As someone who owns a Solar Messenger bag, I just want to offer the following in order to clarify a point I see with this article.

Re: Energy bills rising? These tips may help.

#1) Claim to green fame: Solar panels installed on the bag can recharge devices without using electricity.

That's not exactly correct of course, a more accurate statement would be that the bag generates electrical energy from the sun, and that energy is stored in a battery. You use that stored solar energy from the battery to charge your cell phones, Ipods or Blackberry's and other small handheld portable electronics.

The real Green claim is that the bags are made out of a downcycled plastic soda bottle waste product, that would otherwise go into a landfill. And if you can manage to take your cell phones, Ipods and Blackberry's & other devices "OFF the GRID" you reduce your contribution and usage of the conventional AC electrical generation infrastructure and all the harmful environmental effects that go along with that.

C