This is an amazing how-to on building your own solar panel. It’s incredibly cheap as well at only $104.85, much cheaper than pre-built models. Let’s hear it for DIY!

How I Built and electricity producing Solar Panel

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Well CFL bulbs are almost a requirement for anyone considering themselves even remotely green, they hadn’t completely replaced all the functions of an incandescent

Sure, they’re energy saving (will save about half a ton of emissions over it’s lifetime!), but up until now, they hadn’t quite mastered setting the mood; they weren’t dimmable.

Well Nigel’s Eco Store is now selling the solution, dimmable CFL bulbs!

There are two types available, one designed for use with a standard dimming switch, and the other designed to dim using a standard on/off switch. You can set the brightness (from 2%-100%), and the bulb will “remember” this level until it is reset. Pretty cool!

These are both 20W bulbs, but give off the same light as a 100W incandescent. They’ll last for about 16,000 hours.

You can get these both from Nigel’s Eco Store. The Dimmer-switch version sells for about $25 (£12.49), and the normal on/off switch version sells for about $21 (£10.99)

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Electric Cyclery, out of Laguna Beach, California, has come up with a great idea for a combination bike: mix an ultra-portable folding bike with a powerful hybrid electric motor.

This is what they came up with: The Biontague. It’s rather unfortunate name came from the names of the two things that were merged: the Montague Paratrooper Folding Bike and the Bionx PL350 electric conversion kit.

The result is an ultra portable bike, at 43.2 lbs, which folds to about a third of it’s size. Perfect for city commuters.

The Bionx has an average maximum speed for bike of about 20mph, however you can always peddle faster. The range is pretty impressive at 60 miles, and you’ll get a full charge in only 3 hours.

The biontague also features a nice control panel. It includes an odometer, charge guage, current power consumption/generation, and electric assistance mode indicator. Hell, with a killer sound system it’ll be just like a car!

You can get this for $2275 from Electric Cyclery, but add $100 to that if you want it shipped out to you (although shipping is only in the continental US I’m sorry to say).

via MetaEfficient

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In the last post we talked about Sanyo’s Eneloop rechargeable batteries. These batteries come fully charged, do not lose charge over time, and can last over 19 years!

We should your batteries run out of juice, just pop ‘em into the charger and you’re ready to go.

…but why use traditional power when there’s an even greener way to recharge them?

Enter the Eneloop Solar Charger.

This charger uses the sun to produce power, and can charge an eneloop battery in as little as 2.5 hours, must faster than even a traditional wall-powered battery charger.

In addition to charging batteries, the eneloop solar charger provides the first solar powered USB port. Providing DC 5v, 500mA output, the solar charger can charge any device you would normally charge through USB.

The solar charger is available now, but extremely hard to find outside of Japan. If you do find it, expect to pay about $170.

via engadget

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 Refrigeration has always been a tough one when it comes to being green. Memories of CFCs, huge power bills, and the like surround the essential appliance.

While some might argue just how essential a wine cooler is, this mini-fridge uses a new form of refrigeration, called “Thermo-Electric“.

No toxic chemicals are used, and there are very few moving parts.

It’s temperature range is from 46-66°F (+/- 2°F).

Another eco-friendly aspects of this fridge is the window, it double-paned to help reduce heat loss. It also provides UV protection for those super-expensive bottles.

You can get it from amazon for $159

via Really Natural

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Ever thought your network could go green?

Well no doubt most people have routers or switches in their home, and due to the always-on nature of the internet, these devices are always on, and always sucking power. While it’s unrealistic to get everyone to turn off their network at night, D-Link has released a line of switches that intelligently reduce power consumption whenever possible.

D-Link’s new line of switches reduces power consumption by up to 44%, with no drop in performance.

It achieves this by intelligently deciding how much power is needed by the devices it’s connected to. For example, shorter cables need less power to receive a signal then longer cables. The switches figure out how long the cable is, and reduce power accordingly.

While I’m not sure how much electricity switches use, they are one of those devices we leave on all the time. These switches only eliminate wasted power as well, which is sure fine by us.

Good job D-Link!

via Geek.com, PCPro

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First off, these are speakers, sort of.

Yes, they look like rolled-up paper, but they work just like speakers. No toxic plastic or metal, they are made from a 100% sustainable material.

Now these aren’t stand-alone speakers exactly. They are designed to amplify your ear-buds, thus working like a speaker. It’s the same principle as yelling through a cone, they amplify the sound.

Even cooler than sustainable amplifiers is that these make use of recycled paper. They use old music scores and a little bit of clay to create the paper. You’re recycling old music to play new music!

These are great for showing off your green side, and they sound great as well.

via Keetsa, Treehugger

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