check that out…