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Battery Organiser and Removable Tester

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:00:30 +0000

Even if you’re as eco-friendly as possible, you probably still need a few batteries. Don’t you find it really annoying when you need a battery, but you just can’t find any? It’s just as annoying when you have no idea what condition your batteries are in either! The Battery Organiser and Removable Tester is a simple gadget that allows you to store all of your batteries in a single place within a neat rack. To make it really useful, you can also test your batteries in the same place!

By keeping your batteries all in the same place, it makes it much easier to find them again. Even if a battery is not fully discharged, you can still use it in some devices. When your batteries are completely dead, you can recycle them or try charging them in a battery wizard.

The rack measures 30cm by 30cm (12 inches by 12 inches) and can store up to 66 different batteries including D, C, AA, AAA, PP3 plus some space for some button cell batteries. The organiser is available for just $11.99.

3-in-1 Wind Up Radio with Torch and Emergency Siren

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:00:29 +0000

With this being the camping season, no doubt you’ll want to break the silence with some music. The 3-in-1 Wind Up Radio is a perfect candidate for a campsite, since its waterproof, robust, features a strong aerial and uses hand power to charge the internal battery. Winding the crank for just 1 minute will give you 60 minutes of listening pleasure, a fair return on your effort!

If you’re out trekking, and you get into a bit of bother, you’ll appreciate the built-in siren. Need to help people find you? Just flick on the alarm, and keep charging it up until help arrives. At least you won’t get bored, as you can listen to the AM/FM radio whilst you’re waiting. Another useful feature is the built-in LED torch, allowing you to stumble your way back to the tent in time for bedtime too!

The 3-in-1 Wind Up Radio is available for just £19.95.

Fly-catching Insect-Powered LED Clock

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:00:56 +0000

Well, there are mud powered clocks, water-powered clocks, solar-powered clocks, so its not much of a stretch to see a bug-eating insect-guts powered clock! Created by designers Jimmy Loizeau and James Auger, the gadget harvests bugs from a sticky conveyor belt. The captured insects are then deposited on to a microbial fuel cell for digestion.

Specially chosen bacteria will then break down the bug guts, with a range of chemical reactions providing the energy to drive the clock. Certainly an interesting way to control pests without using chemicals, but doing something useful with the bodies! I love it.

Source: Dvice

Seasons – iPhone Application for Local and Seasonal Products

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:00:16 +0000

There’s no doubt that the iPhone platform has led to a huge torrent of great applications, and the Seasons iPhone application is a perfect example of that. The Seasons application will tell you what fruits, vegetables, lettuces, herbs, fungi and nuts are in season in your local area. By eating local and seasonal foods, you massively reduce the air miles on food produce, since the foods you eat are sourced from your local area rather than imported from another country.

The Seasons application for the iPhone makes it really easy to find the foods that are in season in any given month. Currently the application supports over 170 foods, but more will be added over time. The application will automatically detect where you are by using GPS and Wireless LAN information. Seasons currently supports Germany, France, the US, Ireland and the UK.

In addition to saving air miles, food that is in season usually tastes much better compared to artificially ripened foods. So in addition to doing the environment some good, you’ll also be treating yourself to the very best locally sourced food. Seasons is priced at $1.99 in the US, £1.19 in the UK, and 1.59 Euros in the rest of the Europe.

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Fuji EnviroMax Eco-Respectful Batteries

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:00:54 +0000

Fuji have released a new battery product called the Fuji EnviroMax Eco-Respectful Batteries. The batteries have been designed to be equivalent or better in performance compared to conventional batteries, but being 100% eco-friendly. The batteries contain no harmful mercury or cadmium compounds, nor are they packaged in harmful and non-recyclable PVC. Essentially, if they were disposed of in normal waste systems, they wouldn’t harm the environment.

It’s about time that someone re-designed batteries to be more eco-friendly. Fuji are making a big deal of the fact that their manufacturing process does not release any ozone depleting compounds and they operate under strict standards of environmental responsibility.

The batteries are no more expensive than conventional batteries, and are available in all the standard sizes (AAA, AA, C, and D). You can get the batteries directly from Amazon.

Juice Bag Solar Beach Tote

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:00:38 +0000

The Juice Bag Solar Beach Tote is essentially a reusable tote-based bag with a large solar film panel on the side of it. The juice bag has a universal female car charger socket so that you can connect your devices to charge them up. The solar panel outputs a maximum current of 325mA at 12V, which will charge most devices in 1 to 4 hours.

The solar panel itself measures 300mm x 300mm (12″ x 12″), and the bag measures 480mm x 380mm x 280mm (19″ wide x 15″ high x 11″ deep). Inside the bag is a special pocket which can be used to hold small gadgets such as mobile phones and PDAs. The bag has been designed to be very robust, with heavy duty cotton webbing handles, a waterproof support for the bottom of the bag and a specially designed frame too.

