Here’s proof that environmentally friendly gadgets don’t have to be home-made and held together with duct tape. The three below are clever, simple, look good and use renewable energy.
SAKKU SOLAR BAGS
Swiss-based company Sakku produces solar bags with an integrated ultra-light and flexible solar panel that allows you to charge your cell phone, MP3 Player or GPS tracker with solar energy. The bags come in three models: Sakku.traveller, which is made out of recycled sail cloth from boats sailing on Swiss lakes; Sakku.worker, which has a cushioned compartment for laptops and comes in black cordura with an extra-large belt; and Sakku.buddy, which uses recycled sun shutters. Best of all these bags are available in South Africa from Tashi Solar. The bags are available either with or without a battery which stores energy so you can charge your appliance when you need to. The bags start at R3,352.00.
YO-YO IPHONE CHARGER
What do you do when you live in Sweden, where the sun hardly shines in winter so you can’t use a solar charger for your iPhone? You invent a yo-yo that charges your iPhone. Industrial designer Peter Thuvander’s induction-powered yo-yo charger for Apple is such a cool idea it almost makes me want to go out and buy an iPhone. Want to know how it works? Go to Thuvander’s website.
[Via: Inhabitat]
WATER-POWERED CLOCK
This clock doesn’t need batteries. It uses electrodes to harvest energy from plain tap water and a dash of ordinary table salt. It’s sold by US firm Bedol.
[Via: Sciam]
October 16th, 2008 @ 10:38 am
Why don’t we have such awesome things available in SA? If we had gadgets like these, more people would accept the challenge of living more ‘green’.
October 16th, 2008 @ 11:11 am
@Lelanie:
You can definitely get the bags here and other cool things like wind-up radios and solar cellphone chargers. We don’t seem to make much of this kind of thing here, though, so they tend to be imported and expensive.