So, we all know that solar power is the way forward. That it’s the cleanest, greenest energy around. That it’s also the most practical in terms of implementation. Now it’s possible to buy everything from DIY solar power systems, to small solar chargers for your phone.

I may be biased, because solar is my business, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. When it comes to selling renewable energy to the masses, the method that costs the least and has the fewest compromises is going to win.

If a renewable doesn’t impact the way we live our lives, but offers a cleaner alternative, it’s a winner.

Hybrid cars, hydrogen cars, and now electric have all shown that forcing people to make a choice between practicality and green motoring isn’t a good idea. While the improvements in technology have made all of them more practical, they all have limitations. While they become more efficient, easier to manage and better looking, until they can put the fun back into driving, they will never overtake gas.

Solar has none of those limitations. In the end, we don’t care where our power comes from. As long as the magic happens when we plug our stuff into the wall socket, we don’t care. Innovations like the solar charger only helps in that quest for convenience. It allows us to go anywhere, do anything and always have a steady source of power for our phones. As long as the sun is out anyway.

Wind is another practical renewable, but more difficult to implement. Mankind has used wind since the dawn of time, to drive sailboats, windmills, kites, dry clothes, and now make energy. But it’s difficult to implement at the domestic level. Sure you can buy a wind turbine and put it on a pole, or on your roof, but it’s ugly, and depends on a fickle wind to generate meaningful power.

Hydro power has been used for years, but only in large-scale implementations, a la Hoover Dam or the Three Gorges. This is also harder to implement unless you’re lucky enough to have a river running through your property. If you’re one of the lucky ones, smaller scale water mill type generators are possible.

While it isn’t good to assume, history shows that the sun rises every day in the east, and sets in the west. While this habit continues, we have predictable power at our fingertips. We can harness that power to use on our solar chargers, panels, pumps, or even on a solar farm to generate power for towns and cities.

There’s no escaping the fact that we have to ditch fossil fuels. It’s dirty, expensive and increasingly out of our control. That’s why solar power is so important. It’s simple to implement, easy to maintain and cheap to run. Solar chargers and generators allow us to have electricity anywhere, and only add to the convenience we experience. That’s why solar power is the answer.

We rely on technology more than ever now, especially portable gadgets like iPhones, MP3 players, laptops and navigation. The rapid development of the smartphone and tablet computing is only going to exacerbate our dependence on technology, portable in particular. So how are solar chargers helping?

Battery manufacturers are understandably happy about this. They are doing more business than ever as they struggle to keep up with the demand manufacturers are making of them. It isn’t all about volume, it’s also about efficiency.

One of the main downsides of batteries is their limited life. Even though Lithium-Ion technology has taken us far, it still has a long way to go before it eradicates all the downsides of using batteries. The average smartphone can last 48 hours between charges, less if you use it a lot. The iPhone and iPod are notorious energy hogs, sometimes draining a battery in hours.

If you’re out camping, walking, or on the beach, the last thing you want to see is a low power warning on your phone. For a while, the only option you had when away from mains power was to charge it in the car, or wait until you got home.

Fortunately, solar chargers came along. A smaller, more compact version of the solar panels you see on roofs that generate electricity from sunlight. The advent of the mobile solar charger meant there was now the opportunity to charge a phone battery while on the move. If you have access to sunlight, you had access to electricity.

While these chargers were in their infancy, they weren’t very efficient and they only worked on certain phones. When universal connections came along, the applications for solar chargers increased dramatically. As long as the panel could generate enough voltage, you could power almost any portable device.

Suddenly, worrying about running out of battery became a thing of the past. All you had to do was put a solar charger in your pocket and set it up when you needed power.

That was fine, as long as you live somewhere sunny. To begin with, chargers weren’t very efficient and had a hard time pulling energy from diffuse light, such as on a cloudy day. As the technology progressed, the ability to charge from indirect sunlight improved until it became viable for those not fortunate enough to live near the Gulf Coast.

With any new technology there is always innovation. From the somewhat clunky solar chargers of old, we now have a range of implementations to work with. Everything from roll-up charger mats, solar backpacks, solar camping gear, lights and much more.

While these products aren’t exactly setting the world on fire, they are slowly creeping into mainstream consciousness. As more and more people wake up to the possibilities of solar power, the products will become cheaper, and more efficient.

While the environmental impact may be negligible when taken in isolation, the more people learn to love solar power, the more likely they are to embrace it in other parts of their lives.

