Here is a great video on how CJ Buck, President and CEO of Buck Knives sharpens a knife. Knowing how to properly sharpen a piece of equipment can not only save time but keep you from permanently damaging your knives as well.
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Meat, poultry, and game are low acid foods and must be canned or processed in a pressure canner to assure it is safe to eat.
1. Canning frees up freezer space for other things.
2. Pressure canning can make the less tender cuts versatile.
3. Home canning meat means jars of meat on the shelf ready to go at a moment’s notice. No defrosting time. Ever tried to defrost an elk roast quickly in the microwave because you forgot to take it out earlier? Doesn’t work so well. (Ask me how I know!)
4. The best benefit? My guys love it. We are an active hunting family with 4 sons. Much of our meat is provided by the men of hunting age in our family.
Meat, poultry, and game are low acid foods and must be canned or processed in a pressure canner to assure it is safe to eat.
11 pounds pressure with a dial gauge pressure canner
15 pounds pressure with a weighted gauge pressure canner for required times.
Choose only good meat for canning, and handle it quickly and with total cleanliness, because bacteria grow rapidly in meat held at room temperature. If you have a large amount, store the part you’re not working on in the refrigerator.
You can:
Start with properly cleaned and chilled product.
Can fresh meat and poultry within 2 days or freeze it.
To can frozen products, thaw in the refrigerator until most ice crystals have disappeared, then handle as if they were fresh.
Trim gristle and fat off meat before canning. Fat left on meat melts and climbs on the sides of the jar during processing and may interfere with the sealing of the lid.
Salt is optional in canned meat and poultry.
Fish should be canned immediately or frozen until processed.
For large game animals (deer), follow beef processing times and methods.
For small game animals and birds, follow poultry processing times and methods.
Use canned venison or canned elk in stews, meaty soups, and even chili. You can use it to make Sloppy Joe’s and killer Enchiladas.
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Over the last five years, probably no other “gadget” has changed the way we scout more than the trail camera. For many of us, running trail cameras is a hobby in itself, bringing a whole new excitement to our deer hunting efforts. Much more than just something to pass time, however, running trail cameras can give you a unique insight into the patterns of deer on your hunting properties and really tip the odds in your favor for harvesting a mature whitetail. Let’s take a look at the features to look for when purchasing a trail camera, and how to get the maximum benefit from the camera once you have made your purchase.
As the popularity of these scouting tools has grown, so has the number of companies offering their own line of cameras. The features on these cameras cover such a wide spectrum that choosing the right one for you can be a daunting and sometimes confusing task. While this article isn’t meant to tell you WHICH camera to buy, it IS meant to help you sort through some of the most common differences among the various trail cameras to help you narrow down your search.
RESOLUTION
The resolution of a trail camera is a measure of the image size that the camera creates. So a 5.0 megapixal trail camera will give you a much larger image – and therefore more detail – than one with 3.0 megapixals. Which resolution you choose really depends on how important it is to have a large, crisp image. If you are only concerned with having a general idea of what deer are in the area and when they are traveling through, then about any resolution offered on today’s cameras will suffice. If you want a larger, more detailed image to print off for your friends, then you may want to shoot for something with at least 3.0 megapixels.
BATTERY TYPE & LIFE
In my mind, this is one of the most important considerations when choosing a trail camera, as it will have a huge effect on the cost of maintaining the camera. I have seen some “cheap” trail cameras that burn through six C-sized batteries in a week, and suddenly the “cheap” camera gets VERY expensive! Others claim to operate up to a year on eight AA batteries. So before you go buying a camera based on price alone, keep in mind the battery life, as it may be the most expensive choice you could make in the long run.
TRIGGER SPEED
Another important feature is the trigger speed of the camera, which is simply how long it takes the trail camera to shoot a picture once something has “triggered” the motion sensor. A faster trigger speed can be the difference between having a great shot of that trophy buck and just having a picture of a deer’s butt as it walks out of the frame. If you plan on placing your trail cameras over feeders or a mineral lick, then trigger speed will not be as much of an issue as it would if hung along a trail.
