Everyone complains about the electronic waste resulting from America’s prosperity, particularly from individual ownership of personal computers.  It does seem that a computer will last you around five years at the most and then will be underpowered to even boot the latest operating system, let alone the programs we use.

Well, there is salvation for your greenness.  Keyboards and mice are being made from sustainable, replaceable and grown material.

I came across a company that makes the keyboards and mice out of bamboo.  They are cool looking and will accent your office very nicely, whether you have laid it out according to Feng Shui principals or not.

They are actually not colored green but they go well with just about most decors.  By the way, you can also get your office floor to match or even in a dyed contrasting color.

Don’t worry, the cute Pandas are not going to starve.  Bamboo grows fast and when it gets to the maturity to use it for building materials, it is useless as a food source.

Tonggu Kinbamboo Industry Co., Ltd has a lot of different styles to fit your particular tastes.  It is made in China, so maybe China is paying a little attention to the environment.

There are a number of devices or solar chargers that offer to charge gadgets with solar energy. But most of them are impractical, to say the least. It is simply not possible or viable for most people to allow their gadgets to be placed in direct sunlight for the entire day. That is where the ReNu Modular iPhone charger scores, it does not require the user to keep the iPhone in the sunlight all day long to charge it.

The ReNu doesn’t have an extremely high efficiency or some hyper gadgetry to capture solar power quickly, but it does have a healthy dose of common sense. Rather than placing your iPhone in the sun all day long, you can ReNu solar panel in the sun to charge its batteries. It takes nearly 9 hours to charge completely in direct sunlight, and 20 hours in indirect sunlight. Once fully charged, this iPhone/ iPod dock can then be used for 7-8 hours of music. The device will cost $200 when it is available sometime next year, but the manufacturer is already taking preorders.

Source: Inhabitat

Do you own a home entertainment center that is the envy of the neighborhood?  Do you have friends or neighbors chide you that the only GREEN in your living room is the color of the larger than life Eagles football players seemingly doing their end zone dance at your feet?

If the above is true or you just want to save some energy, I have the device for you.  At just under $500.00 (a pittance if you have a home entertainment center with big-screen plasma displays and a thumpin’, bone-rattling sound system) This power distribution unit protects all your equipment from brownouts and blackouts (Like California experiences on most hot summers).  It also protects against surges and other nastiness bent on destroying your equipment.

The PowerCenter has some cool features:

• The power protection completely disconnects your equipment from the power source and monitors the hot and neutral lines for abnormalities.  It will not connect you back until all problems are resolved.
• It has an IR receiver for complete remote control.
• It protects all your telephone, cable and satellite cable connections.
• The PowerCenter™ (HD IR 2550) provides clean power filtering and ground loop isolation for noise-free audio and video presentations.
• The front panel provides additional power outlets behind a door and provides USB connections for camcorders, iPods and other devices.
• It has PLC (Power Line Communications) support so it can interact with other equipment over your house AC lines.

Best of all, they have “Green Power which completely powers down the equipment when not in use so you can save energy plus also extend your equipment life.  So, only power up your entertainment system components when you are using them and be kind to the environment and still be able to enjoy life.

If you are financially challenged in this economy, do not despair!  You can have a nice power controller for under $130.  The Monster GreenPower™ HDP 900G PowerCenter™ is for your more modest entertainment setup.

Other GreenPower products can be seen here.

Can a fan still cool you if it doesn’t have blades?

Apparently so, if it’s the new Dyson Air Multiplier ™ fan pictured above.

Dyson, a company well-known for advancing vacuum cleaner technology, has now developed a new generation of innovative bladeless fans. These fans use the simple principles of fluid dynamics –without the traditional fan blades –to multiply air flow 15 times, ultimately expelling some 119 gallons of air every second.

What more, since there are no blades, the Dyson Air Multiplier ™ fan is safe and easy to clean. Air flow is uninterrupted, and velocity is adjusted with a control similar to a dimmer switch.

