Hippyshopper

Presenting the Urine-Powered Battery

Scientists at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology have developed a prototype battery that runs on urine. One drop of urine applied to a paper soaked in copper chloride solution (sandwiched between copper and magnesium strips) which caused the prototype to function like an AA battery for 90 days. While recharging it might be a bit distasteful, at least it's biodegradable. [GT]

Pee Powered Battery [via Gizmodo]

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Hello Kitty Solar Swing Digital Clock

Instead of a hanging pendulum below the clock, the Hello Kitty Solar Swing Digital Clock has her cute little head bobbing above the cup she's curled up in. It's also solar-powered via a cute little panel that juices up the button cell that keeps her running eternally. $15. [GT]

Hello Kitty Solar Swing Digital Clock [via Gizmodiva]

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Eneloop solar-powered battery charger, hand radiator

Instead of a chemical-process single-use hand warmer which leaves you a packet of goo that you have to throw out, pick up a Sanyo hand warmer plus a Sanyo Eneloop.  The Eneloop is a solar-powered AA battery charger, which is paired with the hand warmer if you like, or you can just sneak the batteries into your Nintendo DS.  Unlike old-school rechargables, it also comes ready to use, no initial charge necessary.   [GT]

Sanyo Eneloop [via Cocolico]

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Sphelar is prettier and more efficient than flat solar cells

Where flat solar cells depend on angle to maximize how much energy they extract from sun, the Sphelar solar cell has an efficiency of nearly 20%, because it places 1mm ball-like solar cells in a flower-like pattern which can extract energy from all directions. It's also thin, flexible and transparent enough that it could be placed on regular window glass, turning those monster skyscrapers self-sufficient. Its production process is also vastly more efficient than flat solar, making it cheaper and reducing silicon waste enormously. [GT]

Sphelar [via Metaefficient]

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Blinky Bug gets a cute little groove on

Handmade from wire, LEDs and bits of electronics, the Blinky Bug is a tiny bit of art designed to respond to wind, vibrations and movement. Each unique bug, which subsists interminably on a very low power trickle, blinks its eyes and waggles about as though it naturally belongs in its own environment. Video interview of the creator, Ken Murphy, after the jump. [GT]

Blinky Bug

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The Maantis light from twenty thousand fathoms

Put the eerie glow of a giant sea monster in your office!  British architect Richard Rogers developed the Maantis lighting system based on the internal structures of incandescent deep-deep sea creatures.  Even when it's turned off, its light-hungry ribs draw in stray light from the very air, causing it to emit a weak glow.  The same properties minimize external light pollution, by channeling its rays precisely where needed.  Also as a convenience and energy saver, it's designed to optionally (but preferably) illuminate only when someone is in the room.  (And need we say it's all lit with LEDs?)  [GT]

Maantis Lighting System [via Treehugger]

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Turning a carrot into a stick (fishing stick that is)

Dr David Hepworth and Dr Eric Whale have developed a new kind of nano-fiber called Curran which is an extract of the (literally) garden-variety carrot combined with high-tech resin.  Their first product is a fly-fishing rod made of Curran, making it biodegradable and recyclable in a way that fiberglass rods typically aren't.  The second product they have planned is a snowboard.  "The potential of Curran is enormous," said Dr Hepworth, "and if we can replace just a small percentage of carbon fibre in products the effects on the environment could be significant and wide ranging."  [GT]

Rods will be a carrot to the fish [via Spluch]

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Sell your old mobile and Help the Aged

Mobiles don't last as long as they used to, I'm sure of it. So the odds are one's died on you recently. What to do?

There are lots of recycling schemes for phones, and getting rid of them ecologically is easier than ever. At Mopay, however, you get to do as Jarvis Cocker once so wisely said and help the aged every time you hand in an elderly phone. Mopay will exchange it for cash, and until the end of March, and they're giving a minimum of 10% of the value of every phone sold to Help the Aged.

[Via Shiny Shiny]

So, do this and you get the following: a warm fuzzy feeling from helping some ageds, a warm fuzzy feeling from protecting the environment, cash. In that order.

RM to give away 100 green PC kits to schools

Last year, a new concept in energy saving computers was launched by education-focused technology firm RM. The Ecoquiet PC uses around two thirds of the energy of a normal PC, and has the added bonus of being quieter than most desktops, since its cooling system doesn't require the same whirring fans.

Schools can enter at RM's site by describing in 300 words or less how they would make use of the prize. Deadline 30th March.

