Nokero is a company selling solar powered light bulbs, they come in the form of a rugged rainproof single piece resistant bulb plastic container.
The Nokero N100 solar light bulb emits 8.5 lumens powered by five light emiting diodes (LED), with four tiny solar panels embedded on its side (5 to 10 years lifespan), and an interior 1000 milliamp NiMH battery housed inside the bulb, the replaceable battery will last around two years.
Leaving the Nokero N100 solar lightbulb in the sun all day will provide enough light for in between one to two hours at night, depending on your geographical localtion solar intensity. These solar lightbulbs are not as bright as grid powered bulbs, you will need some time to get used to them, Nokero sun powered lightbulbs are sufficient to perform household tasks like moving around, reading and cooking, they have been designed with the developing nations in mind where Nokero solar lightbulbs will work out cheaper, safer and are more environmentally friendly than kerosene lamps.
In developed countries these solar powered light bulbs can make for a good solution to be used for lighting in natural disasters with power black outs, at camping trips and at patios, gardens and boats.
Nokero N100 solar light bulb
Nokero N200 solar light bulb review
A second generarion Nokero solar powered lightbulb, the N200 comes with a single solar panel to improve efficiency, it hangs on a swivel that allows for it to be pivoted towards the sun maximizing charging efficiency during the day. Nokero’s N200 has three lighting modes: On, Off, and Turbo-Task, depending on settings a full day of charging in the sun can provide up to 6 hours of lighting, if you choose the brighter turbo task mode you should get around 2.5 hours of lighting.
The N200 solar bulb has four LEDs, it is rainproof and impact-resistant, with a power saving auto shut off function, the bulb will only work if the ambient light falls below 200 lux, like with the N100 model, the battery should last around two years, Nokero says it can be replaced for $1.
Nokero’s N200′s light can give you up to 13.5 lumens of intensity, this is a dim light not comparable to the 850 lumens that a 60-watt incandescent bulb gives but it can be as bright as the kerosene lantern it means to replace.
The main difference in between Nokero’s solar powered light bulbs and the cheaper solar lights that hardware stores sell for your garden is that Nokero’s light bulbs quality of built it is much higher, their target consumer it is not the home user, it is a developing nation where rough treatment of these solar powered lights it is expected.
Nokero N200 solar powered lightbulb
Nokero solar powered light bulbs main features
No need to have access to the electrical grid
Portable, rainproof and impact resistant, they can be deployed anywere
Zero carbon dioxide emissions (no CO2 gasses)
Cheaper to operate than fuel powered lights like kerosene lamps
They require no maintenance, they are small, lightweight and durable
Solar panel age: This will affect its productivity, thin film panels are specially affected by age, monocrystaline and polycrystalline used solar panels efficiency does not degrade so much with the time, solar panels have an average lifespan of 25 years, their wattage output decreases over time.
Well constructed and undamaged structure: For a solar panel to perform at maximum efficiency the seal should remain intact, otherwise moisture and dust will get inside, this can significantly affect its power output.
Solar panel internal circuitry: Check the solar panel for voltage fluctuation and voltage drops, this would indicate some sort of damage in the electronic circuitry which normally is extremely hard to repair without advanced electronic knowledge and specialist tools.
Test the voltage production with a multimeter while the panels are in the sun, a nominal solar panel power rating is always lower than real output in full sun.
Solar panel preceding use: Find out where the second hand solar panels were being used before, there might be issues if they were installed on a boat as corrosion caused by saline water might have affected the electronics internal circuitry.
Solar panels do not degrade in storage, solar cells that have been in storage will be more valuable than one that has been actively converting sunlight as the capability of hardly used stored solar panels to convert sunpower into electricity will remain higher.
Determine your home total wattage needs: You don’t want to overspend buying more panels than you need, do the calculations to find out what power output you need from the solar energy system before you try to find used solar panels, this way you will know exactly what overall wattage is needed.
Solar energy panels on roof
How to make the best of used solar panels
To work out if the second hand solar panels are good value for money, besides their physical condition, look at the cost of dollars per watt generated, one disadvantage of buying used solar panels is that Government grants most times only apply to new purchases and not to used solar panels.
