Review of Ebay Solar panels

I bought 2 solar panels on Ebay. The dimensions of each are 55x80mm. These are both encased in clear resin. I connected them in parallel and got 7vdc, and 60ma from both of them combined. This is pretty respectable seeing how it was a sunny but winter day about noon. Each is rated for 6vdc 0.6w, so that's 10ma max. But solar panels don't ever get the output they are rated for due to how they are rated in the lab.

For $1usd with free shipping, that's enough to charge a small battery, like an AA, but not really a powerbank.

Update June 2019: The epoxy-coated solar panels get cloudy the more they are in the sun, thus reducing their effectiveness. Caution is advised when using these. 

Example here.

Pesticides found in 207 food samples by FDA study.

The FDA's Pesticide Monitoring Report from 2015 contains a report on what pesticides were found in foods. It's a good idea to show these studies to show how dangerous some of the pesticides are, and how widespread they are. Organizations have known this for quite a long time. But some organizations that claim to protect your health are bought out by industry.

Excerpts:

In FY 2015 (October 1, 2014 through September 30, 2015), FDA analyzed 5,989 samples in its regulatory monitoring program: 5,572 human foods and 417 animal foods.  Because the violation rates of import samples are generally higher than for domestic samples, FDA tests more imported than domestic commodities (4,737 import and 835 domestic samples).  We collected imported human food samples from 111 countries and domestic human food samples from 39 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.

75% of food samples were found to be contaminated.

Source
FDA PDF from 2015.
More FDA Pesticide Monitoring Reports.

Glyphosate Use and Cancer Incidence in the Agricultural Health Study

Gabriella Andreotti Stella Koutros Jonathan N Hofmann Dale P Sandler Jay H Lubin Charles F Lynch Catherine C Lerro Anneclaire J De Roos Christine G Parks Michael C Alavanja 

JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, djx233, https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djx233

Published: 09 November 2017

 

There is strong evidence of glyphosate exposure linked to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma (NHL).  The study did not links between glyphosate exposure and NHL, but did find some links between glyphosate exposure and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) compared with people who never used glyphosate.

The study covered licensed pesticide applicators from North Carolina and Iowa. This graph shows some correlation between glyphosate exposure and NHL, but not with other cancers.

 

Sources
Journal of National Cancer Institute. (Not related to National Cancer Institute!)

Some EU members say no to glyphosate 5 year renewal

Some EU members, realizing the danger glyphosate puts humans and wildlife in, have voted no to renew Monsanto's 5 year license in their areas.14 countries voted for the renewal, 9 against, 5 abstained, including Germany. France has already agreed to a 3 year renewal so the deadly chemical can be sprayed on GMO and non-GMO crops. For the vote to pass, two conditions must be met.

1. 55% of EU countries must vote in favor, and
2. countries that support the vote must represent at least 65% of the total EU population. So larger, more populous countries have an advantage in voting.

14 countries voted for the renewal, 14 countries did not. That's only 50% of countries voting for  passing the renewal.

Source
Sustainable Pulse.

UK will support ban on pesticides that harm bees

This reverses an earlier decision by the UK government, because new evidence has appeared that shows neonicitinoids have contaminated the whole landscape.  75% of all flying insects have disappeared from Germany.

Read more at The Guardian.

For more information on neonics click here.

Can Tesla help rebuild Puerto Rico's power grid?

Tesla (maker of electric cars) wants to help Puerto Rico rebuild their power grid. The hurricane destroyed most of the power grid, and in some areas, 100% of people were out of power for 2 or more weeks.

Tesla wants to help build a new solar power grid by storing power in giant battery banks, and distributing that power over power lines. This would be a networked design so there would be solar collectors and battery banks in several different cities. The PR power company was on the verge of bankruptcy when the hurricane hit so the power infrastructure was already poor, damaged, and need of repair at best.

Tesla has already sent hundreds of Powerwalls to help people, but those need electricity to recharge.

Sources
Youtube video.

1985 EPA memo says glyphosate causes kidney tumors

A recently found archived document form 1985 shows, before the EPA was bought off by Monsanto, that the EPA thought glyphosate caused kidney tumors. Monsanto claims tumors are unrelated to glyphosate exposure by showing past studies. EPA claims past studies have too much variation to nullify the no tumor claim.

Sources
PDF here. Get it before it's taken down! Alt link: https://web.archive.org/web/20180131074049/https://archive.epa.gov/pesticides/chemicalsearch/chemical/foia/web/pdf/103601/103601-170.pdf

RMS wants to get into the battery business

Robert Murray-Smith created his own company, FWG, with 2 partners. He is working on making a better battery. He already has a test format for powering an electric bike. Initial tests are promising. His videos are very open and he gives you recipes and instructions for making your own graphite capacitors and other energy-related items.

Sources
The FWG website.
RMS Youtube channel.
Article: http://revolution-green.com/fwg-battery-sale-robert-murray-smith/

NEW Hair test checks for pesticide exposure over long term

The Detox Project has a new hair test that can test for pesticide exposure over the long term.

Hair testing shows your exposure to pesticides over a period of 90-120 days, whereas urine only shows your exposure for approximately 14-21 days and blood testing shows your exposure for 2-3 days.

Hair is easy to collect, easy to ship, and easy to store. Their kit is $199. One kit tests for household pesticides, another kit tests for agricultural pesticides, and there are more kits. The lab work is done by Kudzu Science.


Source
Detox Page.

DelMonte to eliminate BPA and GMOs

Del Monte, a major US food producer, announced that it would be eliminating BPA in can liners. But they must use another phthalate, which has not been shown to be safe. They also want to eliminate GMO foods in their products. But Roundup is not just used on GMO food, it's used on all crops to kill it all at the same time, whether the crop is GMO or not.

Links
Article: http://www.organicauthority.com/Del-Monte-Eradicate-BPA-GMOs