SOL-2

This is a collection of equipment (and assorted bits and pieces) that has been shipped out to Kenya. Here we have a Palm Centro PDA, a Solio solar charger, the necessary cables from the charger to the PDA plus the battery, a 12v ('cigarette lighter' plug) USB connector - to charge the PDA from a 12V battery and an SD card adaptor to convert the micro SD in the PDA to full-size. Additionally you'll see some balloons, a pen and a key fob! :-) Always nice to spread a little fun besides all the boring techy stuff. Oh, and there's a micro wind-up torch in this set-up too which isn't too evident in the picture. Finally both instruction manuals for the PDA and Solio charger are included.

So this is hopefully winging its way to Duncan (our Champion) who lives near Lake Bogoria in the Rift Valley. We're not entirely sure what he intends doing with these (although we have a few ideas!) at this stage but he has certainly been involved with local schools in terms of demonstrating the potential of solar power and even offering to install their own solar systems for free...

The PDA contains a whole host of built-in and additional software including our own expert system which recommends various solutions for renewable energy needs based upon answers to a few basic questions.

We'll keep everyone posted right here (or somewhere around 'here' - more in another Blog post) as to how the project progresses. Meanwhile we have to get back to Sol-1, the solar-powered netbook and continue experiments with micro wind turbines, etc.

Many, many thanks to those who have demonstrated compassion by supporting our efforts to date. These include people who have donated and indeed those we have bought hardware and software from. Others have offered ideas along the way so far and mostly everyone has demonstrated an enormous amount of patience as we struggle to acheive our aims kind of at the cutting edge of some of these ideas. We really appreciate everyone's support!

All the best.