Hello all you ecogeeks!

Just want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas from ecogadget!

(and a Happy Holidays to those who don’t celebrate Christmas)

Have a great day and a I hope you got some great ecogifts!

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I’ve blogged about phantom power before, the power that devices use even when they’re off. This phantom power can add up to a huge drain on the power grid and can cost you money on your power bill.

Other devices like the ecostrip will shut off power automatically, however there is an even simpler solution:simply unplug whatever devices you’re not using!

Of couse, this isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Some powerbars like to grab onto your plugs like their life depended on it. The “Easy Plugs” by Yoo-Kyung Shin is an easy and ingenious solution. Plug in your devices like normal, but simply push down on the side of the powe bar and the plug will pop right out.

Easy and quick to unplug your devices!

Of course this is just a concept, but I’d sure like to see this kind of system implemented as standard in powerbars. Could help promote unplugging!

via Yanko Design

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We cover a lot of energy efficient products and other gadgets that can help you reduce your energy consumption, but how much money can you actually save by living a greener life?

We decided to find out.

We’ve all received high energy bills and wondered where all that electricity went. Fortunately, a lot of it is actually wasted energy! Why is that fortunate? Because it’s easy to eliminate.

You don’t have to be ultra-conscious of your energy to reduce your consumption, in fact, you can save about $350 per year in only 5 easy steps!

Here’s ecogadget’s list of 5 easy steps that will reduce your energy consumption:

Read the rest of this entry »

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Pools can be a great way to spend a hot summer day, but all those chemicals used to clean the pool and the energy used by the pool pump are not the best for the environment.

The Solar Breeze is a pool cleaner that hopes to make your summer pooling experience a bit more green. The Solar Breeze is a pool skimmer with two solar panels on its top, allowing the skimmer to run off 100% free energy. It even stores extra energy in its onboard batteries, allowing it to run at night or on a cloudy day.

The Solar Breeze also eliminated the need for a pool pump, which often amount to as high as about two-thirds of a pool’s maintenance cost. It helps to reduce the amount of chlorine you need to use, as the Solar Breeze is constantly at work keeping the pool clean. It can reduce the cost of chlorine by about one-third.

The Solar Breeze works like the almost like a robotic vacuum for your pool. It will swim around your pool, filtering the water and dispensing chemicals. It will detect obstacles and manoeuvre around them, so there’s not even a need to take the kids’ toys out before a cleaning. It works in all depths as well, since it has a super-shallow draft structure.

The Solar Breeze is nice and compact as well, measuring 23″ x 20″ x 6″.

Overall the Solar Breeze is an easy, cheap, and green way to keep your pool clean. It will help you save money on energy costs by eliminating the need for a pool pump, as well on chemicals by reducing the amount of chlorine you need to keep the pool clean. The Solar Breeze’s solar panels mean you don’t even have to worry about batteries or charging the unit either!

 via EcoGeek, OnlineSolarPanels

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Well, we all know we’ve got to recycle, but not many people really enjoy it. You’ve gotta trek out to the recycling bin, you’ve gotten stack cans carefully if you don’t have enough space, and you have to find a special way to fit paper, plastic and cans into the same box!

Well the ecopod attempts to help you solve some of your recycling woes.

The ecopod sits inside your house, saving you a trek out to the recycling bin. While you could keep a recycling bin next to your garbage can inside, but if you have a lot of soft drink cans or something similar, you run the risk of attracting bugs. The ecopod keeps all cans in an enclosed space inside the unit, so anything leftover in the can won’t attract bugs. This alone will help a lot of people recycle.

As for space? Well, the ecopod is a compactor, meaning any cans or plastic inside the unit will be quicky and satisfyingly crushed into a thin sheet, perfect for stacking in your recycling bin or taking in for reimbursement.

As for anything recyclable other than metal and plastic, the ecopod features several removable storage bins in the top, all your recycling can reside in one unit.

Ecopod’s manufacturer claims the ecopod will prevent about 130 billion cans from reaching landfills. While I’m not exactly sure how they calculated this number, I can definitely see this appliance encouraging people to recycle.

The ecopod is a great response to some of the problems many people have with recycling. It has a great design and would look right at home in your kitchen. It’ll store your recyclables inside, giving you easy access, and then compact them down for easy stacking in your recycle bin.

Well, we all know if it’s not convenient, many people simply won’t do it. The ecopod helps to make recycling a lot more convenient, so who knows, if this catches on we’ll likely see a lot more people recycling.

Read more at the ecopod site.

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Cars are getting greener all the time, but still nothing compares to the good ol’ bicycle. Unfortunately, most bikes don’t come with nearly as many cool gadgets as most cars or trucks. GPS, Speedometers, Clocks, Radios, all cool gadgets that motorists enjoy and bicyclists often have to deal without.

