Cheap, powerful, and available almost everywhere—solar energy is a truly great thing. With these 10 sun-powered projects, you can turn a sunny day off into some brag-worthy, possibly money-saving backyard tech. Leave them alone long enough, and nearly every kid will investigate, or at least hear about, the devastating effects of magnifying glasses and clear, sunny weather on insects. Route that fascination with concentrated sunlight into some wood engraving. Aluminum foil (or, preferably, foil tape), sunglasses, a razor blade, and a magnifying glass are all you need to get creative with an old piece of wood or other dark objects. You'll need to provide supervision, lest bad aim turn into a kindling incident, but it's a great project for kids, as well as a unique way to leave your mark with style. It's not an efficient way to keep your hot tub filled, but the kind of solar-powered water heater detailed at the Instructables link above can get a big batch of water up to 170F without requiring any work from your water heater, and the kit costs around $5 with the right parts suppliers.

Even if you pay a bit more, think about how often the backyard grill, deck, or pool could use a little cleaning with some hot, soapy water. This project gets you a free source of ever-ready cleaning water, and at a pretty neat price. This little project is the most reliant on a strong bit of sunlight, but totally worth the effort when you pull it off. The chocolate polishes the bottom of a soda can, which better focuses and intensifies sunlight reflections, creating a cone of fire-starting power that leaves your fellow campers impressed—or the other attendees at the park picnic grateful you were there when they forgot the matches. If you've got a small-ish lawn, a battery-powered mower is much easier on your and your neighbors' ears, and it saves you the hassle and cost of gas refills. Take those eco-benefits to the next level by converting a gas-guzzling push mower to use a solar-charged battery. Appropedia's version is a definite weekend project for an older model, but if you've got a newer battery mower, it's not too hard to simply start charging it with a solar panel instead of your wall socket, and this guide will help get you there.

A solar-powered house sounds like a neat idea in abstract, but how would you know if your house's roof could really sustain worthwhile energy? Luckily, a big search company has overhead images of just about every house out there, and mashup tool RoofRay can use that image, plus your location's average sunlight and some roof details, to get a starting estimate on whether you can use the sun to push back on your power meter a bit. White Sheer Cotton Curtains Probably the least practical and most expensive of the projects listed here, the solar-powered Wi-Fi extender is definitely the most rewarding from a geek cred and green power perspective. Best Women'S Neutral Plus Running ShoesPopular Science explains in great detail how to solder and network together a semi-standard Linksys Wi-Fi router, range extender, solar panel, battery, and higher-powered antenna, and then set it up to grab Wi-Fi from your household's main network and expand it to the great outdoors—or, at least, the outdoors behind your house. Piano Movers Chicago South Suburbs

That leaves you with regular web access anywhere around your property, without having to worry about running cables across the lawn. There's an entire realm of recipes and cookbooks that purport to help you get cooking done in the summer without turning on your oven. Skip the gazpacho and the house-warming heat with an oven built from aluminum foil, construction paper, plastic, and a few other household items, including a firm cardboard box. It's great for saving energy, saving time, and feeling like you really made the most of a warm, sunny day. Want to get a bit more efficient and physics-y with your outdoor oven? Try a parabolic solar cooker. If you're lucky enough to live where plants and food grow all year, you already know the power of photosynthesis. For those who could use a little more prep time for their seedlings, a longer growing season, or just a buffer against the occasional plant-punching dry spell, The Door Garden explains how to take some light construction materials—$50 if you happen to have most of it lying around, about $150 purchased new—and build a greenhouse that will withstand most winters and thrive in every other season.

Just got a few plants you want to get started with condensed solar power? Try the mini-greenhouse made from a window. We're big fans of the MintyBoost DIY USB charger kit, a great project for electronic beginners and pros alike. It was only a matter of time, then, until someone switched the power source from AA batteries in an Altoids case to a lithium-ion battery with solar charging capabilities. Completing the modified kit isn't a great leap more difficult than the original, and once you do, you'll be glad to get a lot more use out of your windowsills, and hand over a lot less money at the grocery store every few weeks. It's not necessarily the most effective method of charging, but it's undeniably cool. The solar-powered outdoor lights they sell at your local garden/home improvement store can be subtle or original-looking—if you want to pay a premium. Otherwise, you're stuck with painted plastic and models that hold a pretty weak charge. The sun jars constructed by our own Jason, on the other hand, cost only about $11 each—less if you have jars or batteries on hand—and give off a pretty neat glow, powered entirely by solar energy from earlier that day.

