As kids most of us enjoyed building things.  Even if it was just a sand castle or a Lego themed item that really didn’t do anything but sit there, it was still awesome.  For a kid to be able to build something that actually moves would be a whole lot more fun.  Especially if it’s a speed boat that they get to play with at the local pool or even in the bath tub.  Well this speed boat lets the kids construct it themselves and even teaches them about solar energy.

The project is easy to build and will work just fine for kids 8 years of age and over that.  When it’s all put together and outdoors the solar panel will give the boat all the power it needs.  Then when you’re indoors you can pop in 2 AA batteries and it’ll keep on running.  Just make sure to disconnect the solar panel before you put in the batteries, otherwise it’ll damage the solar panel.  You can purchase the Amazing Solar Speed Boat Electronics Kit for £9.99 or about $16 through Maplin.

Source: Envirogadget

Those that got their hands onto an iPhone generally try to protect it from everything possible.  That usually means picking up a case, even if that means covering up your very sleek and attractive iPhone or iPod Touch.  Well if you’re going to pick up a case anyway, you might as well make it an eco-friendly one that gives you a few extra hours of talk time.  Then you’ll never be without a form of back up power.

The case just slips onto your iPhone or iPod Touch like any other case would.  On the back will be the solar panel that could easily be laid on your dashboard or in your window to catch a charge.  After you’ve managed to keep it out of your pocket enough to give it a full charge, it’s able to offer your iPhone 390 hours of standby time and a total of 9.5 hours of actual talk time.  You could also use it to plug into your laptop by just hooking it up through the USB port.  You can purchase the Smart Cover for $139.99.

Source: Ubergizmo

Contrary to popular belief that solar capable items need a heavy battery to go along with it, the Sun-Bags take a different route by tipping the scales at a mere 500 grams (sans your collection of gadgets within, of course) inclusive of the battery, bag structure and solar panel. For folks who have a hard time making decisions, the Sun-Bag is not going to help either since it will come in a whopping 37 colors with optional custom printing for that added level of customization.

Neuber’s Sun-Bags will be available worldwide, where pricing starts from 99 Euros upwards, depending on the design that you choose. It would be interesting to see just how well the Sun-Bags will do on the open market, since the entry level price might be just out of reach for most of the working class, especially in Third World countries where the need for renewable energy devices are even higher so that authorities won’t take short cuts in their industrialization process by dirtying the environment.

Press Release

Instead of getting a skull that lights up and requires you to plug it in or toss in batteries, go for this slightly more convenient design.  It features a built-in solar panel to make it so that you can sit this out during the Halloween season and not need to worry about it till Halloween has passed.  Since it will be all over with as of Saturday, perhaps you should consider this for next Halloween instead though.

When someone happens to pass by this solar-powered skull, those bright yellow lights will glare at them as they go about their business.  It has a natural bone-like finish and is made out of a resin that makes it durable in all different types of weather.  That makes it even better to just sit it out and not have to worry about it for a while.  It comes with a Ni-Cad battery that the solar panel will charge.  You can purchase the Solar Light Up Skull for $20.69 from UXSight.

Source: TechChee

The SolarCharger 906 is a highly portable unit which enables consumers who are always on-the-go the opportunity to charge a variety of their devices including cellphones, PDAs and other handheld mobile devices. Measuring roughly the size of a deck of cards, the SolarCharger 90 is tiny enough to fit into your purse, tote, briefcase or glove compartment, and has a variety of tips to work with just about any device imaginable in the market today. It will have a a highly efficient solar conversion thanks to the incorporation of a high-performance monocrystalline solar panel and special solar chipset. When fully charged, this device can juice up one or more USB devices, as long as the target device’s charge capacity and current charge level are not too much. Apart from that, its internal battery is able to hold its charge for up to a year. In addition, it only needs to be juiced up to 40% of its total capacity to provide a cellphone with enough juice to last for an emergency call.

Since this is a solar-powered charger, it can withstand temperatures of up to 158 degrees Fahrenheit just in case you decide to leave this baking in a car. You can pick up the SolarCharger 906 for $59.99 from Amazon.

Press Release

Buying rechargable batteries is always far better than purchasing the disposable ones.  However, it’s still not a perfect method.  It helps so that you’re throwing away less batteries, but at the same time you’re still plugging something into the wall and using your electricity to charge the batteries.  Instead of plugging a battery charger into the wall, this ReNEW would allow for your rechargable batteries to become even more eco-friendly.

This ReNEW charger allows for you to just drop the batteries through the top slot and once the battery is all charged it will drop out of the bottom.  On the back of the unit is a solar panel that is the resource of the power pumped into your batteries.  The charger can either sit on a tabletop like a picture frame or you could use the suction cup to attach it to a window.  It’s a fantastic design, but sadly it is still a concept.

Source: Ubergizmo

There are quite a few solar gadgets out there and unfortunately a lot of them can get a touch pricey.  Well for once, this lantern is incredibly cheap.  Instead of grabbing the kerosene or battery lantern when you head out into the world, you could grab this eco-friendly solar one.  Surprisingly it’s actually said to shine brighter than your old kerosene lantern would.  Plus it’ll give off light for several hours when it has a full charge stored up.

The lantern is a total of 5 times brighter than a kerosene lantern and will shine light for up to 8 hours on a fully charged battery.  Of course not only can you charge it through the solar panel, but it can be plugged in and charged through the AC charger as well.  It provides 360-degree light and has a handle with multiple-settings to allow for flexible usage.  It has protection for over-charging and has an all around tough design.  In order to get a full charge the lamp needs 8 hours of sun and through the AC it requires 4 hours.  On high that’ll give you 4 hours of light and on low it’ll give 8.  The lamp itself is retailing for only $10.

