Nearly everyone is becoming more aware of the benefits of living life a little greener. Recycling and conserving power as well as switching to renewable resources is a great way to help keep our environment clean and protected. One of the most obvious renewable resources is solar power, and with so many solar power products coming onto the market, you may have begun to wonder if it feasible to charge your laptop by solar power.

While it is possible to charge your laptop via solar power, there are many problems that make it a difficult solution. The main issues are the time required to charge, the expense, and the size of solar power solutions.

Despite their small size, laptops consume a fairly large amount of energy. Desktop replacement laptops can consume up to 130 watts or more, and even many netbooks, designed for battery life and portability, still consume around 40 watts. Most portable solar power chargers, however, can only supply around 15 watts at maximum, meaning that even when plugged into the solar charger, the laptop would still be draining battery life. Depending on the laptop, this would require anywhere from 5 to 10 hours of charging time when the laptop is turned off and only charging. Not many users will want to stay stationary for such a long time so that their laptops can charge.

The next major hurdle is the expense of solar power solutions. Most portable solar power chargers cost around $300 and up. This is a difficult investment to make for a charger that will still be very slow to charge a laptop.

The last major problem is the size of solar power chargers. In order to provide a large enough surface to convert solar power to electricity, most solar power chargers have to have a fairly large surface area. Given that many users want a solar charger for the freedom of portability, carrying around a large solar power charger is probably not what they have in mind.

Although it has been around for many years, solar power is still a fairly new technology that is still being refined. As solar charging technology continues to improve, and the power requirements of laptops can be reduced, the idea of charging a laptop or notebook by solar power might become more feasible in the future. For today, however, it remains an expensive, bulky, and slow solution.