FLASH TYPE
This is almost a moot point, since most trail cameras today have gone to infrared flash. An infrared flash, as opposed to the incandescent flash found standard on most consumer cameras, is less likely to spook deer, uses less battery life, and is less likely to be detected by other humans (i.e. thieves!). While I’ve gotten plenty of pictures of big, mature whitetails with an incandescent flash trail camera, there is no doubt that some animals are spooked by the bright flash. If you can afford the infrared flash, the benefits certainly outweigh the small increase in cost.
OTHER FEATURES
While we have covered some of the most important features to consider when buying a new trail camera, there are many more options that could impact your decision. One of these options is the size of the unit. Size varies greatly amongst trail cameras, and some companies are now producing models that are as small as your hand. Other models go as far as being able to send the pictures it takes directly to your email or cell phone, so the only time you have to check them is when the batteries need replacing. How’s that for convenience?
Before you head out to buy your next trail camera, take a minute to think about how it will be used and what features are most important to you. This will make the task of narrowing down your choices much easier when you start the shopping process.
MAXIMIZING TRAIL CAMERA USE
Once you have waded through all the details, made your decision and laid down your hard earned money on a trail camera, all that’s left is to hang that thing on a tree, right? Let’s take a look at some ways you can be sure you are using your camera to its potential this season and getting the most bang for your buck.
DRAW THEM IN
One of the easiest ways to maximize the effectiveness of your trail camera and insure that you see a good representation of what is in your hunting area is to use some type of attractant to lure the deer into camera range. Probably the most common attractant used across the country is shelled corn – it’s cheap, readily available, and the deer love it. For the purpose of getting trail camera pictures, there is no need to invest in an expensive feeder; just simply spread 100 pounds on the ground in an eight to ten-foot circle area where you want to hang your camera. For safety reasons, do not place the corn in large piles or in an area that holds moisture, as this can result in molding that can cause disease in both deer and turkey. Depending on deer density and other available food sources, this should get you five to ten days worth of pictures. Be patient, as it may take a few days for the deer to really key in on the corn and for you to start getting good pictures. Once they find it, though, it won’t last long!
Before you start dumping corn on your favorite hunting property, check your local game laws regarding baiting. If corn or other “feed” is prohibited, but would still like to attract deer to your camera location, then you may want to consider creating a mineral lick. You can buy one of the many commercial mixes available today, or simply create your own by mixing 50 lbs of trace mineral, 50 lbs of feed mix salt, and 10 lbs of dicalcium phosphate. Break the soil up with a shovel in the area where you want to create your lick and work your mix into the soil. Once the lick gets a good rain on it, it shouldn’t take long for the deer to find it and start paying regular visits.
KEEP IT MOBILE
Unless you are hunting a really small property, or you have the money to invest in lots of trail cameras, then you are going to need to move your cameras around to really get a good idea of what the deer are doing on your hunting property. Don’t get caught in the trap of leaving your camera in the same spot all season. This will not only limit your ability to pattern the deer, but it may keep you from discovering that trophy buck that could be hanging out on the other side of the property!
By experience, two weeks seems to be enough time to get a good representation of what deer are in the area, without your camera spending too much time in one location. You can always bring the camera back to the same spot at a later time, but the idea is to cover as much of your hunting area as possible.
KEEP GOOD RECORDS
Once you have moved your camera around your property and gotten plenty of pictures to look at, the real work has just begun. Now is the time to sort through the pictures, identifying as many unique animals as you can, analyzing what camera sites each deer is visiting and the times that they were there. This should start to give you an idea of the travel patterns on the property, as well as potential stand locations.
This season, make sure you use these tips to get the most out of your trail cameras, and the next picture you get of that monster buck may be the one with you behind him holding his antlers, OR, even that BIG bear 🙂
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There’s a lot of prep that goes into a moose hunt, so don’t blow a shot at one of these majestic beasts because you can’t call it in. Check out the video below from Ontario Out of Doors for some great tips to help get you ‘in tune’ for when the time comes.
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For many of us, winter means changing our wardrobes, cranking up the heat and cutting back on outdoor activities. For forest wildlife, especially in the north, no season has a greater impact than winter. Those animals that can’t flee south must kick into deep-freeze survival mode or perish.
