Solar Panels

• Solar panels can be used to power everything from water heaters and chandeliers to lanterns and radios. Panels are made large enough to be incorporated into an overall solar energy platform for a house or business. But they are also made to be portable; small sections of panels that fit into a purse, backpack or briefcase and can be hooked up to laptops and cell phones.
  
  

Decorative Lights

• Solar energy is used to power a variety of decorative lights in and around personal property. Pathway and garden lights containing small solar sensors soak up the sun's rays during the day so that lights can be illuminated at night. Hanging solar tree lights add color to trees in various shapes at night without extension cords and electric power. Dangling strings of icicle and other Christmas lights powered by solar sensors are also readily available to consumers.
  
  

Wind Turbines

• Wind energy products are more limited than solar energy pieces. About the only products available for purchase to consumers are wind turbines. These turbines are large and must stand at least 30-feet high in order to harvest enough wind to provide meaningful energy for a home, farm or business. If you live near other buildings, walls or structures, the wind turbine must be 30-feet taller than any nearby structure in order to effectively harvest wind.
  
  

Non-Electric Fans

• One application of wind power is a fan that doesn't use electricity to run. When placed on a surface hotter than 150 degrees, non-electric fans like the Ecofan begin spinning. When placed in an area, like a stove, with a hot bottom and cool top, the fan's blades are activated, dispersing the heat from the stove and cooling off the cook without using electricity. In this case wind, and not air conditioning, is used to cool off the user.