Related posts: Dell goes green | Apple is 'greener than Greenpeace thinks'

RM announced today that it is offering 100 of the Ecoquiet PCs to schools, but these machines will be greener than their predecessors: they'll run entirely on wind power. Each winning school will also get a turbine large enough to power their PC, along with instructions that pupils can follow on how to set them up.

Winning radiators of the future

After parsing a whopping 3,200+ entries, the designboom mediated contest (prizes put up by Bisque Radiators) to find the top radiator design of the future, has a winner!  Leo Salzedo made the Archibald, a radiator shaped like clotheshangers.  This not only saves space in a tiny flat, but lets you put  four collared shirts, five T-shirts, three jackets, five bath towels, four pairs of pants, and two robes somewhere out of your closet.  Not only will your room be warm, your clothes will be toasty when you put them on (and less wrinkled, cutting down on ironing).  The overall contest entries were so stellar the judges expanded the number of prizes to six from three.  [GT]

Radiators of the future [via Popgadget]

More design and furniture

Fret flat cardboard speakers

Here's a cardboard product you can't simply carve out of an old fridge box: the UK-designed Studiomold Creative Design Fret Speaker.  Includes three items: a subwoofer and two flat cardboard speakers with recycled laser cut frets.  Suitable for use with mp3 players or surround-sound television.  Available in black or white.  Price TBA.  [GT]

Studiomold Creative Design Fret Speaker [via MoCo Loco]

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Photocatalyst makes books not stink

People with multiple chemical sensitivity (like me) know how serious a problem scent pollution can be - as do scientists at NASA. In the Space Shuttle, odors are boiled in the sunlight, which can amplify them to horrific volume. The cheap (but time-consuming) solution is simply to let the smell fade naturally through offgassing, but if you want to keep ink chemicals out of your home, you can seal them in with photocatalyst. You mix a titanium oxide-based photocatalyst with resin, and spread it on the paper. This decomposes all volatile organic compounds (VOCs) lickety-split so you don't get sick building syndrome (or sick Space Shuttle syndrome). 3 yen per A4 sheet. [GT]

No more smelly books

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Mini wind turbines: Big news on Ebay...

It comes as no surprise to me that eBay's top ten most searched-for products are all electrical items: the Wii appears in at least three different guises, the PSP's in there, and the iPod is comfortably at no.1. We love our gadgets!

But what really blew my organic cotton socks off was what I found quietly lurking at no. 3: 'Wind Turbine'. Yes, the third most wanted item on the whole of eBay is a green energy generating device that - until very recently - would have been considered a very strange thing to have in your garden unless your name was Windy Miller...   

But eBay has hundreds of them...probably enough to power a small country! They range from tiny 'desk models' sold for under £20, to huge windmills that will keep your entire country estate aglow. It's exciting to see this technology take off in our homes, even if it's not yet been adopted on a larger scale by the powers that be!

Soda can robug makes trash into potential overlords

The slightly disappointing news about the Soda Can Robug is that although it is by a company called Green Science, it uses a traditional battery.  Aside from that, the kit provides the components of the guts to recycle a soda can into a robot bug (which can then achieve sentience and take over the planet - which explains why they're not solar powered; with those old-school alkaline batteries they'll run down after mulching not more than 2% of humanity at large).  Price TBA.  [GT]

Soda Can Robug [via Uber-Review]

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ChronArte Canna Water Clock

Here's a real liquid display: the ChronArte Canna Water Clock.  A little over a meter high and three-quarters of a meter across, as the time flows over you, it flows through the twelve tubes of the clock; a metaphor for life and renewal.  (Or you could just get a water clock.)  [GT]

ChronArte Canna Water Clock [via Gizmodo]

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Takumi Shimamura wooden laptop bag

There's always some sexy stuff at the MoMA store, and the Takumi Shimamura wooden laptop bag definitely belongs there. Made of ecologically thinned Japanese cedar, it has canvas edges, leather accents and interior, and a water-repellent finish. All hand-made by delightful Japanese craftsmen. $265 USD. [GT]

Takumi Shimamura wooden laptop bag [via Shiny Shiny]

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20,000 mega-watts of snow (speakers)

While we've still got the snow to do it (in some parts of the world, anyhow) you can take inspiration from 20,000 mega-watt speakers from Michigan Technological University students which are completely cased in the white stuff (making them the most organic 20,000 watt speakers I've ever seen). While they were built for a snow sculpture competition that they can't win because the electronic parts of the speakers are made of, well, not-snow, when asked why they went in this direction anyhow, they replied: "To get loud as fuck." Naturally! [GT]

This thread can cause hearing loss [via Gizmodo]

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Silence PT2: The 125 mph electric trike

'Like a speeding raindrop' was how Shiny Shiny's Kate described this little three-wheeled terror. And she wasn't wrong. Check out its 'electric' blue glitter finish!