Some small insects such as orb weaver spiders, mantises and most butterflies die with the first frosts. But they leave freeze-resistant progeny as their legacy. In the case of butterflies, that usually means larvae (caterpillars) or pupae in their protective “wrappers.” But some butterflies, including the mourning cloak, hibernate in a sheltering crag or crack. Unlike orb weavers, other types of spiders hibernate beneath rocks or under tree bark, where wandering flocks of watchful chickadees, nuthatches and brown creepers may find them.
Toads and terrestrial frogs such as peepers try to dig or shelter in places that protect them from hard freezes, including cracks in logs or thick leaf litter. But even a hard freeze usually will not kill a temperate-area frog. Breathing and heartbeats may stop, but with a thaw, thanks to elevated blood glucose, the frogs come “back” to life. Turtles often dig down into the mud, and their metabolisms slow to a crawl.
Even birds that we assume are always warm and active have coldweather adaptations. Chickadees, for example—the most common small songbirds wintering in northern woods—may enter a “regulated hypothermia” while they sleep, their body temperatures dipping to conserve precious energy.
Chipmunks will hibernate but emerge during warm spells, while the restless red squirrel changes its schedule from early to late morning, even tunneling through snow to transport snipped conifer cones to its bulk storage area, known as a midden.
So, much of your property’s wildlife may be out of view this time of year but with the exception of migratory birds and monarch butterflies most of it remains, just on some form of “pause.”
This time of year, some of the best things you can do for wildlife are simple—often involving doing nothing at all. Here are some tips:
• Leave dead meadow stalks standing until later winter thaws come. Meadow plants shelter, among other things, butterfly caterpillars and pupae and mantis egg cases. From fall into winter, their seedheads nourish overwintering songbirds, gamebirds and rodents that in turn feed foxes, owls, hawks and other creatures.
• Hold off on clearing logs, if possible. Logs and snags (dead trees) are always important components of a diversified wildlife habitat, and the shelter they provide during winter is crucial. If you remove this resource during cold weather, you might harm hibernating wildlife.
• Leave dense conifer stands to provide cover for owls, rabbits, grouse and other hardy active critters while other cover is sparse.
• Keep bird feeders topped up. This will provide you with hours of entertainment, and you also will be helping supplement birds’ diets at the toughest time of year. If you want to feed a wide variety of birds, offer not only mixed seeds but also black oil sunflower, thistle and suet. Raisins and mealworms may bring in bluebirds, thrashers and mockingbirds. Also, you could buy a birdbath or pond heater to provide water during the coldest days.
• Hold off on cleaning up nestboxes, as these will provide shelter for birds, rodents and invertebrates during cold weather. Then, in late winter (early March in many areas), clean the boxes out just before bluebirds and other cavity nesters start seeking nest sites.
• Leave brushpiles, which provide dense shelter that can be hard to come by in winter. Wrens, rabbits, sparrows and other creatures seek these out. Bigger brush piles may shelter quail and pheasants at the field-forest edge.
• Refrain from removing leaf litter. Thick leaf litter is like a thermal blanket for hibernating salamanders, frogs and invertebrates— especially when piled around stumps and logs.
Sometimes it feels like winter will never end. But before you know it, frog calls, bird songs and the buzzing and chirping of insects will once again fill the air. For now, though, you can find comfort knowing your forest provides safe havens for a variety of resting wildlife.
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There is nothing more fun for a hunter than taking a long road trip with the guys and getting away from it all. The difference between the average ‘getting away from it all’ and a hunter’s ‘getting away from it all’ is that the hunter’s version often times includes a stand and some great harvest stories. This rang true for Dave, Tim and Jason. On September the 7th they arrived at my front door with weapons in hand and excitement in their eyes. Though it was Dave’s second hunt with us, it was both Tim and Jason’s first time hunting a bear. Dave had acquainted them with what to expect and the basics of our operation and much to the boy’s excitement, we were providing them all with baits that seemed to be jam packed with bruin. The first night came with all guys coming to camp empty handed but Dave letting us know that his bait was just a Bear Highway….they were everywhere! Tim had heard a bear and Jason had yet to have any sign of.