I would have preferred to see a USB socket rather than the car charger socket, as that’s much smaller. However, that would involve some electronics to regulate the voltage so that your gadgets don’t blow up! What’s interesting is that the Reware SolarSistem solar panel is removable, meaning you don’t need to use it specifically with your bag.

The bags are pretty pricey at $249.99, but that’s because the solar film panels are still expensive to make, and are only just coming down in price. The manufacturer Reware has a whole range of solar panel bags which are worth checking out.

Oriental-style Solar Garden Lanterns

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:00:27 +0000

Well the summer is definitely upon us in Europe, so if you’re having a garden party this year, you’ll love these quaint Oriental-style Solar Garden Lanterns. The lanterns come as a pack of 3 white and 3 red lanterns, which light up using bright LEDs. The white lanterns have special colour-changing LEDs that cycle through a whole rainbow of colours.

The lanterns are very straightforward to install, as they have no need for trailing wires. Each lantern is completely self-contained with its own solar-charging panel and battery unit. There’s no need to worry about bringing them in when it rains either, as the lanterns are 100% waterproof. All you do is just attach the lanterns to a nearby tree, hanging basket or even just the washing line.

The lamps are fully charged in just 8 hours of direct sunlight. Once switched on, the lanterns will automatically light up when it gets darker in the evening. The pack of 6 lantern costs just £29.95.

Dyson Energy Bracelet – Wrist Phone Charger

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:00:31 +0000

The Dyson Energy Bracelet is a pretty novel gadget that uses the thermoelectric effect to generate electricity to charge up your cell phone. Due to a difference in temperature between the surface of the skin and the ambient environment, a Peltier element converts that temperature difference into an electrical current, which is stored in a battery on the wrist strap.

When a mobile device needs charging, the wrist strap is just plugged into the micro-USB port of the gadget to charge it up. Although you won’t get hours of use, the charge should be enough for a few minutes talk time. A cool feature on the strap allows you to check the capacity of the battery with tiny LEDs too. As far as green gadgets go, its a very creative use of the thermoelectric effect, and I imagine we’ll be seeing more of this technology in the future.

No pricing or availability information was available at the time of writing.

Source: YankoDesign

Bathroom Bidet Sprayer – Toilet Paper Alternative

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:00:56 +0000

A bidet is a bathroom device that is used to clean yourself once you’ve just been to the loo. Bidets are not particularly common in some parts of Europe and North America, although they are commonly found in Southern Europe, some Latin American countries, as well as some African and Asian countries. Essentially its about using water to clean yourself rather than using toilet paper. You then dry yourself using paper toils, or even better, a towel.

I must admit, being a Brit, I’m not very keen on the idea. As barbaric as it sounds, toilet paper seems to be a much better idea to me. However, if you consider how many trees are used to create toilet rolls worldwide, any saving would be better for the environment. Just imagine how much energy is used to treat sewage to turn it into safe drinking water, where toilet paper is a significant part of that sewage. Again, less toilet paper means less energy is needed to treat water in the first place. Of course using less toilet paper will also help you save money, and everything counts in these tough economic times.

The Bathroom Bidet Sprayer is a hand held shower-like device that can be used as a bidet in your home without the need for a plumber. The sprayer is connected to the cold water pipe on your toilet cistern, meaning you don’t need a full bidet suite to benefit from the bidet. In fact the Hand Bidet Sprayer people claim it has better water flow and control than a standard bidet provides.

The sprayer is made from a high quality anti-bacterial plastic to reduce the chances of spreading nasty bacteria. The manufacturers also say there are health benefits from using a bidet too!

For those of you who are curious to try a bidet, the Bathroom Bidet Sprayer comes in models priced from $34.95 to $42.95.

DIY Solar Powered MP3 Boombox GhettoBlaster

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:00:27 +0000

For us tinkerers, there’s nothing more satisfying than making your own gadgets, especially if you’re making eco-friendly gadgets. The DIY Solar Powered Boombox is a relatively simple speaker and amplifier unit that cost just $75 to make! The system is neatly housed using plywood, creating a very portable and very usable music system. Just plug in your MP3 player, and off you go.

The speakers are not too critical, so you can recycle some old speakers if you have them. The battery is around 2.5 to 5Ah at 12 volts, and is a sealed lead-acid type. The battery could be recycled from elsewhere if you can find one, such as from a motorcycle. The construction is pretty much soldering everything together.

Source: Instructables

Know of any other great DIY green gadgets? I’d love to feature them on EnviroGadget!

EnviroGadget.com

Battery Organiser and Removable Tester

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Juice Bag Solar Beach Tote

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Oriental-style Solar Garden Lanterns

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Bathroom Bidet Sprayer – Toilet Paper Alternative

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DIY Solar Powered MP3 Boombox GhettoBlaster

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