Other product categories?

Two product catagories I think should be added, both relating to the sun's energy:

1. Solar heating - we are investigating solar space heating system as a supplemental space heating for our home which simply takes the sun's heat to warm household air and return it back to the house

2. Solar blinds - two types here and yes, we are investigating both as well:

• One type are installed on the exterior of windows (south facing) to repel 70 to 90% of the sun's rays from ever reaching the windows yet allows the persons inside the house to still see outside. These are meant to reduce the heat buildup inside the house and thus reduce energy costs from less air conditioning
• Another type is installed on the interior of windows (again, south facing). This type has two different sides. The first does the same at the exterior solar blinds. The reverse side is said to be heated by the sun's rays to help warm the room in the winter, even after the sun goes down (for how long, no idea).

Hope that helps,

Dan

I think it would make sense to add some sort of garden section to this Huddle.  For example, I have an electric lawnmower and weedwhacker which I could review.

I also think it would make sense to have a seperate cycling Huddle, because with all the various cycling products, that's a whole category of its own.

Great suggestions Dana. We're going to hold off on adding new product categories in this Huddle until we have data from more users, but this is great feedback.

It's not an "if" we'll have gardening stuff, it's "when" - because it will depend on if we decide to have a separate Organic Gardening Huddle or add it as a subsection to this one...we'll see.

As for cycling, we will absolutely have a cycling focused Huddle in the future - that's one I'm really excited about too. Keep the ideas coming!

Solar Chargers would be a great addition, since very limited consumers have large ticket renewable energy items (ie solar panels, solar power systems, wind turbines) at this point of time, there are many more consumers in the market who have already purchased smaller renewable energy charging products such as the Solio Solar Charger.

http://www.solio.com/charger/

I own one of these and could writeup a review =)

The point of few people owning solar panels, wind generators, etc. is a really good one. We should somewhat lower the barriers to participation in the site...we're just worried about getting too broad.

We'll definitely be adding some more categories soon and will solicit additional feedback as soon as it's time to add. Thanks a lot gogreensolar - stay tuned.

Deej,

Don't worry about getting too broad, as long as you are sticking to items that produce energy for a person then your not losing focus in my opinion. I feel you are absolutley right about lowering the barriers to participation on the site. You can also get a database of people have have already installed solar or wind and target them to become members and participate.

Another good category might be electronics in general.  For example, I've got a ZAP Recharge-It-All battery recharger that could go in an electronics category, as could computers, TVs, etc.  So could the aforementioned solar charger.

I have a couple items that have been talked about on this thread as well that I could review.  One is an electric trimmer... and I want to get an electric mower... (if I work it out I will also be charging them in the near future with a small supplemental off-grid solar system.

I also have a solio personal solar charger - in my opinion, a "small solar" catagory would be appropriate for this type of item and many others - ie: solar camping equipment  :-)

Hi,

Agree with the solar charger catagory.

I am purchasing a mass production solar powered lawn mower and picking it up next Friday. Very excited

I am also installing exterior solar blinds from a Canadian company on the weekend to see if they are as good as they sould......block most of the sun's UV rays yet still see outside.

I'll be writing up some articles about both during this month on our blog, Daily Home Renovation Tips, if any one is interested. In fact, I started today with the first article about the exterior solar blinds.

Dan

Thanks so much for the great suggestions everyone - we added a Solar Accessories category yesterday that will serve as the 'catch-all' for additional solar products like chargers, etc. I'm sure we'll be missing a few manufacturers that you need to add all your products, so please let us know what needs to be added.

I like the concept of the solar blinds too...we're definitely going to need to add windows and window treatments before too long. Keep the suggestions coming!