Earlier this week, Regen wowed us with their sleek, modular iPhone charger. Now the electronics company is back again with another impressive Apple-related product: the Reverb, an eye-catching 3-foot tall iPod dock that blasts out the equivalent of 60 watts of sound from a conventional speaker. And best of all, it’s solar-powered.
From time to time we come across some ideas that are so brilliant that it’s a no-brainer for them to be out there in the marketplace. This last year in particular we’ve seen a number of green gadgets that are so ingenious that we’re left scratching our heads and wondering why they haven’t been produced yet — especially because they are all powered by renewable energy sources. With this in mind, we present to you our top five green gadgets that we wish existed!
Music becomes a sustainable experience with Shepeleff Stephen’s solar-powered, bluetooth-connected Q-Sound (quantum sound) headphones. The Romanian engineering student’s sleek design combines flexible, hexagonal solar panels, wireless technology, and rotating earpieces for a futuristic yet practical product that powers itself on the go.
What if keeping your laptop charged was as simple as setting it out in the sun? That’s the promise behind a brand new netbook that may just break the biggest barrier to ultra-portable computing: battery life. It won’t run graphics-heavy computer games, but iUnika’s new $180, 1.5 pound solar-powered Gyy netbook is ideal for anyone looking for an inexpensive on-the-go computing solution.
Most of our modern-day gadgets are swathed in plastic or other high-tech materials, and why wouldn’t they be? Plastic is both cheap and easy to produce. But English Russia’s display of wooden gadgets shows that sometimes the most elegant items are the simplest.
Charting the future of cell phone technology, Kyocera recently unveiled a kinetic energy-powered phone that is capable of folding up like a wallet. Designed by industrial designer Susan McKinney, the EOS phone consists of a soft, semi-rigid polymer skin surrounding a flexible low-energy OLED display. Shape memory allows the phone’s keys to pop up when in use and blend in with the surface during downtime.
A week has passed since the Greener Gadgets conference, and we are happy to see that bits of discussion on how to develop cleaner and greener consumer electronics and energy production are still flying around the web. Remember, you can always catch Inhabitat’s recap HERE as well as the first part of these blog links. Here’s what we’ve been seeing this week:
Scientific American wonders if greener …
After an exciting round of live judging last week at the Greener Gadgets Conference, we’re thrilled to announce the winners of the 2009 Greener Gadgets Design Competition! Drumroll please……
And the winner is….Tweet-a-watt
Congratulations to Powerhog for second place, the Indoor Drying Rack for third place, and the Laundry Pod for fourth, and read on for more highlights from the judging at the Greener Gadgets Conference.
Last week’s Greener Gadgets Conference was a smashing success, and if you missed it, you missed out. Inventor Saul Griffith gave a provocative and rousing keynote presentation, with a call-to-action to consumers to start measuring their energy use and designers to start changing the way they make things. The panel discussions were lively and interesting, and as always, the Greener Gadgets Design Competition live-judging was the hit of the conference with spirited debate between audience and judges, and hilarious commentary by Core77’s Allan Chochinov. But if you weren’t able to be in attendance at our fabulous conference – fear not – you can catch up on all the important highlights here on Inhabitat. We live-blogged the whole thing on Friday, and we’ll be posting videos soon. The live-blog is pretty detailed, so if you are looking for a short synposis of the event, read on for highlights >
One of our favorite entries from this year’s Greener Gadgets Design Competition is Francesco Biasci’s Cardboard Computer Case, which aims to ameliorate the perpetual problem of consumer e-waste. Built from the ground up with recycled cardboard, the case offers a simple, chic and customizable alternative to metal computer cases that must be disposed of every two to five years.
For those of you who enjoy a cup of joe with your morning paper, the RITI Coffee printer offers an ingenious way to green your morning ritual: by turning your old coffee grounds into a sustainable source of ink for your printer! One of fifty top entries in this year’s Greener Gadgets Competition, the RITI printer takes the leftover grounds from your morning roast and plugs them into an ink cartridge to create an eco-friendly source of ink. Who would have ever guessed coffee stains could be be so useful!