The following night had proven fruitful to both Dave and Tim, taking their trophies earlier in the dusk hours. Jason had heard several sounds around him but had yet to spot. He was fine with that though as the following day was his birthday and he felt that a birthday bear would be that much more fitting. The next morning as the boys began to prepare their bears, Jason prepped and began that drive to his stand. Thoughts raced through is head as to what his day would hold and how he was going to handle harvesting that bear. Early that evening, I spotted the truck pulling in, my heart was wild with anticipation….had he gotten his birthday bear? As Jason emerged, his face was pulled with a frustrated look and the color was drained. “I missed!” was all he said. After a few minutes of silence, Jason filled me in on the adventure. “I was just opening my pb and j and having a bite. I saw a set of ears pop up and slowly put the sandwich on my lap. I lifted my gun just as the bear emerged to my right and he stood and sniffed the air…I think he wanted my sandwich! He dropped and began to lick the tree directly broadside and I fired……the bullet went low and right below. No hit but just hit the ground. I have NO IDEA what happened! The bear took off like a bat out of hell and that was it. I sat for about thirty minutes and had to get out of there. I am so frustrated that I know I couldn’t shoot proper a second time. Tomorrow I am taking my .270.” 
With that we both agreed that this could happen to anyone and that it’s better than wounding and wasting a bear. I knew tomorrow he would have a different plan. The next day Jason came in for his coffee and sat quiet. The thought of the day’s play could be read in his eyes and it was obvious that today he woke up with serious intention. Dave and Tim decided to load the boat and spend the day kicking back while Jason set out as tightly wound as he could be. The day wore on and not a truck in sight. As the night fell, Jason arrived with a tired, defeated look in his eyes. “Nothing. I didn’t see a thing today. It was a long day.” I knew that the events of the day prior had made today seem much longer but I knew that his determination hadn’t left. The following morning, Jason met with Terry and they came up with the new game plan. It was a variation of the original but the outcome was planned the same….Come home with a bear! As Jason left for the day, we all settled back into our daily routines, me in the lodge, Tami back to marketing and Terry back out to the baiting. At 3:12pm a black truck made a hasty entrance to the resort and straight over to cabin 6. Jason was back! He was energized as he exited the truck and fists pumped the sky! “I got it! It’s down!” With a couple of high fives and congratulations I could just see the pride in his eyes. He had finished the group with 100% success rate! As he tied the tell-tale orange flag for the other two on the lake to see, he began to load the truck with retrieval supplies. As they all arrived back with Jason’s bear, the camaraderie was thick. Each were successful and each just as happy for each other as themselves.
When a hunter ‘gets away from it all’ it’s what they come away with afterwards that counts!
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Employing an old Italian method of preserving meats and vegetables called sott’olio, submerge rabbits in oil and slow-cooks them until the meat is tender and rich. Then dress the warm meat in a salad for a perfect counterbalance. The only difficult part of this recipe is pouring that much oil into a pot—but it’s worth it. Be sure to fish the garlic out of the oil for later: Spread the cloves on toasted bread for a killer snack.
Ingredients
– 2 whole wild rabbits, cleaned
– About 3 quarts vegetable oil
– About 1 quart, plus
– 1 Tbsp., plus 1⁄4 cup, olive oil
– 2 whole heads garlic, broken into individual unpeeled cloves
– 6 sprigs fresh thyme
– 1⁄3 cup, plus 1⁄4 cup,
– red wine vinegar
– 1 red onion, sliced
– 2 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1⁄2-inch pieces
– 4 cups baby arugula
– 1⁄4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
– 1⁄4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, shaved or grated
– Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Rub the rabbits with salt and pepper and place in a Dutch oven. Pour in about three parts vegetable oil to one part olive oil, enough to fully submerge the rabbits. Add the garlic and thyme, and cover the Dutch oven. (A sheet of aluminum foil underneath the lid is a good idea.) Place in the oven and cook for about 11⁄2 hours, or until the meat is tender and falling off the bone. Let cool.
2. Meanwhile, combine the 1⁄3 cup red wine vinegar in a small saucepan with 1⁄3 cup water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Put the red onion slices in a bowl, and pour the vinegar mixture over the onions. Stir, add salt and pepper, then allow the onions to pickle at room temperature.
3. Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil over low heat in a saucepan, and add the carrots. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 6 to 8 minutes, or until the carrots are tender but not mushy. Add salt and pepper, and reserve.