What sun-powered projects are in your mental queue for some sunny weekend? What great solar hacks have you pulled off already? Tell us all about them in the comments.Everyday millions of people flip a switch; light fills the dark rooms of their homes or the outside darkness surrounding their houses. Why not have solar lanterns set the stage? You can make them as elegant or as plain as you like. Solar lanterns will not only save you money, they can also be used to set a tone of ambience or just light your way as you walk to the refrigerator in the middle of the night for a snack.DIY Solar Lanterns are easily made and here I will explain to you the different kinds and the how to. You will find below the items you will need and the instructions on how to create it lanterns. You can add you own personal touches to make them yours. Can you imagine sitting outside on a warm evening in the middle of June with dusk quickly approaching, your lanterns lit up as the fireflies start to show themselves.

Doesn’t that sound great?These are perfect if you have a small overhead porch to hang them from. An evening of sitting outside in the cool night air with the soft glow of these small frosted string of solar lights.With this solar lantern that looks like moonlight lighting up the room. You will get a softer bright light then when you use a solar light without water. The reason for this is the light actually disperses the light as it shine through the water making it just a bit brighter. This lantern could be used as a bathroom night light or for a child’s bedroom. This one is actually the easiest out of all of them.These lanterns are the most popular to make. You can go to your local grocery store and buy a case of whatever size jars you like at a decent price. You can get little ones for those tiny little toddler hands so that they can hold them. You can get medium and large ones also.Unless you like to do things on your own and make things on your own. You may be thinking right about know why do I would I want to do this?

What good will making my own solar powered lights do? No matter how small solar energy is a renewable energy source and that is a good thing. Think of how much fun it would be to make these with your kids. The bonding that will happen between you and them.These items don’t take that much time to make so it won’t take that much time out of your busy day or theirs and just think the next time a storm blows through and knocks your power out you have a backup plan (at least for a minimal amount of lighting).These lanterns are one of the most beautiful I have found so far. They aren’t that hard to make either and are great for gift giving!Have you ever heard of it? Let me explain it. What a solar light bulb or light tube? It is a simple clear soda, water or other plastic drinking bottle that can be used during the day to bring natural sunlight into a dark room or dwelling. The one things I see wrong with it you have to put a hole in the ceiling of the area you want to light up.Sealing the area around the bottle up will definitely secure the bottle and prevent leaking around the area.

A very positive thing that I see is that it is natural light. It is also free. You can also use these with solar and flashlights also.Making paper lanterns at home is a great idea because you can make for all occasions. The Fourth of July, Halloween, Birthdays, Labor Day, Easter etc. Whichever festive occasion you choose you have choices. You can even go to the dollar store and buy those paper lantern shells that they have available for purchase if you do not have the time or the patience to make one. Then you can just add ribbon and a splash of paint here or there to make it look festive.Hang them throughout your yard and enjoy. Change them to match the festivities.Please consider another method of crafting these type of lanterns.If you can find any glass containers that look like cracked ice then you can make your basket look like it’s a piece of frozen ice. Even if you can’t and you just have a really pretty hanging basket that has a nice thin design on it you can use it, It will look elegant either hanging or sitting.

The wire frame baskets you can pick up at any of you hardware store are great for this project.People have been making tin can lanterns for as long as I can remember so this this is just a new twist on an old thing. Maybe it’s one of those things you forgot about. You can use ant can for this. You don’t need to pay for anything except your solar lamps unless you already have those. Most of use usually put sand and candles in the wonderful little lanterns. How about trying some solar lights? The only thing you would really have to do is take out the light during the day so it could charge or is there another way?Yes, there is so if love these wonderful crafty little tin lights then with a little effort you can make then solar. Stop spending money on candles and sand.I have spent many hours researching and looking for unique ideas on how to make solar lanterns at home and inexpensively. How others have used the resources they have to create different items to suit their needs. All of the items that I have spoken about are very easy to make and not very time consuming.