Of all the great toys and gadgets the world of solar offers, the clear winner for most fun is the solar-powered sprinkler. Consider this project a bonus, the 11th installment in a list of ten items. Here’s how it works. You connect the unit (including the sprinkler head and motion detector) to your garden hose […]

Solar fountains have tons of potential for do-it-yourselfers. You can make a small one or a massive one. You can make them work any number of ways. You can make one work all night long, if you want. If your back is strong and your will ironclad, you can use indigenous rocks and mortar to […]

This isn’t really a project because you don’t actually build anything. But using a solar battery charger requires strategy and scheduling, and it gives a good lesson on solar power and PV panels. This is probably one of the easi­est ways to start using solar power. Chapter 9 explains what you need to know about […]

Solar cooking is fun and interesting; it teaches you about solar radiation and how it can vary in different weather patterns. You can build a simple oven, or you can get fancy and make a super-duper one. You can even design and build an automatic tracker, which follows the sun over the course of the […]

The water purifier project I describe in Chapter 10 is a good project because it’s relatively easy, foolproof, and cheap. Or as cheap as you want to make it. You can make a small purifier or a big one with valves and drippers and all kinds of features. You can purify a gallon of water […]

You can make a solar hot water heater out of landscape tubing, and you can design it to fit just about anywhere. It’s cheap and just as effective as the col­lectors that cost $600 apiece. You can connect a small submersible pump to a PV panel, and if you know a few rudimentary things about […]

Trellises are good projects because they’re functional as well as nice looking. You can make them out of wood or synthetic material. You can even get kits of aluminum parts. Plant some flowering vines around your trellis, and the results will be fantastic. Awnings allow you to really shine in the design department. You can […]

A solar attic vent fan project is great because you get to do a little bit of everything (in contrast to the solar water heater project where you get a whole lot of everything). You can install a solar attic vent fan in a day or so, depending on how difficult your attic structure is. […]