Macally has launched some sustainable bamboo cooling stands for laptops. The stands are designed to go onto your desk, with the laptop on top of the stand. The stand includes two USB-powered 2.5″ (5cm) fans to help dissipate heat away from your laptop. There are two models, the EcoFan (fixed height) and EcoFanPro (adjustable height).

By improving the loss of heat from your laptop, you actually save energy as your laptop doesn’t need to work so hard to disipate heat. The stands increase the air flow around the laptop, meaning the internal laptop fan doesn’t need to work so hard. You could even just unplug the USB fans and just use the stand on its own.

All of the stands are available from Amazon in both the UK and the US.

• EcoFan at Amazon.com ($31.77)
• EcoFanPro at Amazon.com ($32.99)
• EcoFan at Amazon.co.uk (£22.36)

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Article Permalink: Macally Sustainable Bamboo Laptop Stand

The Kill-A-Watt Programmable Timer combines a digital programmable timer (for controlling when your gadgets are switched on and off) with an energy consumption meter. The programmable timer allows you to schedule a full weeks worth of on and off switching of your gadgets, where each day can be a different to the next.

The Kill-A-Watt Programmable Timer also includes an over-current power consumption trip to protect your gadgets. There’s a surge protector with a slow start to minimise the chances of a surge damaging your gadgets too. To make things really easy, the timer has an internal backup battery that allows you to set the timer from your armchair, rather than crouching down at the plug socket!

To track your energy usage, the timer will record your power usage down to the minute, giving you an accurate picture of how much money you’re spending running your gadgets. This can then help you decide how often you switch your gadgets on and off via the programmable timer.

All measurements and settings are stored on the internal memory, and are thus protected from power cuts and from the unit being switched off. Plenty of functionality in a truly useful energy saving gadget for $69.99.

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Article Permalink: Kill-A-Watt Programmable Timer with Graphical Display

The Eco 7 Folding Bike is the concept design of Victor Aleman in Mexico. The Eco 7 is designed to be taken on planes and other transportation where space is a significant problem. Once you reach you destination, you unfold your bike and enjoy the great outdoors!

Pretty much every part of the bike is collapsible, including the main frame, the handle bars, crank, brakes, wheels and chain! Once the different elements have been removed from the frame, they all just fold together. The wheels are particularly clever, made from a total of 6 modules where the spokes fold into the rim of the wheel.

No mention of a prototype is mentioned, so I have no idea how long it would take to assemble and disassemble the bike in practice. I have a feeling that it would take around 15 minutes to take the bike apart. My only concern is that the bike might fall apart if one element of the bike was a little loose. That could be painful if a wheel gave way!

Source: EcoShopper

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Article Permalink: Eco 7 – Compact Transportable Bike with Folding Wheels

Getting the kids interested in the environment with eco-friendly toys is a great idea. The Solar-Powered Speed Boat Kit will keep the children occupied for a few days at least, as the toy helps children to learn about solar energy and motors. The kit includes all the parts needed to construct a boat that powers itself along water using two large paddles.

If there’s no sunlight, or the kids want to play with the speed boat indoors, then you just chuck in 2xAA batteries. Then you can play with the boat in the bathtub.

The only thing to note is that you can’t have batteries and the solar panel connected at the same time, otherwise you damage the solar panel. Although the kit is designed for children aged 8 or above, you might need to ensure they don’t break the boat by using the batteries and solar panel at the same time.

The Solar-Powered Speed Boat Kit costs £9.99 from Maplin.

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Article Permalink: Solar-Powered Speed Boat Eco Toy

Most solar powered security lights automatically switch on when motion is detected, however, the Solar Mate Point 5 is a little different in that it is switched on and off via a keyfob remote control. The battery is charged up via the solar panel during the day, and a fully charged battery gives you around 3 hours of continuous light.

The light has a total of 10 bright LEDs and an internal battery pack of 3 AA rechargeable batteries. The LEDs are bright enough to cover a 7 square metre area with light. The solar lamp is connected to the solar panel via a 1.7 metre wire, which allows the solar panel to be placed for optimal sunlight.

The remote control requires 2 x AAA batteries, which probably has a transmitting range of between 10 and 30 metres. You can also switch on the light without the remote control by using the button on the light itself.

