Category Archives: Gadgets and Tech
Nothing’s more important to the 21st century than a solar lamp and a charger accompanying it. Now you might probably be wondering why we’d say this! Shouldn’t it be a mobile phone instead? Or rather, the internet? This cheap, not-so-beautiful device that’s mass produced in China is the 100th item in the BBC Radio 4 series to be unveiled, finding its place in the British Museum. Considered as an object that has helped shaped the world, and the 21st century, the simple solar lamp and the charger was picked up after a lot of thinking and searching for an object that tells the story of the ingenuity and the challenges that shape humanity in the 21st century, according to Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum.
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ZenithSolar will soon give the world the most efficient solar energy generating system ever seen in human history, a world record breaker, the Solar Z20. Using the solar power to heat up water and generate electricity too, the system uses semi-parabolic optical mirror
collectors. Installed in Kibbutz Yavne in central Israel, the Solar Z20 system has broken some previously held records by showing off a tremendous efficiency of 72%. Recently upgraded from a previous system that provided just enough water and electricity to the community around, the new system now generates enough to be sold back to the national grid! The 3rd Generation model of this system provides hot water for about 220 residents today.
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Now the world really isn’t as exposed to biodiesel as it should be. And it’s about time we start giving this biodegradable, cheap and non-toxic option to gasoline a second glance. Recently, designer Ben Guthrie had the brainwave of designing a machine that could help you create some biodiesel at home! The ones available on market shelves today are comparatively expensive and unaffordable. Guthrie’s design though works out a lot better and is simple to use. Plus, it looks amazing and sleek, unlike those industrial shaped processors available. All you need to do is pour in your ingredients in the top, and you have yourself some gas!
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Surveillance systems now go green with a dash of solar power. Netvision Mobile, a company that’s known for its mobile surveillance systems has built a hybrid solar-battery surveillance trailer known as the Solar 2130 with an 800% increased stand-alone time. Using dual solar panels that produce 250 watts of power and an on-board shock sensor that detects tampering, the Solar 2130 can suspend up to four Pan/Tilt/Zoom (PTZ) security cameras 30 feet above the ground with a 360-degree visual range. These cameras can be customized to client specifications.
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Generating green energy, especially when you live in an apartment block can be a lot more difficult. You share the roof space, so you really can’t install a gigantic solar panel up there. A wind turbine outside your window seems like a pretty bad idea too. Here’s a green energy generator that’ll solve most of your energy woes. The Greenerator (we love the name!) collects solar and wind energy and is compact. It can be attached on to an apartment balcony and uses a vertical axis wind turbine and flexible solar panels. Each of these can cut off your electricity bill by a sweet 6%, shortening its length from the floor. A couple of these on your balconies could work wonders!
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How long do streetlights last do you know? Not that any of us have bothered to find out but they supposedly need to last for a lot of time and withstand a lot of rough weather. But Panasonic Electric Works Co. in collaboration with Sanyo Electric Co. has come up with a new alternative technique that brings up the lamp life by up to 40%! These streetlights will be made with solar cells, lithium ion batteries and LED lighting, giving the lamps a 10 year lifespan with very little maintenance hassles. The pricing for the 24-watt light is set at around about 3 million yen ($36,940) and a 10-watt version will cost you about 2 million yen ($24,625).
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Every body needs a kick to start their day, and most of us opt of a steaming cup of coffee, tea, milk or something. Now no one in their right minds would gulp in the boiling hot drink right away, right? It needs to cool off a bit before you start sipping away, but in the process a lot of heat energy is lost without any real reason. So some bright brains have created a tumbler called the Green Smart Glass. This glass stores up the losing heat into energy form, which can be used later to heat up or cool contained beverages.
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Have your appliances been drinking too much of electricity? Have your electricity bills started extending towards the floor? Well, it’s about time you curb your energy usage and hit your self for a bit of eco-consciousness. And to help you with managing your energy usage at home efficiently, Intel has come up with the Intel Home Energy Management Reference Design that includes a lot of tech to keep your energy usage in check. Using a touch-sensitive screen, similar to modern smartphone touchscreens, the system displays various energy management applications to choose from. An ATOM-based device, this one shows up all the important information you require to keep a close eye on your home’s energy usage.
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So, you drive a Hummer, all that power and muscle showing, making heads spin around as you drive by. You probably don’t care too much about just how much gasoline you’ve been burning, cruising around. We seriously doubt you’d want one of these too! Well, this sure is for the environment-conscious folk out there, who like giving their gas-guzzling cars a twist. Behold the Puff! Basically a cloud-shaped car accessory that fits on to a car’s exhaust pipe, this one tells you just how polluting your car is using a series of different color lights. Now, a simpler and smaller device would have sufficed. The designers decided to make this one turn your car into a bad animation though. With green lights for less emissions and a flaming red for exhaust puffers, the Puff keeps users informed about their car’s emissions using an iPhone application.
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Charging up your electric car at home won’t be so much of a time consuming task now. You probably wouldn’t have to think twice while investing in an electric car now either, with a residential EV charger, like the one GE just unveiled. The GE WattStation, a device we came across some time ago coupled with GE’s Nucleus energy monitoring system, is a residential version of public EV chargers that changes it all, reducing the amount of time required to charge electric cars at home, and juicing them up speedily. Normal home-based EV chargers can take up to 12-18 hours to have that green eco-friendly electric car of yours all juiced up. The GE WattStation takes as less as 4 to 6 hours to do the job, fully charging a 24 kWh battery.
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Nothing’s more important to the 21st century than a solar lamp and a charger accompanying it. Now you might probably be wondering why we’d say this! Shouldn’t it be a mobile phone instead? Or rather, the internet? This cheap, not-so-beautiful device that’s mass produced in China is the 100th item in the BBC Radio 4 series to be unveiled, finding its place in the British Museum. Considered as an object that has helped shaped the world, and the 21st century, the simple solar lamp and the charger was picked up after a lot of thinking and searching for an object that tells the story of the ingenuity and the challenges that shape humanity in the 21st century, according to Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum.