Wednesday, October 31st, 2012
After every recent emergency or disaster, our customers call and ask us what off grid solutions might help them prepare for the next event, whether it is here in the U.S.or somewhere else. The short answer is that solar energy products can be part of your emergency preparedness plan. Just ask Haitians who were able to cook their food on solar ovens after the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Or you might want to talk with relief workers who are able to maintain vaccines in a solar refrigerator in Africa. We are supplying the U.S. armed forces with portable solar modules for power of small equipment in combat zones.
Tags: emergency kits, emergency preparedness plan, Portable Solar Modules, Solar Energy Products, solar modules, solar ovens, solar power products, solar radios, Solar Refrigerator, solar shower
Posted in Solar Energy Products | Comments Off
Monday, August 27th, 2012
As most loyal SolarTown customers know, we try to get you the best guidance on selecting solar energy products from our selection of home solar panels to solar water pumps and other products. We recently played with the idea of doing the same thing with our selection of solar inverters, but came to the conclusion that the inverter market may not have as many objective standards or features to make that kind of comparison as useful as with solar modules. Some excellent brands, like Outback, don’t stack up in the numbers because they are specialized in other areas like being installable in almost any tropical or harsh environment or switching between on and off grid mode. That said, sometimes the numbers have a point, and we want to share that point with you so at least you have some information on which to base your decision of which solar inverter to choose for certain size solar panel systems. So here is our first rundown of Solar Inverters: Best in Show!
Tags: home solar panel, home solar panels, Solar Energy Products, solar inverter, solar inverters, solar modules, solar panel system, solar water pumps
Posted in Solar Energy Products, Solar Home Panels | 1 Comment »
Monday, July 30th, 2012
If you want to buy solar panels, you most likely want to connect them to the grid. But there are some homeowners and others who want to be or need to be off the grid. There are the folks who have a cabin in the mountains and there is no grid anywhere close by. There are the farmers in Northern California who are growing, well, let’s just say they don’t want anyone to know how much electricity they are using. There may also be some homeowners who are on the grid but want a battery back-up system for emergencies or natural disasters. For these solar energy users, getting the right home solar panels is the easy part. The critical component of their off grid solar energy system is the solar battery. Choosing the correct solar batteries and understanding how to maintain and take care of them can be a challenge. In a recent series of learning articles, we have tried to demystify solar batteries.
Tags: battery storage, charge controllers, home solar panels, lead acid batteries, off grid solar systems, rural electrification, solar batteries, solar battery, solar energy batteries, Solar Energy Products, solar energy storage, Solar Energy System, solar home systems
Posted in Solar Energy Products, Solar Home Panels | Comments Off
Tuesday, July 17th, 2012
A couple weeks ago, I spent a lot of time overheating in my dark, humid house with fond memories of air conditioning to to keep me company. Ironically, this year’s Independence Day reminded me of just how dependent I am on grid power. Without it I lost AC, water, and several hours of each day. I know I wasn’t the only one this happened to. This year’s power outages affected hundreds of thousands of people and in Virginia almost one million households lost their power. My home does not have a backup generator and, until recently, was only stocked with just one flashlight. In hindsight this was not a good decision. Since we as a nation probably won’t upgrade our infrastructure, power outages are going to continue to happen. This is especially true considering that some scientists have linked extreme weather last year to climate change. In order to be more prepared for the next outage I’ve decided to get a backup system. I have two main choices: diesel and solar.
Tags: backup systems, diesel generators, home solar panels, solar backup system, solar batteries, Solar Energy Products, solar modules
Posted in Solar Home Panels | 1 Comment »
Saturday, March 17th, 2012
SolarTown moved last year to Columbia Heights, a community within Washington, DC, and home to many of the District’s up and coming small businesses. Columbia Heights is often overlooked, but it is on the rise. It is also in a historically underutilized business zone also known by its acronym HUBZone. The government set up HUBZones to stimulate hiring and economic activity in some of the economically depressed areas of the country. Now I know what you are thinking, poor SolarTown is living in a bad part of town. No, no, no. Don’t be afraid to visit us. Columbia Heights may be underutilized but it’s not a bad part of town.
