We’ve seen a whole bunch of systems designed to reduce the amount of electricity wasted by all the devices in the home, and it used to be confined to something like a power-bar.

The GreenSwitch takes that idea even further. It’s a wireless switch that can control many different systems in your home, it makes it easy to reduce those wasted kilowatts!

There’s one main switch, and it can be connected wirelessly to electrical outlets: switch goes off, outlet goes off, saving electricity. It can also be connected to your thermostat, turning down the heat or air conditioning when you’re not home.

The system isn’t too bad in terms of price, $1,125 for a master switch, for slave switches, and four wireless outlets. Not bad for big electricity savings, the company even claims it will pay for itself in as little as two years.

This is a great way to save wasted electricity. For anyone with several lamps instead of a main lightswitch (like me) it’s a big time-saver too.

via The Alternative Consumer

Popularity: 16% [?]

Bike are a fantastic green way to travel. They’re emissions free, cheap, and you can park them pretty much anywhere.

But what if you want to go a bit further than the corner store?

Scooters and other motorized bicycles are great for this, but the ohm XU450 Urban Electric Bike blows them all away.

This high-tech bike is 100% electric, and comes with a whole slew of cool high-tech features. The console provides a maximum speed control, as well as an “electric peddle assistance” mode (hybrid bicycle perhaps?)

It also comes complete with head and tail lights, front and rear hydraulic brakes, “Shimano” shift control, front and rear fenders, and a lockable storage compartment.

The motor is a “maintenance-free BionX 250W motor / with 450 Watt peak power and re-generative braking to charge the battery”. As for the battery, it’s a lithium-ion 38V 9Ah battery. This is reportedly not affected by memory issues.

While it’s rather expensive, at $2875, it’s still quite cheap compared to a car and gas. Gas money definitely ads up!

via The Alternative Consumer

Popularity: 27% [?]

Now highways and cars are not something that would usually make you think green, but a brilliant new green energy system might change your mind.

The system, developed by Scott Brusaw, turns the land used by highways and roads into a massive solar farm.

In fact, roads are long strips of land that are constantly exposed to the elements and make up a significant piece of land. Because of the high visual impact of solar farms, he thinks that converting the roads to a strip-like solar farm can be a good solution.

The system utilizes three layers to create power. The top and bottom layers serve as protection for the middle layer, which contains all the necessary electronics, including solar cells.

Brusaw thinks that if the US Interstate Highway system was replaced with his system, with an solar cell efficiency of 10 percent, it could power the whole country.

An additional benefit to this middle electronics layer is LEDs that serve as lane markers. This allows for easy reconfiguration of lanes, construction zones, etc.

They are saying a prototype streching from Sandpoint to Coeur d’Alene will be ready in 5 years. If all goes well we could be seeing the highway of the future!

via AutoblogGreen

Popularity: 9% [?]