4. Make a vinaigrette: Put the remaining 1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar in a bowl and gradually whisk in 1⁄4 cup olive oil, until the oil and vinegar are thoroughly integrated. Add salt and pepper.
5. When the rabbits are cool, remove the meat from the bones and reserve.
6. To serve, reheat the rabbit meat in a pan with some of the oil, over low heat, just to warm through. In a large mixing bowl, gently toss the arugula with the red onions (drained), carrots, pine nuts, cheese, and about 3 Tbsp. vinaigrette. Divide the salad among four plates, and top with the rabbit, adding a few more shavings of cheese and salt and pepper as desired. Serves 4
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Wawang has always been synonymous with great trophies. We have also be recognized as one of the most photographed filled brag book holders amongst our peers. Believe me, when you have this much to be proud of, you want the world to see it 🙂
It is for this reason that we announce that we can now be found on Instagram! With so many photos of successful fishing and hunting, it just makes sense to share it with the world.
We have always lived by a principal here: Show me, don’t tell me!
Join us and see what we can show you…..because remember, what you show, shows what you know!
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While doing some of my own research, we came across a fantastic article for all of you archers out there that have wondered about manufacturing your own arrows.
This article is reproduced from Edersbows.com, take some time to check them out 🙂
Building your own arrows allows you to save about 5 to 1 0 dollars per dozen, but there’s an even better reason for building your own. You can experiment with all the components, with the various fletching styles and shaft sizes until you find the perfect arrow for your bow and your hunting or 3-D shooting requirements.
Building arrows is easy and fun, not to mention the satisfaction you’ll gain from taking game with arrows you’ve crafted yourself. Anyone can do it – and do it well. Armed with only a few basic tools and the information offered here, you’ll have no problem turning raw shafts into top-quality hunting arrows.
Nock Installation
Year’s ago nocks were all glued on, now most arrows offer pressure-fit nocks that fit snugly but are turnable. Tunable nocks are definitely the way to go. These systems will make tuning a lot easier, and they hold up to more hard shooting than will glue-on nocks.
Assuming you aren’t going to paint (crest) your arrows, nock installation is the first step in the arrow building process. Use hot melt glue or epoxy when installing bushings into aluminum. When installing them in (or over) carbon shafts, use a rubber-based epoxy such as that available from Beman or Arizona Archery Enterprises (AAE).
Regular glue-on nocks should be pressed firmly into place (without glue) until after the fletching has been attached. When the arrow is finished you can rotate the nocks to the proper orientation so the fletching clears your rest and then glue them in place. Bohning Fletch- Tite works fine for this.
Apply The Fletching
You need a fletching jig, but it doesn’t have to be fancy. I’ve had good luck with the $20 plastic Martin jig I bought more than 10 years ago. Other good ones are made by Bohning, Bitzenburger and Grayling. You have three clamp options: left helical, right helical and straight
(no helical). For hunting and 3-D shooting, right helical is the most popular choice. If you’ll be using feathers, make sure to order feathers from the same wing as the clamp (right helical takes right wing). Vanes are manufactured straight and can be used with any clamp, so you don’t have to specify left or right when ordering.
One of the best fletching adhesive I’ve used for vanes is Fast-Set Gel made by AAE. This is a super-glue product that sets up in only 10 seconds allowing you to use a single-clamp jig and still fletch a dozen arrows in mere minutes. Fast-Set Gel will work on all shaft styles except AFC’s film-dipped carbon arrows, which require a traditional cement such as Bohning’s Fletch-Tite. Of course, Fletch-Tite will also work on aluminum arrows but takes about 10 minutes per fletching to set-up before you can remove the clamp. Fletch-Tite is still the best choice for feather fletching, however.
Place your fletching in the clamp so that its back edge will be about 3/4 inch ahead of the nock taper or nock bushing on your arrow. Adjust the back of the magnet on your jig (the magnet holds the clamp in place while the glue dries) inward or outward until the tail of the fletching sits squarely on top of the arrow. Next, adjust the forward end of the magnet to achieve the desired amount of helical. Easton’s technical representatives recommend four to five degrees of helical. I use a bit more myself – probably closer to seven degrees – but this is only on large diameter aluminum arrows. On smaller diameter carbon arrows I stay closer to Easton’s standard.
