This month has been particularly green as so many green gadgets have been launched. One such cool gadget is the Solargorilla, which is a portable solar charger. It has been launched by Powertraveller and can extend the life of laptops and other gadgets.

It can directly charge mobile phones, iPods, handheld consoles, and other gadgets which are small. It comes with two photovoltaic glass solar panels and when it is exposed to light, it produces electric current. Thanks to a tough rubber case, it can withstand water and can also be used in a rugged manner. It has a fold-up design thanks to which it can be carried easily wherever you want.

I would so love to get a gadget like this, as the price of electricity is increasing and moreover if we keep using gadgets at the rate we are using, then we shall use up all the energy. Thanks to its sleek and chic design, it can be used without any embarrassment in all the places. The Solargorilla won a prize at the British Innovations Awards and it certainly deserves that piece of cake. So go ahead and grab it the moment it is launched in the market.

Via: Gaj It

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is located in Knoxville, Tennessee. It is owned by the Department of Energy in the US of A and they are in news because they house the superfast computer Jaguar XT5.

With a performance speed of 1.759 petaflops or quadrillions of calculations per second, it is the world’s fastest computer. The laboratory aims to use this computer to solve problems related to climate change and there would also be other applications as well.

The Jaguar is a machine that would be used for peer-reviewed research. The computer has already been scheduled fo a billion hours of processor time by users which include National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Argonne National Laboratory and the National Science Foundation.

It would study enzymes, how one could develop better ethanol and also write algorithms for nuclear reactors which do not produce a lot of radioactive material. Examining the origins of the Universe, nuclear security and other tasks would be performed by the supercomputer as well. Oak Ridge already has some of the world’s fastest computers in its kitty including the Kraken. Looks like computers wil never be the same again.

Via: Eco Geek

ZyRUS is a Korean company that is known for amazingly innovative electronic products that are also green and economically friendly. The Korean company has now launched the Sun Drive (ZYSD-S1) which is a 4 in 1 solar charger that is not just eco friendly but also chic and well designed.

The gadget serves as a solar charger, , a USB charger, an external battery and a USB flash drive. Thanks to an in-built solar panel, it charges the inbuilt 400mAh Li-Polymer battery.

You can charge gadgets like mobile phone, PMP, MP3 player, GPS and others. It also functions as a USB drive and you could save all your data on it. It comes in various storage capacities such as 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB. The ZyRUS Sun Drive comes with a number of cellphone adapters which I am sure is required as most people would have different mobile phones.

If only all companies came to an agreement about using a Universal charger, it would solve many problems and designing eco friendly products such as this would become easier. Meanwhile, I must say the Sun Drive is an amazingly intelligent gadget that everyone should buy. You would no longer have to worry about charging your gadgets as long as the sun shins bright!

Via: I Tech News

Designer Tim Holley’s Tio ghost is a perfect example of psychology and technology collaborating with marketing techniques. The wall mounted light switch system helps children learn the importance of energy conservation in a child friendly and playful manner. When the household lights have been switched on for a short while, the switch, or “Tio” remains happy and green. When the lights are left switched on for a long time, Tio gets angrier and starts getting redder.

The deepness of the colour red would allow children to learn how much electricity they have used and when it is “becoming too much”. Tio also has smileys which make the energy conservation process an easy and fun task for children. Play and education have thus been used from the psychological point of view to allow children to learn the importance of environment and ecological balance.

These switches make sure that today’s children grow up to be responsible and green individuals who would know that using a lot of energy is bad for not just Tio, but for the larger human populace. Go ahead and get these switches to inculcate the sense of energy responsibility that is required in your growing and curious child.

via: Inhabitots

Monitoring your power energy needs and managing the power consumption at your place has becoming a rapidly popular trend across the globe and firms like Google have already released extensive power monitoring systems which serve the purpose. Zerofootprint, a leader in helping corporate firms and government agencies understand and reduce their carbon footprint, now wishes to transfer that expertise into your own home. This new TalkingPlug is for corporations or households to control the electricity consumption of individual appliances, allows you to monitor the power usage from a particular socket and by managing your energy needs, helps reduce both your carbon footprint and power bill as well.

In addition to this a set of plugs create a network and can send information via a home or office building router to Zerofootprint, which is then analyzed and kept a tab on by the company’s unique software. What makes the TalkingPlug special is its comparatively cheaper price tag of $50, which is expected to further come down, once the socket is mass produced on a greater scale.

