eco-friendly

PowerGenix Nickel-Zinc rechargeable batteries are non-toxic, recyclable

Audio/Video, Home Theater, Cameras and Photo, Gizmo of the Day, Miscellaneous / By /

powergenix rechargeable batteriesNeed more power? Sure you do; we all do. But on the other hand, you’d still like to be environmentally conscious and friendly. That means if you need batteries you should opt for rechargeables. PowerGenix has a line of rechargeable batteries that are made of Nickel-Zinc (NiZn) and run at 1.6 volts vs the usual 1.2V that other rechargeables put out.

PowerGenix claims that this is the 1st new battery chemistry in over 20 years, and that they discharge a greater portion of their stored power before reaching the device cutoff limit, so they in effect would have better performance than say a NiMH battery with a higher capacity.

PowerGenix’s batteries are 100% non-toxic and non-combustible and are nearly 100% recyclable.

For a limited time, if you purchase PowerGenix batteries, you can send in your receipt and UPC to get free C or D adapters.

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $23 for 4 AA batteries & charger; $13 for 4 AA cells
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Dell’s ‘Solar’ Parking Lot recharges plug-in cars

4 Comments / Miscellaneous, News / By /

dell's solar parking lotDell is one company that is at least trying to tackle the climate problem in whatever capacity they can. For example, here’s what I feel is a great idea: solar cell-lined shaded parking structures.

These ‘trees’ not only shade cars from the sun, but also collect and can power electrical outlets in the column, so you can plug in your electric car during the day.

Built by Envision Solar, hopefully we’ll see many more of these in company parking lots across the world.

via TreeHugger

MIT Team Develops Temperature-Dependent Color Changing Roof Tiles

Home Automation, Miscellaneous / By /

As you know, we love featuring ‘green’ and/or environmentally related advances in technology, and here’s another. This time, a team in the Department of Materials Science at MIT have devised a roof tile that changes its surface reflectivity depending on the temperature.

In a nutshell, at low temps, it absorbs as much sunshine and heat as it can, while at high temps, it is more reflective. Fantastic. Nicknamed the Thermeleon, these roof tiles could save 20% on cooling costs.

via DMSE MIT

Pansonic Shows Off Its “Eco Ideas” House

Home Automation, News / By /

We may not have reached a real substantive climate agreement in Copenhagen this past week, but thankfully this is not stopping companies around the world from making steps towards improving our dire environmental state. Take Panasonic for example, which is testing out ideas for an eco-friendly house that may actually produce more energy than it uses. Now that would be novel!

Aptly dubbed the Eco Ideas House, it includes things like vacuum insulation, LED lighting, hydrogen fuel cells, and of course, smart monitoring & control systems [pictured]. The folks at DVICE took a tour and wrote about it.

Brondell’s Perfect Flush Toilet Retrofit Kit Saves You Money

Gizmo of the Day, Home Automation / By /

As you well know, most of the time you flush the toilet, you’re flushing water and money down the drain needlessly. What’s really needed on toilets is a 2nd button that only uses half the water. Brondell’s Perfect Flush product retrofits your toilet to have that 2nd button without you having to go out and buy and install a whole new toilet.

The Perfect Flush toilet retrofit kit can be installed by anyone and takes about 30 minutes. If you use the calculator on their website, even with average usage and costs plugged in the Perfect Flush will save a family of 4 enough money on their water bill to pay for itself within a year. If your costs and usage are higher, for example, if your toilet water tanks are larger, then you savings go up. What’s more important is that you are doing your bit to save the environment as well.

Ideally, those newer toilets should also really have an adjustment to regulate how much water is used per flush and Perfect Flush has that as well. Eco-friendly Perfect Flush is compatible with most toilet tanks ranging in types and sizes 1.28 through 7+ gallon per flush.

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $92.89
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Dell P2210 22″ Monitor

Computers, Gizmo of the Day / By /

Dell has a new line-up of eco-friendly monitors including the pictured P2210 which is a 22″ flat panel screen that supports up to a 1680×1050 widescreen resolution.

It has 4 USB 2.0 ports, takes VGA, DVI-D and DisplayPort inputs and has an adjustable viewing angle. It is not height-adjustable like the more expensive line, but it can be rotated to become a vertical standing monitor.

Oh, so the enviro-friendly specs – meets EPEAT Gold and Energy Star standards and uses less hazardous materials in its manufacture.

Buy now!

Price: $240.00
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Bedol water-powered clock

Gizmo of the Day, Home Automation, Miscellaneous / By /

Ditch batteries altogether, and run this digital clock on water. Yup, water (and some lemon juice). This green-friendly clock uses its built-in electrodes to sip whatever power it needs from the acidic water.

Just one caveat – you need to change the water every 5-7 weeks. Seems like a small price to save landfills from batteries. Comes in 4 different colors.

Wicked cool. I’d just like it to include an alarm clock, but I’m guessing the power requirements for that are too high for mere lemon water to meet.

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer

Price: $19.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

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