Responsible Fundraising

The North American Solar Challenge will be starting on July 13th just a few miles from the Phoneraiser offices. They will be racing from Plano, Tx (a suburb of Dallas) to Calgary, Alberta. According to their press materials, the NASC “is designed to inspire young people to pursue careers in science and engineering.

“The NASC promotes:

• Renewable energy technologies (specifically photovoltaic or “solar cells”)
• Educational excellence in science, engineering and mathematics
• Creative integration of technical and scientific expertise across a wide-range of disciplines
• “Hands-on” experience for students and engineers to develop and demonstrate their technical and creative abilities
• Environmental consciousness”

Pictures from the race: http://americansolarchallenge.org/photos/

Information and History of the American Solar Challenge: http://americansolarchallenge.org/aboutasc/

Some Teams entered in the Race: http://www.rrc.mb.ca/raycer/, http://www.cs.wmich.edu/~sunseeker/index.php, http://me.berkeley.edu/calsol/

Solar’s day as an economical alternative to coal may have come. Nanosolar has started selling their “printed” solar cells.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/18/nanosolar-begins-shipping-world-s-lowest-cost-solar-panel/

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/18/technology/18solar.html?ex=1355634000&en=091b06819623f9d0&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

http://www.nanosolar.com/blog3/2007/12/18/nanosolar-ships-first-panels/

Ever heard of Credo Mobile? Check them out. They are a cell phone carrier that donates 1% of charges to progressive non-profits such as Greenpeace, Amnesty International, and Doctors Without Borders.

They are also offering a Solio solar cell phone charger with purchase of a LG LX150. I hadn’t seen this particular device before, so I researched it a little. It seems to be a nice little gadget. From all accounts, the device is sturdy, well designed, and a simple, practical solution for power hungry electronics.