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Earth Day 2013: 5 gadgets that help make going green easy

4. SolarKindle Lighted Cover

Solarmio
The SolarKindle Lighted Cover has a built-in solar panel to absorbs solar energy that powers the reserve battery.

  • By Steph Solis

The key to reducing your carbon footprint is not only in recycling and shutting off the lights when you leave a room, but also making eco-friendly adjustments that don’t require work.

By using a solar-panel cover on products like an e-reader, you can increase your intake of alternative energy sources while reading on the beach or in your car. And with Kindles becoming increasingly popular, they may also bring an opportunity to save energy. 

Kindle owners can cut down on their energy consumption with the SolarKindle Lighted Cover. The cover, which was released by SolarFocus in January 2012, is the first solar cover for Amazon’s e-reader. 

The form-fitted cover has a lightweight solar panel built in to absorb extra energy for the reserve battery, according to the product website. The solar power ends up providing extra energy for the LED reading light, as well as some additional power for the Kindle overall.

The website states that with the SolarKindle Lighted Cover, the integrated reserve battery can run the LED lamp for up to 50 hours straight without using the Kindle’s main battery. One hour under direct sunlight can provide up to three days of reading time.

Jordan Crook of TechCrunch, who featured the cover a week before it went on sale, wrote “I’ve done my fair share of Kindle cover research, and to tell you the truth I wish this new cover from SolarFocus was around when I did.”

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

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