Posts by Category: Eco Friendly

All things green and planet saving.
Eco Friendly September 21, 2009 posted by
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Veggie Trader – the newest green exchange

Is your garden over producing this year? Got more tomatoes, zucchini or fresh herbs than you can possibly eat or give away? Never fear – Veggie Trader is here! Founded by East and West Coast foodies in the US, this novel start-up trading group has signed up over 7,000 folks so far. You can buy, sell or trade Nature’s bounty. For a free resource of local produce, this sounds like a real winner! It’s local, affordable and sustainable, but we’ve…


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cool tech September 1, 2009 posted by
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Cooladio Solar Cooler – bringing technology and picnics together

The Picnic Plus Cooladio Solar Cooler keeps food cool AND charges those electronic gadgets we just can’t live without. A nifty food and beverage thermal-insulated cooler, the Cooladio also has a built-in solar-power docking station, great for charging up your MP3 player. With two speakers and headphones, it’s the perfect outdoor-techie lover’s dream. US$84.99. Via Chip Chick. The Cooladio solar cooler from Picnic Plus is a thermal foil-insulated cooler and a solar-power docking station in one! You can plug in…


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Eco Friendly August 31, 2009 posted by
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Solar Powered Hanging Plant Basket Rotator – A gardeners dream come true

Gardeners rejoice! Now you can have the best of all worlds – great plants that rotate automatically to catch the sun. The Solar Powered Hanging Plant Basket Rotator uses a weatherproof, timer and internal solar cell to power the weight-activated turning mechanism. Attach a plant to the basket and the carousel rotates 360 degrees twice a day. Totally solar powered, there are no batteries to change and it holds up to 12kg (27 lbs). Great for heavier plants, especially when…


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cool tech August 14, 2009 posted by
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Pedal Power – bicycle dynamo charger gives leg powered gadget juice

Fit a Pedal Power AC Dynamo Charger to the front wheel of your bicycle and you’re guaranteed juice for your phone, GPS and any other electrical gadget. Just as long as you keep pedalling to keep it all topped up. Jolly innovative. There’s no word yet on whether a tandem will be enough to keep a television and fridge working, but we’ll let you know as soon as we hear. [Video]  PedalPower+ is an innovation that allows bike riders to…


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cool tech August 13, 2009 posted by
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Solar Power Shower – two hours of sunlight, 140 degrees of heat

This Solar Power Shower is a bit clever, seeing as in bright sunlight the base can heat 8 litres of water up to 140 degrees F in around 2 hours. Plug in your garden hose, adjust the mixers and you’ll have a nice temperate shower for very little energy cost. Thank you Mr Sunshine. $199.95.  Just connect to your garden hose to fill the base to its 8-liter capacity. In less than 2 hours of sunlight, the water reaches 140°F!…


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Eco Friendly August 13, 2009 posted by
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Reclaim Cell Phone – a biodegradabe cell phone (almost)

The new Reclaim cell phone – courtesy of Samsung and Sprint – will launch on August 16th. Billed as an “eco-conscious phone, at $49.99 it features a case made of 40% corn-based biodegradable plastic. Another eco-friendly feature – when the phone’s fully charged, the charger lights up, reminding you to unplug it and save electricity. Available in Blue Ocean and Green Earth colors (who thought of those names?), it features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, e-mail and Web access, a 2.0…


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Eco Friendly August 10, 2009 posted by
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Power Pouch – universal solar charger

The Power Pouch is a universal solar charger for your gadgets and gizmos. The neat bit is the fact that the adapters are contained inside the charger bag (pouch, geddit?) which makes it all a very compact unit. It comes with a separate rechargeable battery which you can keep juiced up for night time re-charging, and enough adapters to cope with most bits of kit. £25.97.  The Power Pouch is a fast (double the speed of some products on the market) universal solar…


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Bookmark This! August 7, 2009 posted by
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LED Droop – the fight to improve the efficiency of our LED lamps

