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Posts Tagged “

Eco-Friendly

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gadgets

Charger Powers Up Gadgets, Illuminates Dark Areas and Really Works Your Calves

We have seen crank powered chargers before, and even one that involves pedaling, but this bizarre contraption really has it all. With a little pedal power you can juice up a wide range of gadgets—and even use the built-in LED on the battery as a flashlight. But what about the health benefits? More »

4:30 PM on Wed May 7 2008
By Sean Fallon
5,849 views, 28 comments

fuzzywuzzymodo

One "Horsepower" Vehicle is a Slap in the Muzzle

Once upon a time horses were the kings of the open trail. The best horses were treated like royalty and their riders were worshiped for their skill. Unfortunately, those days are over. The Naturmobil pictured here was was built by Abdolhadi Mirhejazi of Dubai and it is powered by a single horse walking on a treadmill, encased in a plastic prison like some sort of common hamster. When the horse gets tired, a battery kicks in to power the vehicle along with the lights and the electrical system.

More »

5:00 PM on Mon May 5 2008
By Sean Fallon
8,939 views, 26 comments

Latest by med: @nutbastard: lol Yeah I suppose it depends on whether we're talking about Clydesdales or shetlands. Motivation is clearly a factor here. more »

gps

Use GPS to Find Your Dead In New Forest Graveyards

When you die, instead of having your grave marked by granite, you can now peg it to something even more immutable: latitude and longitude. A new eco-friendly forest graveyard promises a new kind of service, according to the Sydney Morning Herald:
The deceased will be buried in biodegradable coffins between gum trees in a protected koala sanctuary...Relatives and friends will require a satellite navigation device to find graves of loved ones.
More »

8:00 PM on Sun Apr 20 2008
By Wilson Rothman
6,820 views, 55 comments

Latest by Linux_all_the_way: @dingus: I salute you and if you go before me it would be an honor if I could attend such a ceremony, of course wearing the proper attire of a chemical hazard suit and standing a good distance away up wind. more »

supercomputer

IBM Mixes Water, Chips to Make Supercomputer And Cook Dinner Too

It might sound like a risky idea, but IBM's new Power 575 supercomputer uses a new system of chip-level water-cooling to keep its processors chilled. Nicknamed "Hydro Cluster", the machine actually uses 448 of the new 5GHz POWER6 processors. They must kick out a hefty heat load because IBM thinks there're eco-friendly uses for the spare hot water. Much like the Swiss town pool mentioned the other day, the suggestion is that it could be used for heating people's homes or even for cooking. Check out the video to see how IBM plans to take water even closer to the chip surface in the future. More »

9:40 AM on Wed Apr 9 2008
By Kit Eaton
5,368 views, 29 comments

Latest by xeijix: cloudcomputing + hot water for a town? more »

warmth

Swiss Swimming Pool Warmed by Surplus Server Heat and Alliteration

There's clearly something going on with the Swiss and hot water: first "extreme jacuzzi-ing" on top of Mont Blanc, and now they're going to use waste energy kicked out by servers to warm a swimming pool. It's a simple concept: take the heat from the server room air-conditioners at a new data center, and direct it through heat exchangers to the water in the town pool. The town, Uitikon, will get a hot pool and all they had to pay for was some of the connecting gear since the heat would otherwise have been vented. Cool! ... or rather, hot! Darn eco-friendly too. [Sydney Morning Herald]

5:57 AM on Thu Apr 3 2008
By Kit Eaton
3,292 views, 15 comments

Latest by Palestina: rofl @ that pic more »

solar paint

Scientist's New Solar Panel Tech: Paint Your Home For Power

Forget old-news solar-power shingles: a team from Swansea in the UK have found a way of creating solar "panel" paint. A by-product of their research into degrading paint on steel surfaces, their invention is applied in layers to steel cladding, and converts a gentle 5% of inbound solar energy to electricity. Sounds like not much, until you multiply it up over the surface area of a building. More »