You can also try to find scrap solar cells, these are the cells broken during their manufacturing of solar panels and solar cell factories sell them very cheap, they are not very efficient but can be perfectly suitable for low needs projects, the only downside is that you will need more space because more solar panels will be needed, you will also need to solder them together or have someone with iron soldering skills do it for you.
You can find information on buying scrap solar cells contacting your local manufacturer directly, they can also be found on sale online.
Your best solar energy boost is insulating your home
It is a well known fact that insulating your home from heat loses will drastically reduce your utility bill, the average home spends 46% of its energy keeping it warm/cool, it does not matter if you get your energy needs from nuclear or solar power, if you want to save money in put some effort into insulating your home, sealing your windows, and lowering your thermostat.
To get the most of your investment in solar energy, make sure your home is using double glaze windows and it doesn’t waste energy with electric apparels unnecessarily switched on all day.
Cheap solar energy system
Build your own solar panels: Building your own solar panels can be done by people without technical studies following simple step-by-step instructions and buying the necessary materials at your local hardware store, the solar panels you make yourself will not be as powerful as silicon factory made ones but they will work out cheaper and you might not need a high efficiency solar power installation for a small house.
Buy used solar power panels: The law in the US mandates that solar panels must be recycled, doing that it is expensive. Slightly damaged solar panels with low efficiency can be a deadweight for businessesbut still useful for home users with lower needs, these solar panels can be given away for free or sold at a bargain, for companies this works out cheaper than dismantling solar panels piece by piece and recycle everything.
Solar heating collector
Another way to get cheapo used solar panels is to visit your local solar panel installer and ask them if they know of anyone upgrading their solar power installation and selling their old used solar panels, you can also use eBay and other online auction sites to find used solar panels.
Enquire about Government grants: Federal and local grants, rebates and tax credits to pay for the cost of the installation are normally available, these need to be looked into on a case by cases basis, these programs might pay for a percentage of your costs or the whole installation depending on circumstances.There are companies offering leased solar power equipment where they install it for you free or at very cheap prices under the condition that over the life of the solar panels you will buy the generated power from the company at fixed prices.
Join a solar cooperative: Solar cooperatives work closely with their members to share costs and lower the cost of solar power installations, they also provide help with the solar installation. Find out if a solar cooperative resides near you with a quick Internet search.
Solar power cooperative
Build your solar energy system by parts: Instead of having to pay a big lump sum to install a full solar energy system in your home, install first a solar oven, next month a solar powered shower, and the next year a solar powered water heaters, you will see that little by little all of your home is being powered by solar energy.This method will have the inconvenience that your solar energy system will not be centralized requiring higher maintenance and ending up being more expensive to build in the long term, but it is a good way to being able to afford a solar powered home while avoiding having to ask for a bank loan that will charge you interests.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has recently presented the result of one of its projects about paper-thin solar cells, they have come up with a layer-by-layer manufacturing process that produces ultra-thin solar power cells, MIT showed prototypes of paper solar cells able to generate enough current to light a small LED display.
According to MIT a commercial thin solar paper rolls could be available in as little as five years. At the moment more than 80% of solar cells today are made of silicon.
Paper thin solar power cells explained
To make a cell, five layers of solid material are deposited onto a paper substrate. Each layer serves a different function, such as the active material that releases an electron when struck by light and the circuit that carries the current, a MIT researcher explained.
Thin paper solar power cells are nothing else than the solar panel without the panel, just a thin coating like a layer of paint that takes light and converts it into electricity with this in mind it is easy to imagine a whole building whose windows are made of solar power cells sucking up power from the Sun.
Paper thin solar power cell
Paper solar power cells advantadges
Paper thin power cells can significantly reduce Solar energy costs, thin film solar power cells could be used as window covers in big buildings and power plants, with paper thin solar power cells rural areas will have no need to lay down power lines or import fuel to power their electricity.
The sides of buildings, tinted windows, cell phones, notebook computers, cars and even clothing could all use this new ultra-thin paper solar panels printed on the product eliminating many of the highly energy and chemical intensive processes that are typical in conventional photovoltaic manufacture.
