Category Archives: Gadgets and Tech
Why plug your PC into that power socket when you could use solar juice to power up instead? With Simmtronics’ recent solar powered desktop-PC launch in India, computing goes greener than ever. Great for use in areas disconnected from the grid where electricity supply is a phenomena that’s seriously never taken for granted, these desktop PCs are the firt of their kind in India, powering up using solar energy, reducing carbon footprints in environment. And that’s not all. Besides being ever-green, this one also consumes a lot less energy than a standard desktop PC would, making it an energy efficient mode to computing.
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Ever dreamed of capturing the sun’s heat, and putting it to use when the day gets colder? Florent Bouhey Fayolle’s design, the Sun Container, does just that. A solar-energy capturing 120W passive heater, this one stores solar heat in slate fins and releases the heat from the vents in the top to heat up the room. Inspired by the concept of the Trombe wall, the Sun Container was built by the industrial design student at the ECAL institute in Lausanne using glass and an aluminum base.
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There are days when the sun simply doesn’t bother to show, leaving solar panels and chargers around thirsty and parched. Designer Nikolay Bastrakov decided to come up with a solar phone charger, that keeps your phone charged up, even in bad weather conditions, where the clouds take over. The charger is capable of functioning perfectly fine even on cloudy days by absorbing solar radiation in two color spectrums. Also, using a polymer composite of silicone and plastic derivatives, this one’s elastic and strong, resistant to dust, sand and rain too.
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The Netherlands’ Delft University of Technology has come up with a seemingly interesting way to save the national grid some precious watts of electricity lately. The University is currently working on intelligent street lamps with motion-sensors that dim to 20% lower power when no one’s around. this helps the grid and the environment too, helping keep out as much as 80% of Co2 emissions away from the atmosphere. Using LED bulbs triggered by motion sensors, these street lamps detect movement, and the begin glowing at 100% luminosity when someone’s around.
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We’ve seen solar powered bags that suck energy from the rays of the sun to power up your gadgets on the go. Here’s one specifically designed for Steve Job’s Apple of the eye, the iPad. Most of the satchels we’ve had before loaded with solar panels, stick to utilitarian qualities more than just looks. Element 5 has now come up with a bag called the Swiss Made Mini L Solarbag with a solar panel that soaks in the sun’s heat to juice up your iPad. Well, we aren’t sure just how long this one really takes to do its job well, though judging by the size of the solar panel, we’ve summed it up to be quite a long time!
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And if you’ve been under the impression that the air around you can’t really amount to much, besides filling up your lungs with enough oxygen to keep you alive, think again! We’ve heard of air being used to power up stuff before, including vehicles. Researchers have now developed a mighty way to suck electricity out of the air, and we aren’t making mountains out of molehills! These antennas are printable, and were shown off at CES, capable of using energy flowing around in the form of signals, to power up smaller devices. Well, you probably won’t be charging your mobile phones with technology like this, at least not for now. However, they do pretty well juicing up sensors used in everyday applications, without the need for battery connections!
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Looking for a greener way to juice up your batteries at home? We suggest you give Panasonic’s shiny new solar-powered battery charger a good look. Armed with an HIT solar panel similar to those hooked on to the roofs of our homes, the BG-BL01 charger also works as an emergency light, and was unveiled in Japan recently. Weighing in at about 150g, the BG-BL01 measures approximately 152x104x24mm and also sports a USB port that enables users to lug in the USB devices for a solar powered charge. Taking about 5 hours to charge up two AA batteries in ideal conditions, the charger’s emergency light works at maximum luminosity for a good 15 hours, while switching it to its lowest delivers 60 hours.
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One of the reasons solar technology isn’t catching on as quickly as it should is the fact that it still remains expensive. Buying and setting up solar panels isn’t all the cheap today, and though they help save up on costs in the future, the initial payments required to set these up can skyrocket, which all really boils down to the cost of manufacturing them. Solar panel manufacturing is indeed an expensive process today, which could change for the better tomorrow, making solar technology inexpensive, thanks to developments like these printable plastic polymer photovoltaic cells. Developed by researchers in UK, the process essentially prints out the plastic polymer photovoltaic cells on cling-like film.
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Vax has been and continues to be a pretty established name when it comes to dirt-suckers. The floorcare brand has now come up with a cardboard vacuum cleaner, the first of its kind in the world. Now cardboard might seem weak when compared to plastic and metal, both ideal materials to create vacuum cleaners. However, designer Jake Tyler put a whole lot of thought into this machine, that assembles out of the packaging itself! All you’ve got to do is fold along the lines and Voila! The packaging of this vacuum cleaner magically turns into the machine itself! Called the Vax Ev, this one’s outside is completely recyclable, though its insides choose to stick to the ordinary motorized parts. All we’ve got to pray for now, is that the Vax Ev doesn’t suck itself in, given that cardboard does seem to be a weak body material for a machine that does nothing, buy suck.
[Dvice]
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We’ve heard of the US Army hooking on to some pretty green initiatives, in an attempt to decrease its reliance on oil, while fighting a battle against the makers of oil themselves. In Afghanistan particularly, the Army faces vulnerability, owing to the fact that it’s largely dependent on oil to power up its diesel-drinking electricity generators. While transporting the fuel, the Army has been facing large amounts of financial drawbacks, particularly due to attacks on convoys carrying fuel. Instead, the Army is now planning to make use of microgrids that will use solar panels and energy storage systems in Afghanistan instead. Also, these units being larger will push out several smaller oil-reliant energy generators, increasing performance and making maintenance easier.
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