The Silence PT2 is the latest model in a new generation of green pocket rockets following the huge success of the Tesla roadster. This one can reach speeds of up to 125 mph, and runs on 100% electric power. Things truly have come a long way since the days of the C5...

[Via Gizmodo]

Related Stories: Top 10 Electric Vehicles | Tesla Roadster: The sexiest electric car ever?

Smart Nanobattery improves batteries a hundredfold

While we've seen slight improvements in battery life since they were invented over a hundred years ago, with the introduction of advanced alkaline, rechargeable lithium-ion, rechargeable Ni-MH, and now the recent Rapid-Charge type, the extension still has us replacing them a lot more often than we're pleased with. However, the new Nano-battery prototype has a shelf-life of 20 years, and is silicon based, so it can be incorporated straight into our tech. In addition to driving down price, reducing waste, consuming less juice, and giving us mobiles that we can talk on until we're hoarse (or laptops we can type on until we're sore) it should also put an end to those pesky overheats which result in the occasional exploding battery. [GT]

mPhase Technologies Nanobattery [via Wired]

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Charge of the bike brigade: the Pedal & Power phone charger

The dynamo is back — With a 21st century makeover.

The British designed 'Pedal & Power' kit is a neat little gadget that clips on to your bike and charges up your phone's battery as you pump away, allowing you not only to avoid connecting to "the grid", but also letting you charge when you're out and about, and most vulnerable to running out of juice.

In around 70 minutes, Pedal & Power can fully charge most mobiles, and since it works on any device that can be plugged into a car's lighter socket, will also work on your PDA, MP3 player or digital camera. Even better, it's only £24.95, which is litte more than certain phone outlets ask for a standard wall charger.

Now, all that's needed is a hairdryer attachment that sets your curls and perfects your "do" on the way into work, and we've got a perfect candidate for Shiny Shiny...;-)

Play peek-a-boo with one-way two-way mirror windows

The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology has developed glass that can be easily switched between mirrored and transparent, using a thin film of magnesium-titanium. Combined with temperature sensors, judicious flipping on and off could allow significant savings in warming and cooling the interior. On a smaller scale, it could also allow easy privacy screens in tight areas without having to cut down on outdoor light. [GT]

Successful Development of a Thin Film for a Switchable Mirror That Can be Switched Between Reflective and Transparent States [via Plastic Bamboo]

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Bye Bye Standby saves energy at the touch of a button

We all know that leaving appliances on standby wastes energy, but who can be bothered to go around and turn everything off manually?

Domia's Bye Bye Standby lets you turn off appliances from a central (wireless) switch, doing the job with one click.

The starter pack offers a Green Switch and Smart Socket combination. A Smart Socket can control up to four appliances and they are available to buy separately.

[Via Automated Home]

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Hello Kitty Garden Light with Planter

Even Hello Kitty has gone sustainable! Behold the Hello Kitty Garden Light with Planter, featuring the usual milk-faced plastic cat with pink bow, a heavy-weight plastic planter, and - here's the sustainable bit - a solar panel discreetly on the back to power the faux-Victorian lantern companion dangle. $159 USD. [GT]

Hello Kitty Garden Light with Planter [via Gizmodiva]

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Electrolux prototypes the Soft Fridge

Instead of a huge metal box, complicated to recycle, expensive to ship, and hard to keep clean, Electrolux has prototyped what it calls the 'Soft Fridge'.  With a heat-insulating membrane, extendable shelves, and accordion-style ease of pack-up, the entire unit is intended to work more around your immediate needs but also be able to expand or retract on the fly.  Still extremely-extremely in the concept stages, it does show that appliances are apt to change enormously over the next ten years.  [GT]

Electrolux Soft Fridge

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iPod cases made from recycled 45s

We'd never recommend you do this with 45s that still have a use, but scratched vinyl is pretty much useless to anybody who isn't a DJ (so it seems to me - feel free to post alternative uses beyond making them into snack dishes). 45 iPod cases reshapes old singles into unique iPod cases (and if they get scratched, it just adds to the character). $45 USD (of course). [GT]