The fact that these paper thin solar power cells are flexible meaning that they are easier to install and will be very useful when trying to install photovoltaic energy panels on curved surfaces like a car body or a laptop case, MIT has succeed proving the folding ability of their solar power cells but their power producing capabilities have a long way to go.
In just a few years we could be printing rolls of solar power cells to be used on the roofs of wheeler trailers. The biggest question for Nanosolar products it is not if it can work, but rather if prices and efficiency will be good enough to compete with silicon based photovoltaic power cells.
Paper thin solar power cells processing uses organic materials and polymers, which are abundant and thus not expensive, it is a a matter large-scale commercialization for the economics to make it a viable alternative to present silicon photovoltaic power cells.
The downside of these new ultra thin solar power cells it is their efficiency level which is of of just one percent as opposed to the average fifteen per cent efficiency that normal solar power cells yield.
Silicon solar power cells advantadges
The scientist are divided in respect to silicon based solar power cells future.
One side argues that since silicon can not absorb visible light too well, thick, high quality layers are needed to make a solar power cell to produce a decent amount of energy and that makes the currently most used photovoltaic panels expensive.
Silicon, the core material of a traditional photovoltaic solar power panel, is an expensive commodity and up to seventy per cent of the silicon is wasted while manufacturing a silicon solar power cell, besides silicon power panels are heavy, dangerous, expensive to ship and difficult to mount, it normally has to be installed by an specialist solar power engineer on a steel frame on top of a roof.
Based upon this, one group argues that the prospects for really cheap silicon solar cells are dim.
On the other hand other scientists say that there is more than enough silicon available since this is the second most common element in the Earth’s crust and that innovation and research will eventually drive down the production costs and increase silicon technology efficiency.
Traditional solar wafer-based cells are still cheaper and produce a higher yield than film and paper based solar power cells.
Silicon solar power cell
The costs of photovoltaic solar power
This powerful technology keeps improving with the time and it can help to reach the $1/watt solar power costs sweet spot that is roughly what carbon powered electricity costs, solar energy power costs can vary from $3 to $6 per Watt, five times what carbon based power costs but a big improvement from the $100 per watt solar energy used to cost in the late seventies.
In order to reach the ambitious US Department of Energy cost target of less than $1/Watt the panels themselves will need to cost around $0.50/Watt.
The current state of photovoltaic solar power makes it very hard to make it profitable without government subsides, it takes many years to recover the huge big initial investment, photovoltaic solar power just does not pay for itself in a timely way, it can take dozens of years for the return of investment of a photovoltaic solar installation to be recovered and this is a big hold up given the uncertainty of the future most people and business usually face, they rather pay a small amount for grid power than taking a lifelong investment compromise in solar energy, even if in the long term works out fossil energy works out more expensive.
Solar power energy efficiency
If the electrical companies could store their power efficiently less plants would be needed, this is exactly what the main problem is with photovoltaic solar panels, on top of the solar power cells you need to add the costs of batteries, inverters, cabling and installation costs.
In an external solar power installation, paper thin solar power cells could affect one piece of the puzzle, the cost of the photovoltaic panel, but all of the other costs still remain, that is why paper thin cells main use should be for interiors and installations inside tight and confined spaces where setting up a set of photovoltaic panels is not viable.
The main cost of a photovoltaic solution still remains the solar panels themselves, the other technology is relatively simple in comparison and not expected to make the big technological advances that can be made in solar power efficiency and production.
The price for solar components will diminish at the same time as demand for them increases, ironically this is exactly the opposite of what happens to carbon, oil and gas energy, which price increases the higher is the demand for them.
The future of photovoltaic energy
The amount of electricity that photovoltaic panels contribute today to the grid is nothing but a gesture token, the price per Watt and the huge initial investment needed, driven by installation costs, together with low efficiency in comparison to fossil based energy, are a big force stopping the utopia of a World whose electricity supply is entirely based on solar power cells.
Photovoltaic solar power cells have their uses in countries and locations of difficult access with no power grid, that is when they start to become really cost effective, but at the moment, until power efficiency is improved photovoltaic energy can not compete in price with fossil produced energy unless it is with Government subsidies.
Paper thin solar power cells open a whole new World for solar powered electronics, but I would sceptical of its success for home and business installations with high energy needs due to its poor efficiency.
