portable solar power

hmm... I doubt that there's anything cheap and easy. First off, you need an inverter to convert the energy coming from the panels into AC for use by your appliances. I don't think that the building people would allow an inverter to be wired into the main circuit on your unit. It'd probably be a major headache. You could by a small charger to use solar for battery charging etc. There are products out there that you can hook-up to your laptop to power it by the sun. As for major appliances though I don't think there's much in the portable line, if anything.

 

If I recall, my Kill-a-Watt read about 2kw/hr a day for my refridgerator. So, you would need to calculate the battery pack size and amount of solar panels necessary to maintain that 24 hours a day. I think you will be surprised at the expense, actually, its not cheap. You should use a sinewave inverter, to avoid damage to the fridge compressor, if I'm not mistaken. If your goal is simply to offset some of your electricity use, it is much cheaper to use a battery-less grid-tie system. They are generally much more efficient than a solar panel-to-battery-to-inverter-to-appliance type system, and have no expensive batteries to maintain. Depending where you live, there may be some incentives too.
If you really need to backup your refridgerator, you should probably consider one of the DC powered, extremely efficient ones available. The amount of panels required would be MUCH less:
Priuschat

 

yeah, like KeyDiver pointed out, fridges are pigs. Absolute pigs. In an apt your hands are really tied. You just don't have a lot of control over some of the biggest energy users in your living space. Fridge, AC (if you have one), dish washer, etc. Seems like the only thing that you really have control over is light bulbs. At least you could install CF bulbs. Lower energy foot print and less radiant heat. That help on cooling costs (a little, anyways). You can also reduce your ghost load by putting things like stereo, TV, DVD/VCR on power stips. These devices always draw power (a couple of watts) even when they're "off". Little custom build inverters that charge portable devices (they're called vampires) also draw a small amount of power all the time. Unplug them when you don't need them.

One thing that you could use solar for (for about $300) is portable device charging (cell phones, razors, cameras, roombas, etc).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tripp @ May 9 2006, 01:46 PM) [snapback]252239[/snapback]</div>

That is one energy drain that I could eliminate in my house (I confess, too many gadgets.) Do you have any recommendations for a solar charger that would be useful for this purpose?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(larkinmj @ May 9 2006, 12:49 PM) [snapback]252269[/snapback]</div>

I sure do:

http://store.sundancesolar.com/20wadosoenst.html

Big Daddy has one and it appearently works well. I'm gonna pick one up soon myself

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tripp @ May 9 2006, 04:50 PM) [snapback]252345[/snapback]</div>

Looks good- Thanks!