This long but interesting ieee Spectrum article takes an in-depth – and very scientific – look at the mystery surrounding the drive to make our LED lamps more efficient. The problem, known as droop in the trade, means that LEDs cannot be manufactured to emit more light, because the output drops off significantly above a certain wattage. That’s apparently why most household LED lamps only go up to 20W or so. It’s a fascinating, albeit geeky, tale which shows how much science…


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Eco Friendly August 3, 2009 posted by
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BluePlanetSMART – stylish composting

For those who take being green to the next level BluePlanetSMART – a spherical, weather-resistant blue plastic composter – takes the smell out of indoor composting. This cool looking, stylish device by Ecolosphere Inc accelerates the decomposition rate and easily rotates for aeration. The BluePlanetSMART cuts the volume of a household garbage bag by more than a third, producing high-quality fertilizer for flower and veggie gardens, lawns and houseplants. The tumbler holds 9 cf and the base stores 5 US…


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Bookmark This! July 27, 2009 posted by
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Matmos Fireflow R1 – the first ever tea-light powered lava lamp

The Matmos Fireflow R1 sounds more like a racing car than a piece of household furniture, but nonetheless it’s notable for being the first of its kind to run solely off a tea light. Yep, no more planet destroying electrical power to heat that oil. This puppy uses those small candles to do the job, which will no doubt soothe the souls of all 60’s bread heads now craving for a more ecologically groovy yeah icon. Inspired by the 40th anniversary of…


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Eco Friendly July 22, 2009 posted by
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Solar Sound Bluetooth Speaker – not just cutting edge but eco too

The Solar Sound Bluetooth Speaker contains two 5W speakers, and can connect to your Bluetooth phone or laptop and so save you getting all wrapped up in your music. Or cables. Or something. What’s more it contains a solar panel which means no more batteries. Although please remember kiddies, it will need 12 hours sunlight to provide 8 hours speaker sound, so think hard before you squander those precious daylight minutes. £59.99.  Solar Sound Bluetooth Speakers are light and portable…


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Eco Friendly July 22, 2009 posted by
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Green Speed air-powered motorcycle – air powered speed machine

While it’s only a prototype at the moment the Green Speed air-powered motorcycle sure looks the part. Designed by Edwin Yi Yuan and RMIT University, the bike is powered by compressed air stored in a pair of carbon-fibre air tanks. The compressed air drives a Di Pietro Rotary Air Engine which can rotate up to 10,000 rpm. Combined with a featherweight bike built for speed, this should make for a fun ride. The final version will also have a solar…


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Awesome July 21, 2009 posted by
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The 3D Printer comes of age – making parts you can’t get anywhere else

I stumbled across this amazing story of US television host Jay Leno using a 3D scanner and printer to create obsolete spare parts for his car collection and was immediately transported into a world of science fiction wonder. How cool is this technology? OK, so the parts have to be relatively unsophisticated, but just think of the potential as these printers advance in capabilities and the price comes down. We’ll finally be free from the constraints of obsolescence and will…


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Eco Friendly July 20, 2009 posted by
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Solar Powered Travel Bag – plain and fancy, earthy and bleugh…

We’re complete suckers for tech that looks like tat, and this Solar Powered Travel Bag fits the bill to a T. Just look at it. A more nondescript, almost pig ugly carrying implement you’ll be hard pressed to find this side of the Urals, and as for utility, is anyone seriously going to believe that this tiny solar panel will charge anything larger than an electric toothpick in under 3 months? No, thought not. Still, if you’ve got a spare £14.99…


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Eco Friendly July 16, 2009 posted by
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6-in-1 Solar Robot Kit – eco bargain lets you play with light

The 6–in-1 Solar Robot Kit promises to deliver hours of happy fun from nothing more than some plastic, a few gears and the output from any nearby solar object. Not only can the kit be assembled into a Mars Rover clone, with its own funky solar power source, but also a fan, windmill, boat or nuclear submarine capable of sustaining life under the polar ice cap. OK, so we lied about the last bit, got a little over excited. Best…


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