When using a straight clamp, (as opposed to a helical clamp) you don’t have as much lee-way and must either install your fletching perfectly straight or with a very slight off-set.
After your fletching is installed, apply a small dab of adhesive to both ends of each for a little added insurance against tearing loose.
You have more freedom to experiment with your fletching style and degree of helical than with any other aspect of arrow building, but it’s still best to observe a few general ground-rules. When making aluminum arrows for hunting, stick with four to five inch fletching. Five inch is a bit better because (in theory at least) it offers a small amount of added stability which can make a difference when shooting broadheads.
Carbon arrows, because of their smaller diameter, work best with shorter fletching (four inch is a good starting point) or you can run into a contact problem when trying to pass long helical fletching through the narrow gap in your rest. You can also experiment with various fletching orientations, such as 70/110 degree four-fletch, (you make this change by inserting a different indexing template into your fletching jig). But the basic 120 degree, three-fletch will do just fine under almost every shooting situation.
Cutting Arrows To Length
Draw an arrow and have someone mark it about a half to 3/4 inch in front of the rest. Cutting arrows is easy with the right equipment, but with the wrong equipment it can be a real headache. For limited quantities of aluminum arrows you can get by with a small rotating pipe cutter. I’ve done it a few times, but I’ve also made some pretty rough cuts, and basically ruined some arrows, in the process. You’re far better off pooling your money with a couple of buddies and getting an electric cut-off tool. You can also take your arrows to a pro shop (that’s equipped with an electric cut-off tool) to have them sized – usually for a price.
Installing Inserts and Outserts
Inserts and outserts (out serts are used with some types of carbon arrows) shouldn’t be taken for granted. Consistent accuracy with broadheads can be difficult to achieve when these components fit loosely. Inserts and ouserts should install without any free-play. Usually you don’t have too many options with outserts – you get what the arrow maker offers – but you do have options with inserts. I’ve had good luck with aluminum inserts from Easton and Saunders and composite inserts from AAE. Inserts should have a light press-fit with the inside of the shaft so that each broadhead you screw in will line up perfectly with the shaft.
Aluminum inserts used in aluminum or ACC carbon arrows should be installed with hot-melt glue. Composite inserts in aluminum work best with a rubber-based epoxy, and the same applies for aluminum into carbon (Beman ICS or Gold Tip Graphite XT arrows) or when installing metal outserts on conventional all-carbon shafts. When you’re finished you can install a broadhead and spin test your arrows to make sure the inserts are properly aligned.
Take some time to visit http://www.eders.com/ to view their catalogue of parts and equipment to assist you in your build.
Armed with the information above, you could now have a weekend hobby 🙂
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So much energy, so few solutions
The sun is the biggest source of renewable energy.
Solar power has become fairly pedestrian since the first photovoltaic cells came out of the lab in the 1950s. Today, utility-scale solar farms soak up the sun and photovoltaic panels dot rooftops across the world. The power generation is finding its way into transportation, too, alongside other clean-burning fuels like hydrogen. Just a few years ago, the Solar Impulse prototype plane flew nonstop without any fuel from San Francisco to New York. And companies like Toyota are looking to bring hydrogen cars mainstream.
Crazy Solar Power Plants
“The U.S. was really the pioneer of the whole global solar photovoltaic industry,” said Juris Kalejs, an IEEE member and CTO of the Lowell, Massachusetts-based solar developer American Capital Energy. Having worked in photovoltaic technology development for more than 30 years, Kalejs has seen wild ideas come and go. The energy crisis of the 1970s spurred dozens of pie-in-the sky ideas, he said. But that hasn’t stopped people from innovating. Here’s his grounded take on highly unusual ways to harness solar power today.
Andre Broessel designed glass spherical lenses filled with water that act like solar concentrators.
The Los Angeles-based startup V3Solar made the news rounds last year with its literal spin on solar. Slick renderings showed a design for deep blue solar cells in a cone shape that could rotate. The company says they want to take photovoltaics from flat and static to 3-D and dynamic. A new video V3Solar put out this summer had more details about how its spinning mechanism could maximize energy generation.
Kalejs said he said he thought the setup could work but he was skeptical about the complexity. “It looks like something that’s a nice decorative piece you might find in a fountain,” he said. The company said it would show its prototypes to potential investors with a non-disclosure agreement.
