Creation of an e-Center for small spaces and for the outdoors with a portable projector and a science fair board.   Look up portable projector at the website listed below.
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While sketching out plans for an outdoor home office, I am considering combining the ideas of a modern garden and lawn shed plus a backyard retreat as a place to entertain home office activities with portable office equipment and electronics.

Modeling a Solar Powered "Edutainment Center" in my Study/Sunroom

The term edutainment is recent word combining the ideas of entertainment and education.  It has been suggested that the first forms of edutainment were parables and fables.  The actual word edutainment was first used by the Walt Disney Company as early as 1948.  The word itself can be attached to various modern day learning modules.  Education-Entertainment is a blend of basic communication theories and fundamental entertainment pedagogy.  In media, the term can be applied to early games such as The Seven Cities of Gold released in 1984 for the Atari 400/800 with version a version released for the Apple II.  An episode appeared on TV in the sitcom Happy Days that resulted in a dramatic increase in the demand for library cards.  Radio is another source of edutainment in the media.  The academic world has used this in the form of presentations, class skits, etc. to keep the attention of tired students. For me, infomercials are a form of edutainment.  At any rate, for my purposes, a way to present solar shed projects and products is by building what I dub an "Edutainment Center."  For me, the product below is a great device to include in a solar system containing an "edutainment center."

The Modern Part of the Solar Shed 101 Project

      I am trying to apply effectiveness in design and scientific modeling to my project.  The solar shed is one way to do this for me.  It seems that an investment in building outdoor solar structures at this time could be of benefit to a lot of homeowners and especially those people approaching retirement.  Modeling and design of these structures could be an opportunity for students.  The business model of these devices appears to be very rewarding at this time.  My strategy is to pick five books from my library each quarter and study them.  I am trying to organize around small spaces (shed) and therefore I'm looking for books that apply and hoping that they have gone electronic.  The 'hybrid' solar shed can serve also as a power supply for the electronic book reader and a place to utilize it.

The Classical Part of the Shed as a Power Supply for My Studio/Office/Study

The home-based solar structures project identifies the snap & grow greenhouse(search greenhouse at link below) as the classical component of the hybrid shed.  I don't exactly know the history of the green house, but I found a link that includes the history of sheds. Take a look at the Green Sheds link at this site as well as the Backyard retreat link to get ideas of a different kind of outdoor structure. Imagine solar panels as well as skylights on the finished structure.  The polycarbonite  panels in snap & grow greenhouse afford little attenuation of the solar radiation (below UV range of course) and therefore they are a great "shelter" and storage area for the solar briefcase(search briefcase at link below) and the solar generator(search generator at image link below).  These items combined with the portable office equipment and decor provide a great solar system for the self sufficient portion of the hybrid.

Back to Basics at Home with Sunlight

Long ago the word edutainment crept into our vocabulary.  This was a time when entertainment-centers were popular.  It was at a time when CD's first were announced and were an immediate success.   Next came the internet along with all of its e-possibilities and great expectations for learning and business. Phones, radio, TV, and stereos integrated with the internet and the e-lifestyle is continuing to progress with great new i-ware. I'm in the process of creating an edutainment center in my home-study with portable solar-power and "all-in-one" electronics.  

I am planning to build a "modern" greenhouse in my backyard and need to combine this with a "hybrid-modern" solar shed to generate electricity for revenue as well as generating the electricity for the edutainment center.  I am currently in the process of estimating how much home equity and revenue these structures will produce.  I know that the value/cost ratio of solar structures is pretty good.  Also, there are great incentives to rejuvenate with sunlight. Recently, I've produced "science project models" of solar systems to power a small scale edutainment center consisting of my graphing calculators and solar-electric kits.  I created a game controller for my TI-84 in 2007 as a science project design and have added a solar power supply to it in 2010.  Now, I've  become interested in extending these concepts to the backyard by combining the idea of classical gardening and modern gardening into this entertainment and educational center.

We tried to grow small apple trees in our garden years ago but they disappeared rapidly.  The modern genetically produced honey crisp apple is now available to the gardener.  I plan to start these seedling trees in the protection of the greenhouse and to eventually surround them in the adjacent garden with a solar powered electric fence.  So, truly, the idea of a "modern victory garden" combating the finacial woes that face us is truely within our reach. Combining the power of photosynthesis with the power of photovoltaics is a positive step for education and the environment.

Just imagine the possibility of lighting your gardens with free solar energy and powering your pond/waterfall as well as mowing your lawn and backyard putting green with a solar-powered robotic lawnmower while your read your e-books under a solar-powered beach or patio umbrella or take a solar shower.  All this is possible with todays technology and products.  And it's good for the environment! You could even park your solar-powered golf cart in or near your modern photovoltaic sun-roofed carport and use it as a wheelbarrow  for your modern backyard garden when not golfing.

Sunlight has been the basic power source since the beginning of time.  Only recently have we realized that it is an instant source of power that can transform our backyards into positive energy and cash flow enterprises. 

Solar Electric Systems

Imagine automating your garden-work and powering the equipment with free electricity from the sun.  Combine this automatic watering system  with a solar generators and imagine automating indoor and outdoor garden work with free electric power.  The link below shows an example of an automatic watering system.

Solar Systems

A solar panel dedicated to a certain function meets can serve as a system based on free energy.  Examples of these are solar spotlights, flashlights, and fountains.  Click on the item below to check out a solar fountain.