With the Consumer Electronics Show going on in Las Vegas this week, we’ve been dreaming of green electronics innovations that can satisfy our desire for cleaner, greener technology. We might have mentioned that our Greener Gadgets Conference joined forces with CEA this year to showcase a Greener Gadgets section and panel discussion at CES. So, how did people find the push towards Greener Gadgets at CES? Here’s the buzz around the blogosphere about Greener Gadgets and CES 2009…
Discover Magazine liveblogged the Greener Gadgets panel yesterday and said ‘the take-away from the session panel was that if you’re really interested in learning how to build low-power, long-life, non-toxic devices with a small ecological footprint, the kind of places you should visit are Africa and India.’
If last week’s Transportation Tuesday article on the world’s smallest solar vehicle wasn’t your cup of tea (after all solar is so last year), then hopefully this week’s entry will be more to your taste. The Hydrocar is a pint-sized vehicle that is powered entirely by a hydrogen fuel cell. It would make an excellent office racer or a fun educational vehicle for children – check out it’s kid-friendly angle over at inhabitots!
Smart Toy Hydrocar at Inhabitots >
If you read Inhabitat with any frequency, you know we are always on the lookout for greener gadgets that will reduce the amount of energy and waste associated with wireless mobility. Well, we just spotted some breaking greener gadget news that are sure to get Apple fans excited! Drumroll please..
Apple just filed a patent to infuse their hand-helds and computers with a thin film of solar cells, paving the way for a new generation of gadgets with battery life boosted by the sun. The patent approaches the prospect from every angle, with schematics to stack photovoltaic cells beneath the entire surface of their portables – including the screen!
The higher up in the air you go, the faster wind travels – so naturally the further from the ground a wind-turbines gets, the more efficient it can be. Thats why the idea of a flying wind-turbine is a such a win-win (or win-wind) proposition. Combining wind power with floating blimps, Selsam has been hard at work expanding the horizons of alternative energy with a revolutionary new breed of SuperTurbines that promise to take wind power to new heights.
Solar power is taking the world by storm, and these days its easy to find solar powered chargers, solar powered lights and solar powered laptop bags. So you know it was only a matter of time before someone came up with a solar power work table. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense – what better place to charge your gadgets with renewable energy than the table you are working at. The SOLo Lounge Table, by Intelligent Forms, is a sleek, chic outdoor table that not only looks fantastic, but comes with a built-in solar panel surface in order to power all of your electronic gadgets!
We have seen mobile media players go green by utilizing the wind, the sun and our own muscles, what about when we use those gadgets in our home? Vers Audio has taken on the task to provide our homes with a more sustainable sound, with a more sustainable design. Vers Audio’s Vers 2x uses a sustainably harvested cherry wood veneer, providing your mp3 players with a sleek green home.
It’s no secret that we’re fans of greener gadgets here at Inhabitat. When you want all the functionality of your favorite gadget and can enjoy it in a more environmentally-friendly manner, it’s the best of both worlds. And on that note, we are excited to announce that now there’s a new environmentally-friendly, solar-powered option for portable media players! The eMotion Solar PMP, a solar powered mp3 and video player, just hit the market for all your off-the-grid, green energy powered media needs.
We love our kinetic energy here at Inhabitat, and we are excited to announce inventive use of human kinetic power: The brandnew 2 GB Eco Media Player is hand-crank portable media player can play music, video, and even charge your cellphone, all from a few seconds of cranking! What’s more renewable than human power? We love that someone finally had the brilliant idea to mix renewable energy generation with music & video – all the best things in life in one cute little package.
Here’s a great idea for a cell-phone that is thoroughly green in every way: from its biodegradable bamboo materials, to its thoughtfully considered lifecycle, to its ingenious use of kinetic human power to charge the battery with renewable energy. The ‘Bamboo’ phone, by Dutch designer Gert-Jan van Breugel was one of the finalists shortlisted at this year’s 2008 Greener Gadgets Design Competition (and Jill’s personal favorite). Although this design didn’t end up winning one of the coveted top three prizes in the competition, it certainly caught our kinetic-energy-loving eye.
