Category Archives: Gadgets and Tech
Well if you’re looking to turn your living space into an energy-efficient one, here’s a line of products that could help you do the same. By Mathieu Lehanneur, the Efficient Home collection designed for Schneider Electric at the St Etienne Design Biennial includes real-time sensors and meters to help you keep tabs on your energy consumption and reduce that entire carbon footprint you’ve been stamping out all along. A network of home sensors, these devices can be consulted and controlled via the internet. These are meant to be placed in and around appliances and devices we use on a day-to-day basis, including the refrigerator, the television and such.
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Need an iPhone speaker dock that’s as green as one can get? Well, your search has finally come to an end with the Koostik iPhone Stereo dock. Nothing gets greener than the Koostik, and here’s why. It needs no plugging in to amplify your music! So how does it function? Using the principals of wood acoustics, this one amplifies all your favorite tracks playing out of your iPhone. No wires, no electricity and no grid connections required here. Well, if you’re into heavy metal and high-volume music, this one might not just be the right choice for you. If you love those soft vocals and instruments playing though, the Koostik is sure to make you smile till your face hurts.
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Boeing has done it again! The company known for constructing those colossal airplanes has achieved yet another mighty feat, the development of high-efficiency C3MJ+ solar cells with an astounding conversion efficiency of 39.2% of sunlight into electricity. Developed by Spectrolab, Boeing’s own subsidiary, these cells have broken previous efficiency records and are here with the hope of reaching across the globe, powering up using juice from the sun. The company currently supplies solar panels to around 60% of those satellites busy orbiting the earth. These single-crystal germanium substrate cells are meant for terrestrial energy production and Boeing hopes to produce millions of these soon.
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Sanyo is here with an early Christmas present that will power up all the other Christmas presents you’ll get this year, rechargeable batteries. Well, rechargeable batteries aren’t uncommon, though this one by Sanyo is a new and improved enhanced version that’ll join the Eneloop line. Available in AA and AAA sizes, these batteries can be charged 500 times more than its ancestors, retaining 75% of charge for three years! In short, unlike the batteries you usually use, these rechargeable batteries won’t land up in a landfill as soon as you’re done using them. You can charge them up again, and again, and again. The pack includes a 4-position charger, eight (8) AA batteries and four (4) AAA batteries for as low as $25.99.
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We’re hoping for a world powered by renewable energy by the year 2020. And for that, a load of changes will need to be brought about, with energy saving methods being employed everywhere. Here’s a streetlamp that could just be the future of the ones we have today, thanks to its green capabilities. For one, it’s completely independent and needs no grid connection. So what powers it up? Three renewable energy sources, the sun, the wind and biochemicals. With a solar panel on top, a vertical wind turbine and a little garden that provides for all that biochemical energy, these streetlamps designed by Chelles Hayashi Designs at present seem to be a lot more expensive than the ones used today though.
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Developing countries usually have far flung areas that are disconnected from the grid. Hence, a glowing light bulb isn’t all that common there. Well, here’s a great way to lighten up homes in areas as such, by Nokero. By collecting solar energy during the day time, this light bulb, termed the N200, powers up at night for around 2.5 to a whole 6 hours of light. Unlike the previous version rolled out by the firm, the N100, this bulb lasts longer, is rugged and rainproof like its ancestor, and is 60% brighter. Using a NiMH battery that juices up with solar energy, the N200 has its LED enclosure fitted on a swivel, enabling it to optimally catch light.
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Using electricity to fulfill all those basic kitchen needs might not be all that easy in future, taken that resources are quickly depleting and the environment, is being slowly chocked out of its health. Well, efforts are being made to save the environment and the future from a carbon-soaked end, and the best way to start off doing your bit is on a personal end. Student designer Christoph Thetard came up with this kitchen appliance that’ll fulfill most of your need, with the use of electricity. Powered by a foot pedal, this one grinds your coffee beans, does all the blending work, and most of all, it uses no environment polluting materials to make!
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The outer space is full of resources that can be used to efficiently generate energy, including solar energy and astronaut poop! Well, no one really has considered using poop to create energy in outer space. The guys at the United Nations though have been busy drawing sketches of a satellite that could just be powered using energy created from astronaut poop. The $5 million UNESCOSat will carry a load of Shewanella MR-1, a bacterium, in its cargo hold to check just how far the bacteria can be carried into space. These particular bacteria can convert feces into hydrogen, which can then be used to power up on board fuel cells.
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Now there are places on this globe that are so far fetched and distant from any urban civilization, that electricity isn’t all too common as it is to us. These off-grid places do have a hard time catching up with a lot of facilities we enjoy today, including medical aid. A few researchers with some really great intentions in their hearts have designed a blood pressure measuring device, powered by solar energy. This one needs no electrical outlets to plug in and is juiced up solely by the sun. with a device like this, doctors in areas far away can now keep tabs on cardio-vascular diseases amongst people.
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We’ve all probably had to face this before. Out there in the open, with all that lovely bright sunshine and great scenes that we could potentially capture. Out comes our camcorders and just before we push the “record” button, the battery goes drained and our expensive camcorder goes off. Well, you just won’t need to worry about battery charge for your camcorder in future. If you’re out in the bright sunshine hoping to record a few memories, you could simply opt for a solar powered camcorder! This camcorder uses a tiny flip-up solar panel. Pull it up and expose it to sunlight and the camcorder juices up with solar juice. For every hour in the sunlight, the battery life increases by 12 minutes.
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