While solar panel technology has been around for a long time, recent innovations have made the panels portable and efficient enough for folks to use as everyday personal power generators.

WSJ: Take Zap! Tech Geeks, Starved for More Battery Power, Give Themselves a Charge

It could be attached to folding solar panels of the sort used in space missions, and back on Earth it could provide portable power in deserts or at the poles.

ECONOMIST: Storing electricity