The more gadgets we have, the more we need to keep batteries charged. Smartphones, and the iPhone in particular, are known for their ravenous appetite for power. Even the newer iPhone4 has quite the thirst for juice. It’s a brave owner who strays too far from a power source while using Wi-Fi, GPS or Bluetooth.

To answer that need, several manufacturers have developed solar iPhone cases that seek to provide a steady supply of power, or a recharge when you’re not next to a power outlet.

It comes in the form of a leather iPhone case with a solar panel and small battery built in. The placement of the panel varies, but is usually on the side with the largest surface area. The panel contains photovoltaic cells that captures the sun’s rays and converts it into usable power, which is stored in the battery.

The battery is relatively small, and the voltages tiny, but enough to keep a battery charged, or to charge a dead one. Admittedly, the current crop of solar iPhone cases have mixed results, but the technology is improving all the time.

The battery is generally a thin lithium polymer battery that sits somewhere in the case. Most often they can output somewhere around 1500mAh at 3 to 5 volts, which is enough to power the iPhone.

Power is either transferred directly from the charger to the iPhone, or via the battery later. The current crop of batteries seem quite good. Small, light, and rated to hold charge for up to a year. Although they haven’t been around long enough to test that.

Solar power is the power of the future. It’s clean, it’s always there, and it’s renewable. Devising ways to utilize that power is the challenge of the future, and one that many manufacturers are rising too. It’s more than likely that as we see newer power hungry devices hitting the market, that we see a solar charger to suit.

You don’t have to be the outdoors type to enjoy the benefits of a good solar iPhone charger. They will work in a car windscreen or a windowsill too. Freeing up a power socket when they are in demand is almost as useful as having an iPhone battery that’s always fully charged.

Plus, it’s free. Even when they aren’t charging, leaving a phone charger plugged into the mains costs you money. When you charge the phone, it costs you money. Using a solar iPhone charger is completely free once you have bought the charger itself.

The only downside with these solar phone chargers is that they really need good, direct sunlight to work properly. They can have difficulty charging when it’s cloudy or when the sun isn’t shining directly on it.

This isn’t a problem restricted to solar iPhone chargers, but affects all solar devices. Some have the spare capacity to cope, but these chargers don’t. Tolerances are tight in order to keep them as portable as possible.

If you’re shopping for a new solar iPhone charger, bear this in mind. If you live somewhere without a lot of direct sunlight, make sure the one you buy is able to cope.

The sun is a dominant feature in our world. Modern life has removed much of it from our consciousness, but it’s still there, and we still need it. It gives us warmth, light, energy and life. Without it we wouldn’t be here. We used to worship it, praise it, and it represented the gods of ancient civilizations.

With this in mind, it seems odd that it has taken over two thousand years of ingenuity from “modern” man to come up with a way to harness it. Now you can get everything from solar phone chargers to entire power stations running purely on the power of the sun.

We own more gadgets and devices that use electricity than ever before. It stands to reason as we rely more and more on technology that this trend will continue. That means more batteries, electricity generators and power outlets will be needed as time goes on.

But what do you do when you’re not in reach of an electric socket and your phone needs charging? What if you’re out for the weekend and the battery is almost dead?

A solar phone charger could be the answer. With the newer devices becoming more portable all the time, they are now a viable option for the outdoors type or traveler.

A solar phone charger works just like any other photovoltaic device. It will have a panel that collects solar energy and a semiconductor that converts it into current. That current will be stored in a battery that can be used to charge the phone. The charger will have a power outlet that you plug the phone into, or a USB-type port for newer phones.

The best solar phone charger will be one that suits your lifestyle and the kinds of things you do. For example, a small 1 watt charger will be fine for maintaining charge on a phone while camping or where you are still, like on the beach. These are referred to as “trickle chargers” or “battery maintainers.” They can carry enough voltage to keep a battery topped up as long as they are exposed to the sun, but are limited in that they can’t store much for later.

A larger version may be needed if you’re on the move, or have multiple devices to charge. These will have larger solar panels and a larger battery. This inevitably means a larger, and often heavier, unit.

To find the best solar charger for the money, you have to assess your needs. There’s no point buying a large unit or backpack charger to keep an iPhone topped up. Neither is there any point spending money on a solar charger that can barely maintain even the smallest battery.

Knowing what you need, and what you’re likely to use it for are the two key questions which will need to be answered to get the best solar phone charger for you. It’s a lifestyle thing, just like the devices themselves. The type you buy is the type that’s right for you and the way you live.