Tags: columbia heights, government purchasers, gsa contract, hubzone, qualified HUBZone small business concern, Solar Energy Products, solar panels
Posted in Solar Energy Products, SolarTown Current Affairs | 2 Comments »
Monday, January 30th, 2012
One of our primary goals at SolarTown is to educate consumers on solar energy in general and solar energy products in particular. We know that you have perused the over thousand solar energy products that we are selling. We hope that you have also spent some time at SolarTown’s Learning Center to learn about solar power products. We know that our customers like our Learning Center, but as the number of articles has ballooned, it has become more unwieldy to navigate. We have put in a new interface to allow you to click on the category that you are looking for.
Tags: solar backpacks, Solar Energy Products, Solar Energy System, solar modules, solar ovens, solar panel, solar panels, solar power products, Solar Refrigerator, solar showers, SolarTown
Posted in Solar Energy Products, SolarTown Current Affairs | 1 Comment »
Friday, November 11th, 2011
If you are getting your holiday gift lists ready, you will definitely need to include some solar gifts for your friends and relatives who are energy conscious. SolarTown is now offering free standard shipping in the Continental US on orders over $49 on most of our solar energy products. At this time, you will need to enter promo code freeship during checkout to receive this offer.
Tags: free shipping, free shipping policy, promotional code, solar backpack, Solar Electronics, Solar Energy Products, solar gifts, solar lights, solar power products, solar powered lights, solar radio
Posted in Solar Energy Products, SolarTown Current Affairs | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
We are pleased that we have a contract vehicle for SolarTown to sell solar power products to the government. We are pleased to offer solar ovens, solar refrigerators, solar freezers, and solar refrigerator and freezer packages, and we will be adding more products to our GSA schedule. If you are a government purchaser, you can save a lot of time by ordering from SolarTown’s GSA schedule.
Tags: freezer packages, general services administration, government purchasers, government sales, gsa contract, gsa schedule, Solar Energy Products, solar ovens, solar power products, Solar Refrigerator, solar refrigerators
Posted in SolarTown Current Affairs | 3 Comments »
Friday, October 28th, 2011
What do you do if you are protesting corporate greed in the Nation’s Capital and spending the night in McPherson Square? Do you fire up that old diesel generator that is going to contribute to global warming? Surely not, when there are solar energy alternatives. One of the protesters visited SolarTown’s offices.What solar power products do you have for me, she asked. Like a lot of customers who call us, she wanted to find out what solar energy products you can use off the grid. She purchased a portable solar shower—make that two, she said. It is sunny today in Washington, DC, but unseasonably cold. So if you want to see some protestors across from the White House bathing in warm water from a portable solar shower, you should get down to McPherson Square today. Dress warmly.
Tags: solar backpack, solar bag, Solar Electronics, Solar Energy Products, solar kits, solar ovens, Solar Portable Charger, solar portable module, solar power products, Solar Products, solar shower
Posted in Solar Energy Products, Solar Events | Comments Off
Friday, August 26th, 2011
Washington DC is known for being in the political epicenter of the world, but is not generally known for natural disasters. But with a week of earthquakes shaking our foundation and the impending hurricane that is expected to come ashore just about 150 miles away in Ocean City, Maryland, we are thinking about natural disasters and some solar energy products that may help you weather the storm. Let’s go over just a few of the solar power products that SolarTown offers that will help you in an emergency. But there are a number of other solar energy products that will help you through the storm. You may not have electricity from your power sockets, but you definitely should have a solar flashlight or a solar radio. If all of the gas is shut off, your gas oven is not going to work. You can take out your solar oven and cook up a chicken for your family—so long as there is some sun. Right, if there is a hurricane outside, you are not going to be able to use the solar oven, but after the storm passes, the sun may come out, and then take out your solar oven.
Tags: Hurricane Irene, natural disasters, solar bag, solar battery chargers, Solar Energy Products, Solar Energy System, solar flashlight, Solar Freezer, solar lamp post lights, Solar Oven, solar panels, solar power products, solar radio, Solar Refrigerator
Posted in Solar Energy Products | Comments Off
