Category Archives: Gadgets and Tech
The solar sail technology has created quite a buzz recently and we’ve sent the Ikaros being successfully deployed into space by the Japanese. Now, NASA has launched an experimental micro-satellite from a larger, solar powered satellite, the first agency to do so, called the NanoSail-D. Deployed from the Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite (FASTSAT), NASA hopes to clean up space debris using this technology. Now there’s a load of deploying being done here, so get a hold of this. The FATSAT was sent into space on November 19th with a load of experiments aboard, including the NanoSail-D. The NanoSail-D was deployed into space, the size of a bread loaf, attached to a Poly Pico-Satellite Orbital Deployer, and after a three day countdown deployed a gossamer-thin solar sail stretching 100 feet.
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The night sky in a city is a lot different today from the way it used to be before. You can thank pollution for that. Those lovely stars we loved lying on our backs and looking at are now hidden away, covered by those layers of smoke and dark clouds. Here’s a creation by designers Dr. Lin Hui-Hsiung, Huang Shao-Wei, Chiang Chung-Kai, Yang Wen-Hsun that bring back those starry nights. A nightlight using transparent light collecting modules, this one collects light energy when the main bulb is lit up, using it to charge up a battery which in turn powers up those twinkling LEDs. Switch it from the normal bulb mode to the nightlight mode and you’ll be awestruck at the beautiful lights, powered up in an energy efficient way.
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The American market is getting its piece of green technology all the way around the globe, from China. The first of its kind solar powered air conditioners will finally find their place on American store shelves. These solar powered air conditioners also send back excess energy to the grid, and the first 50,000 units will be sold across the US, after which, sale will begin in China. Developed independently by Gree Electric Appliances, these air conditioners begin grid-drinking only if solar power is insufficient. Chief engineer, Huang Hui hopes that the second generation of these air conditioners is a lot greener, 100% solar powered, and run without producing any emissions whatsoever. We hope so too, and wait eagerly the dawn of solar powered air conditioning systems, using the sun to cool our heated lives.
[PeopleDaily]
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LG electronics has decided to push the green a level upwards, shunning away the use of conventional magnesium in mobile phone manufacturing in a bid to decrease Co2 emissions. Instead, the company has opted to use a more eco-friendly magnesium alloy called eco-magnesium. By 2012, this alloy will be used in mobile phone manufacturing, helping LG reduce as much as 4kgs of carbon emissions for every handset. During production and casting of this magnesium alloy, no sulfur-hexafluoride, a potent green house gas is created, according to the company.
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Here’s a sweet new way to power your iPhone, using wind energy, the iFan. Designed by Tjeerd Veenhoven this one sure is an innovative way to juicing up your Apple. But then again, it requires gusts of air to do any good, which means you’ll probably need to prop this one up on the roof of your car, or the handlebars of a bike. For sea-farers though, this one sure s the answer to a long asked question, with all that wind blowing around in the ocean charging up iPhones. Now we really haven’t figured out yet if plugging this one into an iPhone can also reverse the project, making it a little fan to cool your self, powered by an iPhone battery.
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Now here’s a silly concept we came across, that mistook the whole concept of being green. In an attempt to save electricity, designer Daizi Zheng came up with the idea of powering up a cell phone using Coca-Cola. Why Coke? We haven’t figured out yet. Now a phone powered by water seems to be well off into the future. But using Coke for this one seems to be a much expensive and impractical way of going green. Oh, the phone does also use other sugary substances to power up too. Using a bio-battery, this one generates electricity from carbohydrates, using enzymes as the catalyst. Generating water and oxygen as the battery is slowly put to rest; this one sure isn’t going to be the next best way to charge up our mobile phones.
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Are those bugs and flies spoiling your time outdoors? You can now use the sun to get rid of them. And no, we aren’t talking about the age-old magnifying glass trick, using sun-rays to burn ants. Gotcha came up with the Solar Powered Insect Killer that keeps all the bugs and flies away from your outdoors. Using a bright LED light to attract insects, the device lures them into a high voltage trap, deadlier than a spider’s parlor, powered up by an internal rechargeable battery. This battery is charged up using two solar panels integrated into the top of the Insect Killer. All you need to do is place this one out during the day time to charge up, and use it in the evening, where it works for a good five hours on a full charge.
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Here’s a device you can plug your mobile into, without worrying about it drinking too much of energy, the Enviroplug. An energy saving adapter for mobile phones, this one cuts the flow of energy to your mobile phone, the moment it’s fully charged, to prevent wastage of energy and any damage to your phone’s battery. Most of us don’t really bother pulling out the charger the moment our phones are juiced up, leaving it there to drink up energy. The Enviroplug saves up to 90% of this energy flowing out. Using LED indicators to show the plug’s status, this one keeps you informed with a green light to indicate that charge is flowing.
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Is your desk just too cluttered and full to sport a printer? Well, here’s a compact way to printing, that’ll solve all your printing needs, in a green way. The Wax-on printer is basically a solid ink printer. This one is green, considering the fact that it produces no plastic waste whatsoever, and shuns the need of ink-jet cartridge use. Designed by Faris Elmasu, the Wax-on printer uses just a fraction of your desk-space, owing to the vertical design. Wax ink printing adds to its sustainability. And the best part is, this one looks neat too, nice enough to be set up on your desk, instead of those boring old ink jets we’re so used to seeing.
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Nokia have decided to give their smartphones, the C7 and the N8 a touch of green. These Symbian smartphones will function just the way the previous version did, though with a few added eco-friendly features. With a whole folder full of eco-friendly applications like games and third-party applications, the green smartphones will also use minimal packaging with 100% recyclable packaging material. Also, these phones won’t have those fat start-up guides packed along, instead using just a single page to save paper. Packaging changes can be brought about in every phone model Nokia rolls out, and we’re left wondering why the company hasn’t incorporated this for the others as well.
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The solar sail technology has created quite a buzz recently and we’ve sent the Ikaros being successfully deployed into space by the Japanese. Now, NASA has launched an experimental micro-satellite from a larger, solar powered satellite, the first agency to do so, called the NanoSail-D. Deployed from the Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite (FASTSAT), NASA hopes to clean up space debris using this technology. Now there’s a load of deploying being done here, so get a hold of this. The FATSAT was sent into space on November 19th with a load of experiments aboard, including the NanoSail-D. The NanoSail-D was deployed into space, the size of a bread loaf, attached to a Poly Pico-Satellite Orbital Deployer, and after a three day countdown deployed a gossamer-thin solar sail stretching 100 feet.