If all of the ideas and concepts that were highlighted at the Greener Gadgets Conference were rolled into one product it would look and operate like the LINC Lifestyle Concept Phone from The Greener Grass. This team of forward thinking conceptual designers has envisioned a touch screen smart phone that puts complete connectivity into the hands of the mobile consumer without the social and environmental burden of e-waste.
If you thought rechargeable batteries were a good green idea, the USBCELL rechargeable battery will blow your mind- it plugs into any computer’s USB port to recharge. It’s a standard AA battery which will fit into all your every day uses. We’re not the only ones amped up about USBCELL- today at CEBIT, the green battery was awarded a Gold award at the IF Product Design ceremony. Produced by Moixa Energy, has a flip cap top that houses the USB port, and can be used like any regular AA battery. Not to mention, it cuts back on the nearly 15 billion Alkaline batteries made and thrown away each year.
Gravia, a gravity based kinetic energy lamp concept, wowed our panel judges and the crowd at the Greener Gadgets Conference, earning a second place accolade in the design competition. Created by Clay Moulton, Gravia evokes the lines of a classic timepiece in a modern aesthetic and uses human powered kinetic energy to light an ambient LED floorlamp. It’s a fantastic concept – but one that has stirred up some debate across the blogosphere recently in regards to whether or not it is possible to build such a lamp right now with the technology that exists today.
Sometimes the best designs out there are not ‘products’ that can be purchased — but big ideas made accessible to all through the power of Do-It-Yourself design. The award-winning EnerJar takes the important concept of home energy monitoring, and brings it to the masses in a fun, interactive way through a handy, downloadable DIY design that can be put together using a jam jar and other household objects. By turning energy monitoring into an engaging DIY project the Enerjar took first prize in our recent Greener Gadgets Competition. Designed by Matt Meshulam and Zach Dwiel, this little downloadable DIY kit uses common household materials to monitor the energy output of a variety of everyday devices, allowing a user to take personal responsibility over energy use.
Nokia has caught our green design attention once again with the recent unveiling of ‘Remade’, a concept phone made almost entirely of recycled materials. The prototype was introduced at Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona last week revealing Nokia’s vision for recycled material use in mobile phones of the future. From the looks of ‘Remade’, Nokia’s products of tomorrow will consume less natural resources, reduce landfill waste and be more energy efficient.
GREEN DEETS 013 Greener Gadgets Wrap from George Spyros on Vimeo
Since we’re on a video rampage today, we’d love to point you to a fabulous video of our Greener Gadgets Conference that we just spotted over at Treehugger. Check it out above, and pop over to Treehugger to read the full write-up >
+ Treehugger Greener Gadgets Video
Thanks …
Following his inspiring keynote at the first ever Greener Gadgets Conference, we were lucky enough to sit down one-on-one with photographic artist Chris Jordan to talk about his work, e-waste, and the future of mass consumer culture. In his conversation here with Jill Fehrenbacher, Chris talks about whether or not we will be able to stem the growing tide of consumerism, and the issues of collective versus individual responsibility for environmental problems. Hear Chris Jordan’s provocative thoughts in this great interview video.
We have a ton of other great Greener Gadgets videos as well, including Opening Remarks, the Greener Gadgets Competition winner selection, and Chris Jordan’s Keynote. And more to come!
Our recent Greener Gadgets Conference featured speakers from a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines. Not only did we invite inventors, engineers, and representatives from the world’s biggest consumer electronics manufacturers, but we also made a conscious decision to spice up the Greener Gadgets dialog with artists, educators and environmental advocates. Nowhere was this diversity better represented than in the Greener Gadgets opening keynote presentation from environmental artist Chris Jordan, whose presentation you can watch in the video above.
Although our short video sadly doesn’t do justice to Jordan’s massive, mind-boggling photographs, (which take up entire walls in galleries), the video provides insight into the vision behind the art, and the innovative method Jordan uses to visualize statistics as fine art. Watch the full-length version of Chris Jordan’s inspiring keynote here, and be sure to check out our other Greener Gadgets videos as well >
(New videos are being added daily).
The absolute highlight of our recent Greener Gadget Conference was our end-of-day presentation and live-audience judging of the Greener Gadgets Design Competition. Our favorite Core77 Editor-in-chief Allan Chochinov MCed the highly entertaining event, and we never realized the man was so funny (okay we had an inkling of Allan’s comedic talents, but they really shine in the above video, so check it out).