Sure, we can all claim we don’t need these extra gadgets, but I doubt the average bicyclists would turn them down if they were available. Well, if some extra gadgets sound good to you, your prayers have been answered.

This is the Cerevellum, and ultra-cool information center for your bike. It provides many of the features available on a car, but all in a small package easily attachable for your bike (just be sure to lock it up! This thing would be quite attractive to thieves).

The Cerevellum “base unit” is a mini-computer that would attach to your handlebars, you can then attach up to 4 different modules using the base unit’s 4 USB connections.

So what features can you get with the Cerevellum? There are 6 different modules that can be added to the base unit.

Hindsight is one of the coolest modules. It brings the rear-view mirror on a car to your bike. Hindsight includes a small camera that is placed either on your handlebars (facing backward) or on the back of your bike. It feeds information to the base-unit, and a live video feed from behind your bike is displayed on the base unit’s screen.

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If you love to read you’ve no doubt noticed all the paper used. One cord of wood (about 2 tons) makes under five-hundred 200 page books.  Hell, Chapters is basically a tree slaughterhouse!

Of course, your environmental concerns shouldn’t stop you from reading, so why not try an e-book instead?

e-books, if you’re not familiar, are full copies of a novel, but electronic. Available for download from many websites, e-books can be viewed on your computer, or on a portable e-book reader. These readers hold hundreds of books and feature large screens which give your an experience similar to a traditional book.

Just recently released, the Amazon Kindle is one of the best on the market. The Kindle holds 200 titles, and weighs only 10.3 ounces. It has fantastic battery life as well, on a 2 hour charge it will last over a week!

What’s even more interesting about this device is the wireless connectivity. There’s no syncing with your computer to get books on the Kindle, you can use the wireless EVDO network to get connectivity anywhere you go, just like a cellphone. Once you’re online, you can shop the Kindle store directly on the device and download new titles to the hard drive. Pretty simple.

The Kindle store has over 90,000 titles, including most of the New York Times’ best sellers. It also features content from over 250 of the internet’s top blogs, including The Onion and Slashdot. Most books from the Kindle store are $9.99, although the prices do vary. You can also download free preview chapters!

What’s even better? This wireless connectivity is 100% free. The EVDO network, which is usually quite expensive when used on your cellphone, is delivered to the Kindle by amazon for free. Nice touch.

If you already own some e-books or want to view other pictures or documents on the Kindle, you can simply email then to the device and you’re ready to go, that wireless connectivity sure seems to come in handy.

The Kindle is a bit expensive at $399, although the books are a lot cheaper than paperbacks, and it seems a lot more convenient than bringing a bunch of books everywhere. The wireless connectivity is a nice touch too.

You can the Kindle directly from Amazon.

So get yourself an e-book reader, get some e-books, and help save the trees. Don’t let your environmental concerns get in the way of your reading!

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Well well well, Sony is stepping up and starting to really get into green technology. They started with the sugar battery back in August, and now comes the Twirl-N-Take, and as cheap as it looks, it’s a pretty cool idea.

The twirl-n-take is a green-powered camera. That is, it doesn’t use batteries for power. That strange looking circle on the top is actually how you generate the camera’s power.  Spinning it for 10-15 seconds is enough for one picture, then spin it again and snap away.

No word on the quality of the pictures yet, or how many pictures it can hold… or when/if you’ll be able to get it or how much it will cost, but this is one of those super-cool Japanese products us North Americaners are sorely missing out on.

Anyway, it’s great to see a tech giant getting more into green technology, and while spinning a wheel for 15 seconds might not be the most convenient, at least they’re thinking. It’s a pretty innovative design.

Keep it up Sony!

via GreenDaily, Product-Reviews.net

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Hippyshopper is giving away a 16gb iPod touch on their website. All you have to do is take a short survey, and you’ll be entered. Pretty easy, why not?

Head on over and take their survey, and if you do win, be sure to get a green-power charger to go along with it!

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Computers and circuit boards aren’t that great for landfills, as they actually contain a whole bunch of harmful chemicals.

So why not keep all your precious family memories in them instead?

This photo album is made from recycled circuit boards for the front and back covers. It’s like some wonderful invention from the future!

This photo album will keep your photos from getting lost and damaged, and it’ll show both your geeky side and your green side at the same time.

You can also buy individual frames made from recycled circuit boards , you know, just so they match.

Photo Album is $16.95 from Acorn Studios.

Photo Frames are:

£4.49 (about $10 CAD) for small.

£5.99 (about $12 CAD) for medium.

and £7.99 (about 17 CAD) for large.

all from Revolve.

via GreatGreenGoods (photo album,  photo frames)

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