The Solar Mate Point 5 costs just £19.99 from Maplin.

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Article Permalink: Solar Mate Point 5 – Remote Control Portable Solar Light

The Sun Bags are claimed to be the lightest on the market, weighing only 500 grams (1lb), including the solar panel, battery and all of the charging cables. The bags are available in 37 colors with optional custom printing, which is particularly useful for branding the bags with a company logo.

Prices start at around €120, which is currently around $180 USD due to currency fluctuations.

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Article Permalink: Neuber Lightweight Solar Panel Bags

It was about a year ago when I reported on the YoGen Max, which is as foot-powered laptop charger. However, Easy Energy are at it again with their YoGen Hand-Powered Gadget Charger. The YoGen charger charges virtually any mobile gadget by using a draw and release mechanism.

You can think of the draw and release mechanism a little like that you see on childrens’ toys. You draw the string away from the charger and then let it go. As the string winds back into the charger it drives an internal generator, which is then used to charge up your various portable gadgets, such as MP3 players, phones, cameras, GPS navigators, and more.

You only need a few minutes of pull and release to charge your gadgets. The YoGen charger comes with a master cable with changeable connection tips, such as mini-USB, Nokia charger tips, LG charger tips, Sony Ericsson charger tips, and of course the Apple connector. Surprisingly, the YoGen only measures 55 mm in width, 90 mm in length and 23 mm in thickness, weighing only 100g!

The units are available for $39.99 (USD) each, and shipping commences on 15th November 2009.

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Article Permalink: YoGen Hand-Powered Portable Gadget Charger

The Solar-Powered Hybrid Alarm Clock is an interesting clock as it uses both battery and solar power to work. During the day, the clock is powered using solar power gathered from it’s solar panel. At night, the clock glows blue due to the blue backlit display. Therefore the clock is designed to save energy by using as much solar energy as possible.

The clock also features an alarm mode with a snooze button, a calendar mode, a second time zone button, and a summertime switch to handle British Summer Time (BST).

It would have been better if the clock had featured a larger solar panel with an internally rechargeable battery, however, the energy consumption of the backlit display is likely to be pretty significant compared to the amount of energy the solar panel is likely to provide. Therefore in the absence of a large solar panel, the battery is needed to provide the backlit display.

The hybrid clock is available for £14.99 plus delivery.

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Article Permalink: Solar-Powered Hybrid Alarm Clock

The BodyGard Hand-Powered Emergency Tool is essentially a hybrid of a swiss army knife and a survival kit. The gadget contains a hand-crank so that you can charge up the internal battery for powering the built-in bright LED flashlight, the flashing red emergency light, the digital FM radio, the motion activated security alarm, or the mobile phone and cell phone charger. And those are just the electronic aspects of the 12-in-1 emergency gadget!

The tool also contains a panic button with an extremely loud sonic alarm, large 14mm diameter oil filled compass, signaling mirror to signal for help, a handy storage compartment for matches and/or pills, an adjustable lanyard to allow you to tie the tool to anything you like, and finally a charging unit so you can charge it via the mains too.

Basically this gadget gives you a lot of useful stuff for any situation where you get stranded in a remote location. The one lacking feature that might have been a good idea is a walkie-talkie. It would also have been nice to have an electronic pest deterrent. However, it’s a cool little gadget, and only costs $19.99!

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Article Permalink: BodyGard Hand-Powered Emergency Tool

The Solar-Powered Radio Headphones are perfect for people who love listening to the radio rather than listening to their MP3 player. I must admit, I much prefer radio as I enjoy the banter between the radio presenters just as much as a random choice of music. With this radio however, it’s charged via the solar-panel on the top of the headphones.

The radio headphones feature a AAA battery that stores the charge from the solar panel. You get between one and three hours of listening from an hour of sunlight. A fully-charged headset will give you a total of 20 hours listening time. So you might want to leave your headphones in the sun to charge up when you’re not using them.

The headset is completely adjustable to suit all head sizes. The Solar-Powered Radio Headphones cost £24.95 plus delivery.

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Article Permalink: Solar-Powered Radio Headphones