Using a very high-tech “clap-o-meter” system, judges and audience members debated the various entries to the green gadgets competition, and then selected winners through volume of cheers and claps. Panelist/judges included Ryan Block from Engadget, Valerie Casey of IDEO & The Designers Accord, and me, Jill Fehrenbacher. We’d like to thank everyone who entered, and congratulations to the winners… (read on to see the winning entries!)
Drumroll please…. Many of you have been asking for videos of the groundbreaking Greener Gadget Conference – which was held last week in New York City – and here they come! We’ve got a bunch of interesting video shorts coming down the pipeline, and the very first one we have for you (to whet your appetite for the most exciting stuff) is our overview and introduction to the Greener Gadgets Event.
Stay tuned for the highly entertaining Design Competition video coming in a couple hours, and the rest of the videos (Chris Jordan, Mary Lou Jepsen), coming next week.
You can download a podcast of this video here >
(or here if you don’t have iTunes)
Our first-of-its-kind Greener Gadgets Conference took place yesterday in New York City, and was a smashing success! We were thrilled to get such a great and diverse line-up of speakers, representing not only business and industry, but also academia, non-profit, students, environmental activists and designers. Not only did we completely sell out of our tickets, but we got people turning out from a wide variety of different industries and backgrounds. THANK YOU so much to everyone who attended and was involved in making the whole event so interesting, fun and fabulous!
To see our photos from the event, check out our flickr feed >
To watch videos and download podcasts from the event, click here >
To read a thorough Inhabitat overview of the event, please read on >
FRIDAY FEB 1st – LIVE WEBCAST OF GREENER GADGETS CONFERENCE HERE >
It’s finally upon us! The groundbreaking Greener Gadgets Gadgets, which we’ve worked so hard at Inhabitat to organize over the last few months, opens tomorrow in New York City!
This is the first ever conference devoted exclusively to sustainability within the consumer electronic space
And as the organizers of the conference, Inhabitat will be on the scene first hand to cover it for you. Many of you who aren’t in the local area have inquired about videos and webcasts. We are happy to announce that not only are we recording the entire conference, but we are doing a LIVE WEBCAST of the event tomorrow, and you can catch it here >
We will also be liveblogging the event here on Inhabitat, so if you are interested in Greener Gadgets, make sure to come back tomorrow and check it out.
Digital artist Chris Jordan knows how to turn e-trash into photographic treasure. His large-scale images of massive amounts of statistically-inspired refuse make it all too clear just how big a problem consumer waste is. His work, which features objects from Barbies and plastic bags to e-waste and shipping containers, brings to light a tough dichotomy, presenting our gluttonous existence as consumers in a beautiful medium. He’ll be keynoting our Greener Gadgets Conference on Friday, and we can’t wait to hear what he has to say.
Our friend Lloyd Hicks has made a great that’s a perfect lead-in to our upcoming Greener Gadgets Conference this Friday. We talk a lot about the under-recycled cell phone, but with videos like this, we’re starting to think there’s hope. While it brings to light issues like product life-cycle, materials, and the impact of these objects on the environment, we can’t help but believe there are possibilities for improvement (we’re even hosting a cell phone recycling center at Greener Gadgets!). Watch the video for the full story, and check out the Secret Life of Cell Phones website for even more info.
While certain objects seem to be making big strides in sustainability, the humble cell phone is lagging a bit behind the curve – what with the lead, cadmium and other toxic chemicals, as well as the relentless consumption, upgrading and disposable on which the entire industry is based. But Nokia has recently launched a new, more environmentally friendly cellphone called the 3310 Evolve. The Evolve is a great example of a greener device, made from biomaterials and 60% recycled packaging. Right now these phones are only available in Europe (what Nokia – you don’t think there is a market for this in the US??), so if you want to check out this cute little eco phone in action, come by the Greener Gadgets Conference on February 1st! But don’t get too attached — we haven’t heard of any launch date set for the US yet.
LOTS MORE GREAT GREEN DESIGN STORIES HERE... KEEP READING!
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