About two months ago, I revealed plans to begin the second Summer Solar Challenge, and invite everyone else to join in on this project. Well, now we’re two months on, and things have changed in our lives. As COVID-19 continues to be a challenge, the need for social connection has grown more and more. This article is about that, and why this year’s challenge didn’t go as expected.

Last summer, I set out with a goal in mind: to run my phone off of solar energy for the entire three months that school is out. It turns out that doing something like this is extremely difficult to accomplish. Usually, my phone would only get charged to 20%, drain to 12% over night, and die within an hour. This means that the solar charger will only get charged to half capacity every day, then will get drained when I charge my phone.

Now I’ll get into what everyone has their minds on right now: social connection. Sadly, now that we are in the digital age, we mostly rely on our devices for either video chats, texting, or planning a socially distant meetup. I’ve had to check my phone for new notifications of a get together with friends almost every day. Therefore, my phone needs to be charged for most of the day.

In conclusion, my expectations were once again not met in this year’s challenge. However, I have explored other sustainable energy solutions. For example, a mini hydroelectric generator that can trail behind a kayak. Who knows? Maybe this will lead to a future challenge?

What can you do to limit your carbon footprint? How can you limit your daily technology use?