With its solar-powered light, the Solar-Powered Garden Insect Theatre offers a sustainable insect habitat that attracts moths, lacewings and butterflies into your garden. The solar panel charges the internal battery by day, then lights up the insect theatre by night. The battery automatically turns off at daylight to recharge. The insect theatre is made from sustainably grown timber and treated with an environmentally safe wood preserving agent. Insects get in and out of this cool habitat through holes in the…
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Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning – Keeping cool via the abyss
Cold seawater will soon be pumped from the ocean’s bottom to cool more than half of downtown Honolulu. This $240 million project by Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning LLC owned by investors in Hawaii, Sweden, and Minnesota, and managed by Renewable Energy Innovations – could cut the city’s air conditioning electricity usage up to 75% while slashing carbon emissions and the use of ozone-depleting refrigerants. A five-foot wide pipeline will run hundreds of feet below the ocean, suck up thousands of…
Read MoreThe Oregon Scientific RMR802 Solar-Powered Thermometer
The Oregon Scientific RMR802 Solar-Powered Thermometer is an ultra sleek, ultra thin, radio-controlled clock and indoor-outdoor thermometer. It can display temperatures in �C or �F, store minimum and maximum daily temperatures, and when it’s cold, the thermometer on the display will light up an LED Ice Alert if the outside temperature sensor detects that it’s reached freezing temperatures. It also has an internal battery and a solar panel for long life. The clock and calendar automatically set by receiving a…
Read MoreSolar Street Light Kit – Recycle shoes into party lights
It’s amazing the creative ways people think of the 2nd R (as in Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). This spring, do-it-yourself-ers will love the new Solar Street Light Kit. No more tossing out those favorite, well-used sneakers or running shoes when you can turn them into party lights by adding solar cells and LEDs Created by Scottish design firm Lost Values, the kit contains solar cells and LEDs and comes in two sizes – for kids or adults, with 3 or 6…
Read MoreRegen ReNu – Solar-powered Docking Station Charger
As portable chargers go, the Regen’s ReNu puts a personal solar panel into a sleek, innovative design that will make charging your electronic devices a snap. Weighing 500g (1.1 lbs), this cool 9′ x 9′ portable charger can hang on a window with a suction cup, be attached to a window frame or be placed on a table or desk with its built-in stand. In direct sunlight, ReNu’s built-in solar cells collect the sun’s energy to charge its internal lithium…
Read MoreEneloop Kairo – Keeps hands warm
Winter means a constant battle to keep hands warm and Sanyo has just released two new Eneloop Kairo portable rechargeable hand warmers that will do the job. The single-sided Kairo KIR-SE1S comes in white or pink, while the double-sided Kairo KIR-SL2S is available in silver or pink. Use them in or outdoors. Smaller than a deck of cards, the Kairo fits easily in a purse, pocket or backpack. The 2 versions differ in that the single sided has an internal…
Read MorePrestige Wallmounted Waterbutt – Stylish water saver
With water availability becoming a growing issue, it’s nice to know there’s a simple device like the Prestige Wallmounted Waterbutt that can collect and store rain water for home use. This easily-attached, award winning compact device – made of black UV protected recycled polyethylene – stores 100 litres (22 gallons) of rain water, which is collected from a standard down-pipe. When the water tank’s full, excess water goes out the overflow, so you don’t have to worry about it. Use…
Read MoreCarGo – Saves car spaces for parking bikes
Copenhagen, site of the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference, has introduced something unique to handle their astonishing 15,000 bicycles in their fair city – the CarGo. Though a pilot project lasting the next 6 months, this fiberglass, car-shaped shell, by Danish design firm Goodmorning Technology has cabins to store 4 cargo bikes inside and takes the space of just one traditional car parking spot. The outer casing features solar powered lights -four headlights that light up after dark and another…
Read MoreSno Wovel – Eco and back-friendly snow shovel
Snow blowers are notoriously noisy, fumey and snow shovels are hard on the back but the Sno Wovel turns all them on their ears. This amazing shovel works 3 times faster than a standard snow shovel, is environmentally clean, quiet and maintenance free. It’s seesaw action lets you throw twice as much snow into piles over 4 feet high. It’s excellent for snow conditions from slush to even heavy snow over 2 feet high. Made of heavy gauge steel and…
Read MoreNix X10A – Energy Saving Digital Photo Frame
Technology leaps ahead of consumer thinking on this one. NIX Digital has created a motion-sensing, energy saving picture frame. The NIX X10A Energy Saving Digital Photo Frame will switch itself on when you’re within 2.5 meters of it. Its cool features include 1GB internal memory, a high resolution 10-inch LCD screen, able to take downloads from any brand of camera, and “drag and drop” from your PC via USB cable. You can also use SD, SDHC, xD, Sony MS, USB…
Read MoreXO2 Urban Transformer – Brilliant folding electric scooter
The XO2 Electric Scooter does what folks have dreamed about since we first saw the Jetsons cartoons – it folds in on itself. Called the first “Urban Transformer” scooter, the XO2 is a series of lightweight, electrically-powered scooters with a low saddle, large backrest and are easy to use. Manufactured by French company XOR Motors, it folds into a quarter cubic meter luggage cart in seconds, small enough to drag onto a train or upstairs to the office for a…
Read MoreHumunga Stache – for dog lovers everywhere
Christmas is, amazingly, around the corner, so what better to consider that a dog toy with a twist of humor? The Humunga Stache is one of the most whimsical dog chews I’ve seen yet. This non-toxic black rubber ball has a molded giant mustache attached. When your dog bites into the ball, he suddenly looks like a character out of a Victorian novel! A word of caution. This is a fetch toy only – be sure to supervise your dog…
Read MoreThe Mona Lisa – Renaissance meets e-recycling
Just when you thought you’d seen it all. In the epitome of recycling, Taiwan based ASUS has recreated the Mona Lisa – using old PC motherboards and computer chips. ASUS built its reputation on motherboards and their Eee PC line of netbooks and nettops, so no surprise they’d use these as part of this wacky attempt at art. This surreal collage has its home in the Taiwanese lobby of ASUS. Wonder what their “crazy idea” guys will come up with…
Read MoreKill-A-Watt Graphical Timer – The eco gauge gets a facelift
The Kill-A-Watt, the ubiquitous gadget power meter has had a face lift and a brain transplant, behold the Kill-A-Watt Graphical Timer. A digital version of the standard timer, this easy-to-understand device easily programs even quarter-hour ON/OFF periods for 24/7. Even program different settings for each of the 7 days! It’s fully loaded surge protector guards against voltage spikes to safely power your coolest equipment. Memory and programming is stored and retained during power outages. You can track changes in your…
Read MoreIs a “road train” in our future?
The idea of letting your car drive itself has been around since the Jetsons. Now the European Union is testing out this concept in the form of a Road Train. With the idea of cutting down on fuel consumption, over the next three years the EU will test the Safe Road Trains for the Environment (SARTRE), where eight vehicles would be linked by wireless sensors to operate as one “train.” A professional driver would control the “train”, monitoring what’s around…
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