This new innovation from Zerofootprint is a wonderful step forward in minimizing power wastage in domestic usage and the competitive price tag should only encourage other makers to slash prices, enabling more homes to go green.

Cleantechnica

We might not be too far away from the days when we just work on holographic projections and 3D images instead of actual surfaces when it comes to pressing buttons and viewing images, but till the days of the Star Trek well and truly arrive, concept designs like the Mobile Script could be the ones that we need to work with. Not that this gorgeous and awesome futuristic design has anything wrong with it! Mobile Script consists of flexible displays, features that offer compact mobility, internet access, games and a dual screen feature that will ensure that your heart skips a beat the first time it rlls out in full magnificence.

Designed ever so elegantly and artistically by Aleksander Mukomelov, this creative master stroke sports a rigid small touchscreen and a flexible large OLED touchscreen that hides neatly behind the smaller screen in collapsed state. The moment you wish to operate or view the larger screen, all you need to do is roll it out and zap it with small voltage to keep it rigid and fully functional.

Powered by solar energy, you never need to plug in this baby and in case the weather gets too damp for too long (like the English summer) you can use its awesome wireless charging ‘rug’ to juice up the Mobile Script… Yup, too good to be true!

Industrialdesignserved

How would you like to read that late night novel in very dim, almost non-existent light with the lamp being powered by the Phonejack at your place? Not a very appealing idea, is it? Well, considering that it is not really legal using the small amount of power that your phone line carries and also taking into account that you draw almost nothing out of it, the idea of Desk lamp seems both whimsical and more of a pretentious green gadget than one that actually serves little useful purpose. The little lamp is quite simple, consists of what seems to be cheap LED lights and priced at $6, quality might not be a strong point of the Phonejack.

Going energy-efficient not just means that you conserve on energy by using the small amount that is normally wasted, but making sure that the production, packaging and transportation of the device itself is an eco-friendly process. The fact that you might very rarely, if ever, use this lamp makes it all the less energy-efficient. If anything, it might just come in handy as an emergency lighting source when your main power line is out and even then, it is neither effective nor very mobile. For now, it’s a thumbs-down for this unique desklamp!

Ecogeek

Called Water Ahead, the capsule like water urn filters water to make it potable. Its most unique feature is that it can be carried over to flood waters, is transport friendly. And it helps locate flood victims with integrated thermal graphic cameras, while acoustic signals and flash lights indicates their presence to the affected as well as lifeguards. It has `intelligent’ skin that sucks up muddy flood water and turns it into fresh drinking water.

How do they function? Acoustic signals and flashing lights inform the habitants that a capsule arrives. The mudwater of the flood has been filtered by diffusion through the capsule’s skin into fresh drinking water. Using a camera, helpers on the boat take stock of the position and settle on who should have priority of quicker help. The gadget may well turn out to be a mass product in future, with potable drinking water becoming a rarity in the name of commodity.
Via: Folkwang Hochschule

Inviting green technology and clean energy options into your home seems to be the best style statement possible these days and modern day designers are ensuring that you have an array of dazzling delights to choose from. Designer Mu-kai Shen has added another wonderful accessory to the solar line of products with the beautiful, stylish and sleek ‘Solar Table’ that promises to seamlessly merge with your minimalistic interior and offer clean energy as well. The table comes with a built-in solar panel on top that will harness the power of the sun during day time and will allow you to power up your gadgets at night.

Armed with a sensuous design, a wooden lining and leaf-like pattern of the table cloth on top, the Solar Table tries to add natural beauty to your concrete world. While setting one of this up in your living room might be a waste of time (unless you have a giant hole in your roof that is) the design is perfect for patios and those high balconies that get plenty of sunshine. Efficient, clean and chic, Mu-kai’s design is ‘cool’ in every sense of the word indeed!

Coroflot

You need to hang ReNu panels in sunlight and then drop into a variety of different portals to charge rechargeable batteries, which then charge your gadgets. The device ReNu can also be used to charge phones and task lighting. The battery can charge an iPhone twice over, which means you get double its original benefit. It will be out in the market early 2010. It may cost $ 199 USD.

Regen Inc plans to merge more sleek designs with solar technology for cutting-edge gadgets.
Via: Treehugger, Regen