Oh well, a lot of people in the northern hemisphere had their share of cold, sun light deprived winter weather but rest assured, the next summer season will come soon and with it plenty of sun light hours per day.

We will soon have a look to the latest collection of sun hungry solar bags but for today we have a fabric solar panel for your consideration that can serve as sun-shade on your patio and will generate lot of electrical power at the same time.

A company called ShadePlex is offering this powerful sun shade textile. Actually the textile itself is not power generating but serves as a frame for the flexible solar panels giving them support and a means to be used as sunshades or to cover other objects with sun power generating ability.

These solar power fabrics are light weight compared with conventional metal framed solar panels, can be stored easily by rolling up and can be put up in sunny places as easy as to place a sun umbrella or tent.

Properties our adventure trip loving readers who want to explore the remote corners of our world could consider, helping to keep the GPS and other devices alive. No need to lug around heavy batteries that need to be disposed somewhere.

But not so fast, ShadePlex is just starting operation and will serve first B2B which means it will take some time until you could consider having solar fabric as part of the adventure travel gear – just let’s hope it won’t take too long.

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Finland based Suntrica is a young company exploring the possibilities of thin, lightweight solar panels as wearable add-on solution for clothing and bags.

An interesting idea as such self-containing add-on module allows to quickly and easily move it from one bag to another, leave it at home when no sun is shining.

Personally I like the integration of flexible solar panels, I don’t mind if my solar panel has no use while being under an overcast sky as the integration takes away the need to take care and not loose another item in my growing ‘gadgetery’ I am carrying around.

Nevertheless, some people might like the modular solution and the next best thing I could imagine using is Suntrica’s SolarStrap™, a lightweight, flexible  solar-charging badge containing on one half the flexible solar panel capable of harvesting 50mAh by full sun light and housing on the other half the storage battery with a capacity of 950mAh, larger enough to fill up most cell-phones and MP3 player when fully charged.

The power output is rated at 5.5V at 800mA via mini USB and a selection of the most common cellphone adaptors. The weight of the SolarStrap is 60g and the dimension when folded is 144x97x25mm.

The SolarStrap might not the most powerful solar charging solution but it is small to be placed quickly anywhere on your bag or body and being small and freely placable you can alway adjust the placement to point straight into the sun achieving the maximum on solar power harvesting.

A interesting concept / product but I couldn’t find any shop who is selling it and no price information was available as of today. I will watch out if the SolarStrap becomes commercially available.

The hottest Solar bags on the planet come from Noon Solar. Bold statement but proven to be true with their latest solar bag models: the brand new Oakley Solar Tote and the 2008 Cortland Solar Tote model.

Excellent news also for everyone who waited for an online shop to get the hands into one of those gorgeous looking eco-fashion bags: Pivot Boutique which opened in September 2007 in Chicago, a boutique devoted to eco-fashion has now it’s online presents and offers the whole range of Noon Solar bags, shipping them around the world.

Noon’s handbags are the smartest and best looking solar bags we have ever seen, charging all the our little gadgets while enjoying the summer sun.

The ‘eco’ of Noon’s bags does not stop with the solar panel. The bag’s exterior is made of chrome-free, naturally dyed and tanned leather.

The Cortland goes for $420.00 and measures 16″ x 13″ x 4”. The roomier Oakley goes for $390.00 (red model) and $378.00 (brown model) measuring 16″ x 14″ x 6″.

The price includes high quality components starting with the flexible solar panel, charging cable, the power bank with a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack, a wall charging adapter for rainy days, 4 USB phone tips and a USB cable to iPod cable.

Noon Solar’s complete 2008 collection offers plenty of fashionable choices to go ‘eco’ and power grid independent.

Check out the complete Noon Solar collection and let the sun-power be with you.

When talking about solar bags we usually write about Solar Totes, Solar Messenger bags, Solar Backpacks but we never looked at Solar Bike bags which actually make a lot of sense considering they are most of the time directly facing the sun or at least the bright side of life.

I would think that Solar bags specially designed to be mounted on a bike rack are very likely to be a more solar energy effective solution even more so if you enjoy long ride through the country side.

Eclipse Solar Gear offers the Nomad Solar Bike Bag which will keep your cell phone, portable GPS unit, camera and other ‘on-the-go’ small electronic device charged while away from the power grid.

The bag has an integrated flexible solar panel that provides power to (trickle) charge directly your gadgets (similar to our DIY Solar bag).

Because there is no storage battery the charging will only work as long as there is sun or at least enough light hitting the solar panel. But again, the way a bike bag is used this should be no problem for most of your rides.

If you are a fan of night rides or enjoy riding in rainy weather you are out of luck, the charging will not work. Just want to highlight this here before you run ride and get this Solar Biker bag.

The Nomad Solar Bike Bag comes with a car cigarette lighter adapter so you need for your whatever device you want to connect a car cigarette light adapter. A bit wired as everyone and Eclipse Solar Gear assumes people have car cigarette lighter adapter in their standard gear portfolio.

This Solar Bike Bag offers quite some storage room by measuring 15″ x 11″ x 10″. A couple of pockets help to organize all the gadgets and other stuff you need for a ride.

The price is surprisingly low, available for just $129.95 directly by Eclipse Solar Gear or other online stores.

If you frequently take a ride on a bike you might want to have a closer look to this Solar bag as I think it really should do a good charging job most of the time you ride around town or back country.