Appliance by Appliance, Light By Light - new products allow you to go green one step at a time

If you want to go green, and do it on a budget, but without sacrificing comfort or inconvenience, one way to go is appliance by appliance and light by light. Besides economical and ergonomically benefits, alternative energy conversion can be fun and interesting.  Today there are a wide range of  low cost alternative energy products. These range from solar-powered furnaces to solar powered hats. You can also buy solar powered ice makers, PC chargers, phone chargers and even for the more adventurous, solar powered cooling jackets, solar powered radios and solar powered toasters. 

Besides solar there are also classically hand-cranked devices that just require good old-fashioned elbow grease to generate the electrical power you will need for radios, PCs, lights and more. You can even find wind powered bicycle lights and wind powered battery chargers. If that were not enough, you can go big time with solar powered airport runway lights and solar powered refrigerators. Or if on a boat, toss out the solar powered buoy. 

Getting Started 

Starting your green power journey, is as easy as buying a solar powered flashlight or a solar powered lantern. These are of  great for camping and for emergencies.  If you ride a bicycle, solar powered red tail lights are available for less than $3.00.  If you need a bright headlight, expect to be pay somewhat more. Or buy a fashionable solar powered visor or hat. These hats offer a adjustable ray of light that can be used for close reading, arm length field of view or for lighted distance viewing up to fifty feet away. 

If the sun is not shining, you might want to consider complementing your solar light collection with a wind powered light collection. More so, you can even find solar powered bicycle helmets that allow you to not only charge your lights, but your cell phone and other portable devices. Combine that with a solar powered jacket and you will have perhaps have enough energy to drive a fan that blows you up those steep hills. 

Bicycle Lights for $1.00 and $3.00 Batteries Included

Lighting your bike at night can be expensive if you don't approach the problem correctly. Bike lights from bike stores can cost you upwards of $30.00, batteries not included. Although sleek and flashy, these lights, even the ones with head bands, can get easily lost or stolen.  The ones that clip onto your belt or backpack can even be a problem. Often they go on and off by themselves, or just plan fall off.  Even the high end bike lights often don;t have the right connector that allows you to hang your light anywhere.

After a long time of looking, I found that the most inexpensive bike lights with the most mounting flexibility are simple pet leash lights. They sell for $2.99 at Ace Harrdware, battery included. They red flashing light is bright and lasts for a good long time. The simple key chain attachement allows you to hang your light just about anywhere. I hang about 4 of the lights from the loops on my backpack.

The other type of inexpensive bike light, this one a white light, is sold at the Dollar Store. Its easy to hang includes batteries and also lasts a long time. I hang these ultra-lightweight lights from my handle bars.

I used both the tiny heart and bone shaped flashing lights and the dollar store white lights for the most of the winter My bike light bill for this winter was just about $10.00. In the past, it was as high as $70.00. My lights were often lost, stolen, fell off and broke or just plain broke.

Take a look at the dollar store lights at http://www.dollartree.com/catalog/search.cmd?form_state=searchForm&keyword=flashlights