How does it work? The Dyson website explains it like this:

1. First, an energy efficient, brushless motor draws air in using technologies similar to those at work in jet engines and turbochargers.
2. Airflow is accelerated as it passes over an airfoil-shaped ramp.
3. Air from behind the fan is drawn in by a process known as inducement.
4. Air from around the fan is also drawn in by a process known as entrainment. Altogether, the airflow is amplified 15 times.

You can watch an entertaining video of people reacting to this remarkable new fan here.

Technology like this isn’t cheap, however. The 12” version of the Dyson bladeless fan is available for $329.99. The 10” version will set you back $299.99

Source: Dyson

New PC concept from designer Luis Luna make the desktop appear more appealing visually,and give it the ability to offset at least a small amount of the CO2 it produces during its lifetime. The design gives a smoother look to the desktop as a sleek circular package. The center of this circle has a cavity to hold some soil, and provide enough ground to grow small plants.

The idea is to make the CPU a decorative piece and secure it with the idea of going green. Having a bit of greenery on the desk is never a bad thing, and it will also help keep the user charged with the idea of saving the environment. The small plant growing on the PC may not have a marked effect on the environment, or even be enough to completely offset the CO2 emissions related with the system. But it will be able to reduce a tiny amount of CO2, and with a large number of computers going green, it could have a marked effect, simply because of the numbers involved.

[via Core77]

But here’s Gota, the water conserving dishwasher – a device that offers another cool technological answer to the question of how one can save precious fresh water resources. This ultra-cool and futuristic looking hub is akin to a space trooper that explores the universe, but in reality is a dishwasher designed by Ibsen Caldas and his team.

The unique design of Gota allows it to save on the amount of water used for doing the dishes. By simply steaming everything in the pre-wash stage and by collecting these same cooled vapors for washing the dishes in the final stage, Gota ends up cutting water consumption in half. The technology seems pretty simple in concept and does away with an excessive use of water. While it is not yet clear on how many plates or cutlery it can take, it seems large enough to serve the conventional family.

Simple, ergonomic and perfect for any modern home,we hope to see a production version of Gota very soon. Mixes “business” with pleasure.

[YankoDesign via EcoFriend]

NTT of Japan unveiled a shoe that can generate electricity while it’s wearer walks, thanks to a small generator attached to the water-filled soles.

When the wearer walks it puts pressure on the sole causing the water to spin a small turbine and generate power.

The shoe can generated 1.2 watts of electricity, “a level sufficient to run an iPod mobile music player forever, as long as the wearer keeps walking.”

“The shoes do not have a power-storage function, but you would be able to charge a mobile phone automatically or talk on it forever as long as you connect the phone to your shoes and just keep walking.”

NTT is now trying to improve the power generating capacity to 3 watts but they need to shrink all the components. Anyone hears it in the back? Sony? Anyone? – via Sina

GP wants to know why only one day? Why not every day? Why does promoting alternative energy sources have to be a once in a while thing and not an all the time thing?

Okay. I admit, it’s better to do it sometimes than never. And, if the UN Chief can do his part to get the word out, the world will be better for it, no?

Source

The environmental checklist include a PVC, mercury and BFR-free body (made of aluminum), and arsenic-free glass which makes the new iPods highly recyclable for those who are eco-conscious. “We think these new Nanos are the cleanest toxic-free iPods we’ve ever built,” Steve Jobs said during the ‘Let’s Rock’ event in San Francisco.

The 8GB version will cost $229, the 16GB model goes for $299, while the 32GB is $399.

All images courtesy of Engadget

Since then, technology advanced, and for those that won’t plant a real tree we have the solution. The solar tree. Designed by Vivien Muller and using 54 photovoltaic cells (when blooming) it has a bonsai tree aspect (with some sort of solar “leaves”?) and is both a great piece of decoration and a pretty useful eco-gadget; doesn’t require watering and will power at least some of your electronics by using solar power.

So what are you going to do, buy a solar tree for your gadgets or seed a real tree? I’ll go for the latter.

via Gizmodo