If you have been wondering how much electricity you and your family are consuming, then cross your fingers that this current concept will hit the mass-production line.

These electric flowers hook up into your electric meter and display just how much electricity you are using.   Designed by Carl Smith, the flowers will wilt as more electricity is being passed through the main.  If you start to see a wilted violet flower, then it’s time to rethink your juice use.

If you want to go green and never spend a dime on batteries, this player is a good option. The internal memory can accomodate 4GB of data which is good enough for a couple thousand MP3 files. If you need more memory, just use a miniSD card that has a limit of 2GB.

The most important detail is the solar panel which recharges your device for free. On the other hand, if the sun ain’t shinning, just use the USB port to listen to more music.

Our Solar DAP reads MP3/WMA/WAV audio files, and AVI/RM/VOB/DAT/RMVB video files.

For the people that like to go camping, there is one essential accessory that can’t be forgotten – the Wind Up LED Camp Light.

This eco-friendly gadget provides light just by winding it. One full wind-up will offer 4 hours of LED lights, while a 1 minute wind only provides light for 30 minutes. Still, you won’t need to spend money on energy or batteries to have some light, and taking in consideration that this Camp Light only costs £20 (close to $40) it is a bargain, and a useful one to say the least.

Other features include a lighter-car-charger so you don’t even have to make any kind of effort to get some light. There is also a small safety light that glows for 48 hours so you know exactly where to find it on the dark scenarios.

Not only that, but it can also be used to recharge your cellphone or operate it indefinitely (or as long as your forearm holds up with all that cranking). From one of the Electrilite product pages:

Begin charging your phone by cranking the handle at a rate of approximately 2-3 cranks per second, which generates a steady 6.2 volts. Because the product is voltage-regulated, turning the handle faster cannot damage the phone and will not speed the charging process. Three minutes of cranking will provide 2-8 minutes of talk time. However, continuous cranking will provide you with an endless supply of talk time.

[Source: Electrilite.com]

The Venturi Eclectic car has solar panels on the roof + a wind turbine, both charging the liquid cooled NIMH batteries at the same time. From the MotorAuthority.com article:

Touted as an autonomous energy vehicle, the Eclectic can be powered independently of any natural energy reserves. It’s powered by a small 22hp (16kW), 50Nm electric motor, and is normally charged up by the 2.5 square metres of solar cells on its roof.

The Venturi Eclectic charges it’s own batteries while moving or sitting still via the rooftop solar panels. It also has a helper wind turbine that contributes to the charging process while the car is moving, and if there’s no wind or sunlight, you simply plug it into a charger at home. It gets about 50 km out of a full charge and gets a top speed of about 50 kph.

Great little runabout if you’re a tree hugger with a golf cart fetish.

[Source: MotorAuthority.com Via: UnpluggedLiving.com]

The project takes maximum advantage of the excellent environmental conditions in Portugal for solar power

The construction of the biggest Solar Plant in the world has started last week, right here in Portugal! The monster will occupy 60 hectares on the sunny Alentejo area (more exactly in Serpa), deliver 11 megawatts and give energy to 8 thousand homes.

€58 millions is the cost for such a big Solar Plant, which was funded by General Electric Energy Financial Services and has CataVento as a partner to do the work.

Good move for what some people call a 3rd world country, ehe.

+ info at TheRegister

[tags]solar, plant, portugal, serpa[/tags]

Sebastian Braat from Australia, came up with the idea of using Roof Tiles to generate electricity instead of the usual solar panels. The tiles are made of plastic and have solar cells inside that create the electricity.

Only a small percentage of the energy will be transformed in electricity, while the rest will be used to heat the water. Imagine 200 tiles and that will give 1.5KW per hour, which according to ABC is more than enough for an average three-bedroom suburban house over a year.

My question: Who wants hot water during the sunny days?

If you’re worried about the looks and don’t want strange tiles on your roof, no worries! The tiles can have different styles to match the different roofs.

My project is focusing on getting the technology into the city and easing the power burden our housing estates are rapidly creating

[Source: ABC]

[tags]solar, energy, roof tiles[/tags]

From the Businessweek.com article:

The South Korean outfit is backing a project to build handsets powered by fuel cells instead of conventional batteries

Samsung may soon be tapping a new power source for its cell phones. The South Korean handset maker on May 18 is announcing plans for building prototype mobile phones powered by fuel cells. It’s one of the biggest publicly disclosed commitments to the technology by a major manufacturer in years.

[Source: Businessweek.com]

This is one of those products that you say “Woooow! Really? I can’t believe it”

It’s a shield suppose to help the humans (or plants) live better, one of the benefits of having the Tesla shield attached to your body is DNA rejuvenation (others pros include: improved health, energy balancing, and the list continues).

Aluminium is the material used to make the shield, after being anodised and colored, it possesses special condiments like no other similar objects do.

Contrary to other similar products The Tesla Purple Energy Shield™ utilises high frequency takyon energy and recharges itself continuously. it never needs to be recharged, upgraded or replaced. It will function perfectly indefinitely.

- Made by LifeTechnology
-+ Tesla Purple Engergy Shield info
- Check the disclaimer
- Price: $89,95

PS – I actually don’t buy this spiritual technology thing and don’t believe it works, but I thought it would be fun to share.

[tags]tesla, shields, spiritual[/tags]

The eZee Quando sports a NiMH 36V 9Ah (324 wh) battery, has a maximum range per charge of about 20 miles and it’s top speed is a blistering 15 mph. Price? About $1300.

[Source: Treehugger Via: Gizmodo]