9:27 AM on Thu Mar 27 2008
By Kit Eaton
9,992 views, 25 comments

recycled vase

Facade Vase: Recycle Your Water Bottles as Flower-Holders

The Facade Vase from Orcadesign is a wool slip-on cover that lets you turn an unwanted plastic bottle into a minimalist vase. It's a design that will clearly please eco-friendly types and cheapskates too. We can see the conversations now: "Here you go, honey, I've got you a flower and (glug, glug) a vase!"... "Oh, you cheapskate!" "Ah, that's what you think. Here, use this to cover it." "No." Or something like that anyway. Sadly, just a concept for now. [Orcadesign via Dvice]

12:00 PM on Wed Mar 12 2008
By Kit Eaton
2,985 views, 26 comments

Latest by kyel57: @Git Em SteveDave: The water in the vase would act as a base...you don't see half filled watter bottles tipping over all over the place...no one else adressed this issue cause THERE IS NO ISSUE more »

ecobattery

Green Cell Eco-Concept: One Battery For All

Green Cell is a concept with a single simple idea: use safe, standardized rechargeable batteries in all portable gadgets. The environment would benefit from fewer batteries being thrown away, and you'd need fewer chargers for all your gear. Green Cell batteries would even be made without toxic chemicals, and sold from vending machines that double as recycling points. It's a staggeringly sensible idea, which might be why it earned third place in the Greener Gadgets competition. The main drawback: persuading manufacturers to configure every gizmo to the size and voltage of standard rechargeable cells. Standardization worked pretty well with the AA battery and USB, though, so you never know. [Ecofriend]

9:33 AM on Fri Feb 29 2008
By Kit Eaton
2,894 views, 22 comments

Latest by Worf: There were battery standards - they didn't work out so well. There was one that Duracell was sponsoring for laptops, but that one quietly died out in the mid-90s. Problem is, people want thinner and smaller phones, and soon, the "battery more »

thermomouse

DORmino Mouse Feeds on Laptop Heat for Power

Designers really are exploring every corner of the laws of physics to bring you eco-friendly products nowadays— this latest design even makes use of the waste heat kicked out by a laptop. The DORmino concept uses an oversized mousepad to soak up the warmth, which embedded electronics convert and transmit to power a wireless mouse. No need to recharge, no dead batteries to pollute the environment. Though we wonder if more energy is used during manufacturing than you'd actually save when using it, it seems pretty ingenious to us. [Ecofriend]

11:59 AM on Thu Feb 28 2008
By Kit Eaton
3,458 views, 13 comments

Latest by Ben: I find this hard to believe. How would it transfer the heat into electricity? Would it use use a turbine powered by the steam coming out of your super computer? Seriously - I don't get it. more »

audio

Magno Radio Gives Your Tunes Some Eco-Friendly Wood

This Magno radio is simplicity with knobs on, very retro-toytown, if you ask me. Designed by Singgih Kartono, it is made from sustainable wood instead of nasty non-biodegradable plastic like every other audio gadget out there. It's "MP3 player compatible," (which we guess means it's got a line in) has AM/FM and shortwave reception, and is available for a whopping $275 from April 1. [Areaware via LikeCool]

5:44 AM on Thu Feb 7 2008
By Kit Eaton
1,321 views, 13 comments

Latest by scathontiphat: I love this radio more »

question of the day

Question of the Day: Do You Care if a Company is "Green" When it Comes to Gadgets?

As I am sure you know, Greenpeace has been all over Apple about it not being more eco-friendly with regard to its products. Needless to say, the term "hippie" gets thrown around quite a bit when we discuss these issues, but there is no doubt that there is a lot of pressure on companies to go green these days. However, the question is: do you care if a company is green as long as they make cool gadgets?