45 iPod cases

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Vintage-style Karakuri sake-serving androids

If you've always wanted a slave, but are too darned ethical to buy a live one, how about a handmade sake serving automata made from cherrywood and porcelain?  These lovely little robots are all based on clockwork, and use technology dating from the Edo period.  1,050,000 JPY (including tax) and they take 40 days to make.  You can read more about the history of Karakuri automata at Metafilter.  [GT]

Karakuri Hai-mochi sake-serving doll

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Solar-powered hearing aid

Godisa - Africa's only hearing aid manufacturer and the only one in the world making them specifically for the sub-Saharan Africa environment - has released the SolarAid.

It is a combination of hearing aid and a lightweight solar-charger that charges the two small batteries.

Batteries that don't need to be replaced and are free to recharge make the hearing aids affordable as well as environmentally-friendly. A fully-charged battery lasts for four to six days, which sounds good to me.

Godisa [Via AmericanInventorSpot]

Related: DIY Solar | Bagsy some solar | The Solio solar charger

Compact Oasis - eases dry eyes

The Compact Oasis humidifier weighs only 90gms, so is very portable. You simply open it until it clicks and add water. No batteries or power-supply required!

I've stared at the product page, but can't see exactly how it works, although I'm guessing it enhances vaporisation through increased surface area or similar...

If you suffer from dry eyes, it might be worth popping one next to your computer.

[Via NotCot]

Related: Give the gift of clean air with a Cleanear

Eco-Cube keeps urinals fresh without water?

Instead of flushing water through the school urinals every fifteen minutes, schools now have the option to install eco-cubes in their washrooms to better and more sustainable effect. The eco-cube uses a combination of lime scale, uric scale and ammonic salts to keep the urinal or trough smelling clean and scale-free without a drop of water. Normally urinals use 151,000 liters of water per year each, so this represents a considerable cost and environmental savings. Doesn't involve any modifications, either: just drop it in and turn off the water. [GT]

Schools save water using "eco-cube" [via Treehugger]

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Green tips for computer energy savings

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory green tips isn't lengthy, but it does include one good one: don't use a screen saver. Screen savers are old tech designed to keep phosphors from literally burning images into a monitor that had been left idle - which is why they involve patterns that jostle randomly across the display. However, the NREL points out that they do actually use power, and can in some cases prevent your computer from going fully into power saving mode. If you do want to use one, though, allow me to recommend you install a screen saver that helps calculate how climate change is going to affect the planet. At least then your spare power goes to a good cause. [GT]

National Renewable Energy Laboratory Green Tips—Computer Energy Savings [via The Sustainable Future]

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CES: Dell goes green

Computer giant Dell may be the next gadget firm to be hauled into the tech 'hall of shame' when it comes to green credentials, now Apple is temporarily off the hook having been deemed 'greener than Greenpeace thinks'. (Although, of course, it is always possible that the pro-Mac lobby have spread the rumours just to get their point across again; they can be a devious bunch!)

But conspiracy theories aside, Dell last week announced its plans for a greener future at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, with the unveiling of a tree-planting scheme designed to offset the damage caused to the environment by computers, which I think is rather honest of them, but then I am a PC nut myself... Users in the UK and the rest of the world will be able to do their bit for the environment by taking part in the scheme, which is in collaboration with The Conservation Fund and the Carbonfund.org, from April. Dell also took the opportunity to launch a new website highlighting its efforts to look after the planet at CES.

[via ITPro]

Wild Charger charge in the wild sighting

Turns out the wireless charger we were hoping for demoed - albeit in a lesser form - today at CES.  The Wild Charge uses conversion cases for your gadgets, which you then lay on its charging strip, and they magically start charging.  So while it does obviate the need for a billion little cords and cables, you do still need to cart adapter cases around for your gadgets (though at $10-$20 for the cases, they're cheaper and more versatile than a typical AC adapter for one gadget).  [GT]

Wild Charge Hands-On: Really Does Charge Wirelessly [via Gizmodo]

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How to Throw Away that Broken iPod

What to do with last year's electronics?  How to Throw Away that Broken iPod talks about the issues in exporting toxic trash to third-world countries: "ill-protected workers burn plastic off copper wires, releasing dioxins, and bathe old computer chips in acid baths to recover gold, then dump acid wastes in local waterways."  They also provide a listing of recyclers pledging not to send waste overseas.  [GT]

