text: how hard is it to generate about 10 - 20 watts renewably? thanks to a power meter thing for my centrino laptop i know it doesn't go over 35 watts consumption even at full chat... when in economy mode and wordprocessing it's somewhere between 8 and 9.5w... and of course even less when the screen & disc turn off, then it standbys, then hibernates.  so if i could generate this kind of power from solar, prevailing wind, a windup thing, or even just a crank i could gently turn, i could compute for free (internet for free, if i find somewhere to leech wireless from!).  thing is i have absolutely no idea what this represents. how tired would my legs get on the exercise bike arrangement / feet on the converted 1800s sewing machine treadle? my hands on the wind up crank? how big a solar panel for typical uk use?  if i make clever use of energy saving bulbs and a pumped water storage system i'd only have to add about 50% capacity to be lit the same way :-)  ...saving just a teensy little bit of power to justify my 1kw fan heater on icy days. brr! there is a new type of external wifi antena at the ccrane company that runs off a usb port excellent for wifi super gain...for long distance access...check it out.. start up load is usually double the wattage for some electrical devices....2 6volt batteries and a 15 watt solar panel should give you an easy 8hours of computing...most modified sine wave inverters do not like the load a charging computer puts on them...especially at start up..its not uncommon to get an alarm as the voltage requirements go up.. if it was me a deepcycle 12 volt battery...89.00  a 400watt inverter 36.00  and  a 15watt solar panel..150.00 and your on the way to solar computing..just a note on any battery powered system...if you dont use a deep cycle battery...dont go below 50% dod depth of discharge it will make the battery last longer.