My wife needs one of these things from Strapya and Tokyo Coil Engineering. The companies have come up with a plan to prevent missing phone calls. A solar-charged cell phone strap.

The strap weighs just 40g (1 oz) and is just 12.5cm (5 in) long. Yet it can store up to 40 minutes of call time once fully charged.

Just one problem … it takes 6-10 hours to charge in perfect weather conditions.

The solution…let the strap hang out of your pocket or bag and walk around outside all day. Or, you can just plug the dang thing in every night to keep it charged.

Price - Y1,995 ($20)

source

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe for updates to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting and please do come back!

In the do it yourself category we have Ma Yanjun, a farmer in Mizhi county, Shaanxi province in China, that managed to build a solar water heating system using empty beer bottles. The reason he did it, was to allow his 73-year old mother to take a warm bath every day.

Since there was no warm water in the area and he couldn’t afford paying the big bucks for a hi-tech solar panel, Ma had to be innovative and instead of photovoltaic panels he used dozens of beer bottles. He finished work in 2006 and ever since, he attracted the envy of 20 other local farmers, which needed his help and skills.

We don’t care who emptied those beer bottles and want to congratulate Ma for his achievement.

Though I’ve seen eco-cabs and electric rickshaws by now, this new solar rickshaw by SolarLab have something to be proud of. Most of the energy, 75-percent, will come from the roof-mounted photovoltaic cells while the rest of 25-percent will be delivered through pedaling so better be prepared if there’s no sun outside.

I can see a battery in this sketch but to be honest, what kind of engine is that? Any details about it, would be great. Don’t plan to drive during the night unless SolarLab has an extraordinary battery to help you out or you’re training for the Olympics on that hill.

SolarLab via Dezeen

If you’re an environment friendly sailor and have a passion for speedboats check out Czeers MK1, a 10-meter boat that packs 14 square meters of solar panels and an 80kw electric motor. It was showed off at the Millionaire Fair last year and though it’s just a prototype, this baby goes up to 30 knots on water.

Made 100-percent of carbon fiber with orange leather trim, photovoltaic cells on almost all horizontal surfaces and an LCD touch-screen control system, Czeers MK1 uses no oil, produces no engine noise and no fumes. The company expects to sell 4 to 8 models a year and though they didn’t disclose the price, expect to hit the sky.

Here is a video of the superboat. Do you like it ?

via Gizmag

The days when you had to go out and cut the lawn yourself are history, because these days we have automowers to do it for us. Husqvarna decided to please us and announced that they will be launching the world’s first electricity solar powered hybrid automower, which is extremely quiet and outputs zero emissions.

Using all sorts of sensors it’s smart to avoid garden furniture and will cut in a certain area if you setup the perimeter with a metal wire. The specs say that it can cut up to 2,300 square meters and can be programmed when to start (even the day of the week). With full batteries it will munch grass for about 40 minutes but with the help of the solar panels, on a sunny day this could increase by up to 50%, to a full hour.

Though it’s great for the eco-freaks we are the price is in the rich range, £2,000 (about $3,970). - via - Pocket-Lint

Press release