How to Throw Away that Broken iPod

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Eclipse Solar Gear briefcase

The big green announcement at this year's CES is from Eclipse Solar Gear.  They've invented a laptop case that's sturdy and covered in chrome, and if you leave it by your window it'll also power up your laptop.  A good idea, although the practical implications seem a little off; solar panels work best when directly exposed to sunlight, which, sadly, doesn't happen often enough during the average workday.  However, while being carried to-and-from work it should, during its lifespan, generate more than enough juice to pay for itself.  [GT]

Eclipse Solar Gear [via Ecogeek]

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Powersheet provides power without wire

Capable of feeding up to 30 watts, the flexible power sheet prototype from Takao Someya, professor of engineering at the University of Tokyo, detects the power port on a gadget placed on the surface, and inducts power into gadgets modified to accept it, without needing cables. While Someya says it'll take about five years to overcome the technological limitations, his ultimate idea is to have sheets large enough to paper walls with, eliminating the need for wiring and outlets (and dozens of stupid adapters and power cables!) altogether. [GT]

Power Sheet Provides Flexible Wireless Electricity

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First Games for Change salon in NYC tonight

Tonight in NYC, the first ever Games for Change salon is being held at the Lang Student Center, 55 West 13th St., 2nd floor, at 6:30pm. Participating will be Jesper Juul, visiting scholar, and Helen Nisselbaum, professor, NYU. There'll also be demos by The New School/Parsons and Columbia Graduate Students. Drinks and snacks provided - but you've got to RSVP to Karen Schrier. Games for Change is also hiring an Executive Director, Social Network Manager and an Events Manager. Games for Change is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the development of serious games to explore social opportunities in a virtual context. [GT]

Games for Change

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iRobot announces Create, the programmable home robot

Essentially a round framework on wheels, the iRobot Create has 32 sensors and a bunch of ports where you could attach anything from a webcam to watch your baby to articulated arms that could be programmed to fetch the morning paper and bring it, plus your slippers, to your bedside in the morning - then take the paper to the recycling bin when you're done with it, load up the glass in the one place and the compost in the other, and generally take care of a hundred minor lifestyle enhancement things at the incredibly modest price of $129 by itself, plus $60 for the command module.  The $229 starter kit includes the robot, module and battery, which seems to be the whole shot.  [GT]

iRobot Create [via Robot Gossip]

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Spin Dryer takes the wet out

Clothes dryers are a huge power drain; it takes a lot of energy to fling around heavy wet stuff and heat it to a toasty glow. However, if you first put your clothes through the Spin Dryer, it removes the majority of the water in only a couple of minutes, meaning you can either air dry or toss them in the conventional dryer for about a quarter the usual time. Costing only $130 USD and running on standard mains power, it's sure to pay for itself pretty quickly if you're using anything other than a laundry line (and even then it might, since your clothes will be treated more gently and therefore last longer). Then throw in the dryer balls Sarah reviewed in November and your laundry may travel back in time from being dried so fast. [GT]

Spin Dryer

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Electronics go green at mygreenelectronics.org

The Electronics Consumer Assocation is going green this year with a new website, mygreenelectronics.org.

Its aim is to encourage the responsible use, reuse and recycling of gadgets. It will have a searchable database of recycling services and green products.

[Via ShinyShiny]

Related: Top five eco presents from Maplin | The WEE man cometh

Apple Patents Hybrid Low Power Computer Mouse

Citing well-known lousiness of wireless mouse battery life, Apple has filed a patent application for a hybrid tracking low power wireless mouse.  See geek details here but the gist of it is you'd have a mouse that would only need a new battery once a year instead of the every six-eight weeks it does now.  (Personally, I use rechargable batteries in my Logitech Laser and it works perfectly well.)  [GT]

Apple granted patent for ‘hybrid low power computer mouse’ [via Gizmodo]

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Brightec Glow In The Dark Paper

Instead of using light boxes, movie posters could be printed on BRIGHTEC glow in the dark paper which, after only a few minutes' exposure to light, glows for hours.  It also functions like typical inkjet paper, so you can run off pictures of little Suzie and then be started by her luminescent visage leering at you from the fridge when you sneak down for a midnight snack.  (Try a shot of Conrad Black to help your New Years' diet resolutions.)  It has the typical green cast associated with glow in the dark light, but is bright enough for potential use in, for example, nighttime signage or illuminated dashboards (to reduce power consumption).  [GT]

BRIGHTEC glow in the dark papers [via SciFi Tech]

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