Certainly a problem. You have some choices: include a bigger battery, change out the battery more often, reduce power consumption, and provide extra power. We've been tinkering with solar, since that's where I have a bit of background. Starting to look at a mini turbine as well. Of course, on the supply end, there's going to be the need for charge controllers/voltage regulators. We just ordered some components to try building a few circuit designs. There's commercial stuff out there, but might as well give a crack at making our own.
There's also using a switching function to shut the vernier shields on and off, which would also reduce power consumption. I've just gone through a skyping with the Hixson kids on how to measure power consumption of different loads and to get a rough estimate of total daily consumption. Bit of ohm's law there.
What the voltage regultion and switching functions both have in common is that they feature FET's (Field Effect Transistors), which will give a good opportunity to bring in a bit of circuit fundamentals. Don't know if I want to make it a recorded tutorial, skype it, or both. It's now on my list, though.
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