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

5:20 PM on Wed Jan 30 2008
By Sean Fallon
3,374 views, 85 comments

Latest by Fatty1: so manny small minds. But I'm sure we can all agree on these facts..? its really very simple 1- there is a limited supply of resources on this planet..no??? 2-so far 53% of gizmodo readers do not think their individual actions could more »

autos

Earth Electric Utility Vehicle Should Be The New ATV


The Model One ATV is an electric, all terrain vehicle outed as the the world's first "Earth Utility Vehicle." A creation of Barefoot Motors, the Model One has Mythbuster legend Jamie Hyneman as design engineer. Their goal was to create a vehicle designed to work in nature that would be eco-friendly while still providing needed power. This is their first model, with a lithium battery-powered electric motor, is equipped with both high and low gears, all wheel drive, regenerative braking and 1000 lbs of towing capacity. It has all the power of a standard ATV, but with zero emissions. The Model One ATV could be the future of ATVs, and being all electric, it's logical too. [Barefoot Motors]

8:27 PM on Mon Nov 5 2007
By Christopher Mascari
10,888 views, 27 comments

Latest by ripfire4: @islandmonk: And you guys think that production of ethanol comes for free? Just imagine the amount of land you need to use to substitute the amount of fossil fuel we are using now. In the end, we'll just end up more »

green

Green Airways Flying Saucer Plane Design

Is this green flying saucer plane the eco-friendly plane of the future? It's a design from the CleanEra project, aimed at making air travel more economical (in the environmental sense) by using lighter materials and weird ass shapes. Their goal is to get the carbon usage down to less than 50% of current planes. Whether this is light on the Earth is yet to be seen, it looks like something the Green Lantern would fly in. [LiveScience]

6:30 PM on Tue Jul 24 2007
By Jason Chen
9,145 views, 50 comments

Latest by Karma in 4D: @2MuchBS: This thing got a crash test rating of 4.5 Frisbees more »

use your hands

Sony's Eco-Friendly odo Line: No Plugs Required

Eco-chic is well, chic these days, so Sony's stepped up with a conceptual line of environmentally conscious consumer electronics that are powered by a combination of kinetic and solar energy. That's right, no more AC adapters or chargers. More »

6:45 PM on Tue Jun 5 2007
By Matt Buchanan
4,924 views, 8 comments

gadgets

Wireless Outdoor Solar Speaker

In honor of the recent Earth Day festivities, here is a great speaker to add to your repertoire of outdoor entertainment activities. The speaker can wirelessly play (up to 150 feet) from a beacon attached to a media player. Even better is that it recharges with the help of the sun's happy rays of light. $200. More »

8:30 PM on Tue Apr 24 2007
By Travis Hudson
4,982 views, 9 comments

laptops

Is the Asus EcoBook the Hippiest Laptop Ever?

When we took our first look at the Asus EcoBook back in March, we knew the laptop was going to be constructed out of bamboo but we didn't know much else. Now we know that it's probably going to be the greenest laptop available to date. Here's why: More »

9:20 AM on Tue Apr 17 2007
By Jason Chen
3,237 views, 12 comments

gadgets

Eco-Friendly Mud Clock is Powered By ... Mud

Don't believe what your mom has been saying all your life—there is always a place for mud in the house, especially in the bedroom (kinky). The Mud Clock is a eco-friendly clock that requires no batteries, just a little dirt and water. Stick the clock powering components in the dirt and voila—the Mud Clock is functional. Toss some seeds in the dirt to grow some maize, or something. $20. –Travis Hudson More »

5:00 PM on Thu Feb 15 2007
By Travis Hudson
1,682 views, 4 comments

gadgets

Quietrevolution Technicolor Wind Turbine

This wind turbine is the work of London low-carbon energy consultancy and the XCO2 engineering firm. It is designed as a vertical axis turbine so it remains very silent. Best of all, there are LEDs mounted around the outside of the turbine, so as it spins it can display images. Eco-friendly and kind of cool? What is this world coming to? More »

3:02 PM on Thu Apr 20 2006
By Travis Hudson
663 views, 6 comments