When you’re not using your monitor, it goes to sleep. When your digital camera’s battery is charged, it goes into standby. Sleep, standby-low-power, whatever the mode is called, almost all of today’s electronics have a lower-power mode which cuts down on electricity, but leaves it in a ready-to-use state.

These modes, while they use less power than leaving something on, still use power. In fact, many electronics will still use electricity even when not turned on. The result? A whole lot of wasted electricity.

Well, here comes the super-intelligent, power saving, crime fighting, Smart Power Bar. The smart power can detect the difference between a device in use, and one that’s in standby mode. It stops standby devices from getting power, unplugging them, in essence.

This can save you tons on your electricity bill, and can help reduce emissions from power plants. Even if you’re not super-eco-friendly and keep your electronics to a minimum, there’s no sense in wasting electricity.

One Click Power - Smart Power Bar: £29.99 (about $63 Canadian) from Nigel’s Eco Store

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If you think solar power is all about powering traditional lights with renewable energy, have I got a surprise for you. Scientists have just perfected a way to store light in bottles! Now you can carry around a light with you just like you would a jar of say, sugar. As long as there’s daylight, you can keep re-filling this magical jar.

Okay, so its not magic, and it’s not a new scientific breakthrough, it’s just solar power with a little human touch. The Sun Jar Solar Light has solar cells in the jar which suck in solar energy and charge the batteries. Then the batteries power some orangey-yellow LED lights in the dark. With a little frosting on the jar to hide all the circuitry, you get a jar that just glows at night.

Very inviting, and one of the best and simplest green designs I’ve seen yet.

via Nigel’s Eco-Store

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Are you a fully-obsessed eco-nut? Are you 100% off the grid? Do you only eat local, organic, vegan food?

Well there’s a lot of products on the market to feed the need for green, and make your life eco-friendly…. but what about your afterlife? Surely you can’t green death…

But you can!

Enter the ecopod, a revolution in coffins (an area that had been somewhat stagnant for the past hundred years).

The ecopod is a coffin make from 100% naturally hardened, recycled paper. Now you can go as green as you lived, perfect for the ultimate return to the planet.

ecopod: £769.00 (about $1623 Canadian) from Nigel’s Eco Store

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How many gadgets are plugged in around you right now? Chances are, there’s an iPod, Digital Camera, Cell Phone, Video Camera, Battery Charger, and a whole bunch of other devices and chargers. It’s okay, I do too, but these gadgets do take up a lot of electricity.

The Solio Mobile Phone & iPod Solar Charger is a compact solar panel array that you can use to charge your devices. That’s right! Completely green electricity for a techno-gadget world.

I did find it rather odd that a product called an iPod charger would need a separate kit to charge a modern iPod, but it’s still a pretty cool product.

Other than simply charging your iPod at home however, there’s a great use for this product on the road (car or bike) to keep these devices charged when you can’t plug in. Ever run out of juice halfway through or drive? Just use the sun!

It is also rather expensive, at £49.95 (about $105 Canadian) from Ethical Superstore but that’s what you’ll be paying for many alternative-power gadgets until the technology improves. Solar is still in it’s infancy remember!

While the price-tag makes it a bit impractical, it’s great to see more eco-friendly products, and this shows these types of products are becoming mainstream.

via Ethical Superstore

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Well in a move I would not really expect from Sony, they seem to be embracing green technology. Sony announced on Friday that they have developed asugar-based battery. Not only is this battery eco-friendly, but it can generate enough power to power an mp3 player and portable speakers. Watch your AA do that!

“Sugar is a naturally occurring energy source produced by plants through photosynthesis,” Sony said in a statement.

“It is therefore regenerative, and can be found in most areas of the earth, underlining the potential for sugar-based batteries as an ecologically-friendly energy device of the future.”

-Reuters

It’s great to see a huge company like Sony embracing green technology, and hopefully this will be the start of a trend among big business. Until then, good job Sony!

via Keetsa! Blog

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