Other designers are imagining different shapes for traditionally flat solar panels. Going rounder could mean capturing sunlight from every possible direction. Last year the Japanese optics company Kyosemi launched Sphelar Power to manufacture micro-spherical solar cell beads from discarded silicon and electrodes that are wired into a mesh. André Broessel, an architect at solar architecture company Rawlemon in Barcelona, designed glass spherical lenses filled with water that act like solar concentrators both large and small.
Kalejs called Broessel’s idea a neat one that would appeal to consumers but pointed to companies attempting a similar technology with 20-foot-diameter solar concentrators. “It’s a very tricky system to make and you need to make it on a large scale to make it cost effective,” he said.
Minuscule solar panels placed on microbes could create a chemical reaction akin to artificial photosynthesis
Scores of scientists are working on artificial photosynthesis by developing systems that chemically convert sunlight, water and CO2 into oxygen and plant fuel. Unfortunately, photosynthesis has less than a percent efficiency versus 20 percent to 30 percent for regular solar cells, Kalejs pointed out. The risks with artificial plants and microbes are also quite high because a disease or fungus could wipe everything out.
British researchers from the University of East Anglia announced earlier this year that they’re working on artificial photosynthesis by placing minuscule solar panels on microbes in an effort to create hydrogen for fuel. Kalejs said he found their approach interesting and added that he’s attended National Science Foundation meetings where attendees discussed putting photosynthetic material on top of a solar cell. “Everybody’s been looking for a boost,” he said.
Reusable peel-and-stick solar cells can be made easily and affixed to just about anything solid.
Effective transparent and thin-film solar cells have been on the technology wish list for a long time. Several companies have already started manufacturing flexible solar panels but rigid ones remain more affordable and easier to produce, resulting in high quality. Earlier this year Stanford University and the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory came up with reusable peel-and-stick solar cells that can be made easily and affixed to just about anything solid: toys, helmets, transistors and even business cards. The resulting power is still relatively small, though.
Kalejs cautioned that sunlight breaks down materials made with polymers, making the technology unstable. “It’s a short-life product right now,” he said. “The organic solar cells probably wouldn’t last more than a year or two, if that long.”
Bottle Charger is a way to recharge cell phones using a water bottle filled with boiling water and a mini-turbine
One person’s trash represents solar tech treasure for someone else. Last year blogger and tech writer Ryan Matsunaga posted step-by-step instructions on how to convert a water bottle into a solar lantern for $2. In February, Kenyan designers launched a Kickstarter campaign around the Bottle Charger, a way to recharge cell phones using a water bottle filled with boiling water and a mini-turbine. Although the initial prototype simply required a temperature differential, the designers hoped to integrate a small solar dish that could heat water with sunlight continuously during the day.
“I have no idea how cheap or stable it is,” Kalejs said of the Bottle Charger idea. “I guess you’d say, well if it works, use it.”
Solar-powered wearables will need to get more durable if they’re going to be practical.
Solar technology’s sleek lines and deep colors are tempting to designers who have incorporated solar cells into purses, necklaces, jackets and mini-dresses. That technology tends to be more high fashion than high function. Charging a phone in a jacket that has a solar power component can take hours. Solar-powered clothing companies have come and gone. Kalejs said that organic solar cell material wears out in a few years so even if the fashion looks timeless, the tech isn’t. He remembered seeing a company that turned spherical solar beads into jewelry and said he can still see how it would appeal to consumers.
Solar arrays could be installed in the open land than runs alongs roads.
Oregon Department of Transportatio
Roads and highways are a natural lure for solar technology innovators. Asphalt does a great job at absorbing and storing heat. Plus there’s so much of it around already — the infrastructure is there. Several years ago engineers and chemists at the University of Rhode Island created a project to develop ideas for harvesting solar heat from roads. Their suggestions included placing flexible photovoltaic cells on concrete highway dividers and installing water pipes in asphalt. At the same time, the company Solar Roadways wants to embed solar panels directly into roads.
Kalejs was highly skeptical of that, calling it a poor use of solar modules. However, solar modules could be put in conventional arrays beside the road, he said, as they’ve done in Oregon. There’s no shortage of land for that.
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