Source: Ohgizmo

There are a great deal of solar lights that go down with the plants and make your garden look that much better.   Well instead of sprucing up your plants, you can add a little mood lighting to your deck or porch.  This could even be used indoors, you’d just have to make sure it stays close to a window to get the full charge it needs to run.  It’s not your usual solar lamp that you find in someone’s garden, which is exactly what makes it so appealing.

In order for this to cast the pretty scroll design onto your tabletop, it’ll need to soak up the sun through the solar panel located on the top.  After it has reached a full charge though, it’ll give you light for up to 8 hours.  You don’t have to let it stay on all the time either like a lot of other solar lights.  This one comes with an on/off switch, so that you can choose when to use up that charge.  You can purchase the lights individually for £24.99 or about $39.

Source: Envirogadget

Form and function: Dow's new solar shingles blend in and collect solar energy.

The cool thing about solar panels is that they save you money on electricity and are incredibly “green.” The not so cool thing is that they’re unsightly and incredibly inefficient in converting solar rays into electricity. But they’re getting better. And thanks to Dow Solar Solutions, form is improving right along with function.

Dow has worked out how to not only make solar panels into rooftop shingles but also that they blend in with a house’s existing roof, and cost about forty percent cheaper than the roof top solar tiles we reported on last year. And the best part is, because they are built into the conventional shingle design, there’s no real specialized knowledge required to install. That means that weekend warriors and your average roofer can put these up with the same whack of a hammer and tack nails as they do right now.

Easy to install, these Dow Solar Shingles require no special installation.

And since these cells blend in with the existing roof shingles, those heads of home owners associations (you know, the guys with Napoleonic complexes who get off telling you how to take care of your own property) probably won’t even notice them.

The downside? They’re still only 10% effective, meaning that most of the sunlight won’t power your home. But hey, it’s a start.

Hat Tip – D’Vice

Here’s a solar lamp that almost appears to disguise itself as a candle.  If someone were to walk past this lamp without paying attention or see it at night, they’d very likely write it off as a candle without giving it a second thought.  Well this glazed ceramic sphere will keep on giving you eco-friendly light, without you having the same concerns as you would a candle.  Things like looking for a lighter and then attempting to remember to turn it off again.  You get all the soft glow you want and no risk of burning down your front porch.

There’s no need to flip the light on or off either, it will always automatically come on once it’s dark outside.  After the light has a full charge stored up from during the day, it’ll be able to shine for up to 8 hours.  The batteries themselves are the replaceable kind, it uses rechargeable NiMh batteries.  On the up side of things, it seems that buyers have nothing but good things to say about these after they’ve purchased them.  Knowing that ahead of time always makes it easier to purchase things such as this, online.  You can pick them up for £11.99 or about $19.

Source: Envirogadget

Okay, that was a bad intro, but you know what I’m talking about. I’m sure that you have seen all those solar-powered chargers before, but they are a lot like those electric screwdrivers that take an hour to charger for only five minutes worth of use. Not only that, you have to put the charger in some place out in the sun.

It makes sense to put a solar charger on a window blind, doesn’t it? After all, it is a blind’s job to keep out the sun, and it faces the sun every day, right? This is the initial concept behind the Some Shine Solar Energy Storage System.

All you need to do is put up the blind and pull it down to plug it in to the battery pack base. As the sun beats down on the blinds during the day, all that formerly wasted energy will be stored for later use.

Then, right before the night falls, you pull up the blind and plug in your mobile devices into the battery pack base. They will be all charged by the morning, and you can pull down the blind and the process begins anew.

Sadly, this Some Shine Solar Energy Storage System is merely concept for now, but it really should be out now. Then again, what do you do if it is cloudy?

Source

This is one of those gadgets that might be useful, but your neighbors are going to hate you for it.  It’s always a pain when you’re trying to find a house and everyone has numbers posted that can barely be seen.  Well with this mailbox you’ll make sure that anyone that can find your house.  It has a bright light behind the numbers, the light will allow for people to see your mailbox from half a football field away.  I’m sure the neighbors will just love that.

At least it manages to keep that bright light up and running in an eco-friendly manner.  It has a solar panel on the top.  You won’t have to worry too much about cloudy days causing issues for the light either.  Since all it takes is 4 hours of sunlight to keep it charged for 4 days in a row.  The mailbox isn’t out just yet, you’ll be able to purchase this as of October 1st.  At that point it’ll cost you $79.99, which for those of you who live in rural areas might be a bit much.  Especially considering with that bright light is like begging for someone to knock your mailbox over.

Source: TreeHugger

Vintage is always something that in some shape or form it manages to be in style.  It’s not always the same type vintage things or the same era, but vintage influence is always there.  Well for those that enjoy vintage bags, these durable bags will appeal to your gadget loving side.  These are fully authentic German World War II bags.  They’ve survived this long, so I imagine they can handle your day to day life.  Plus they manage to keep your gadgets charged and control your iPod.

These bags are said to be the first to combine wearable solar panels and iPod controls in one place.  Which means you get to charge your gadgets in a convenient and eco-friendly manner.  These durable bags would be great for those of you that like to take your technology into the great outdoors.  Of course being such unique bags, you’re going to have a hard time getting your hands on one.  They are only going to release 20 of these bags per year.  Plus you’ll have to head to Vancouver to visit the shop called ARChitect.

Source: GadgetLab

Developed by a team of physicists, this is the globe that harnesses light and the earth’s magnetic pull to rotate continuously, without cords, batteries, or human intervention. Three photoreceptors inside the globe gather incandescent light or indirect sunlight to power an internal drive. This mechanism interacts with the earth’s magnetic field, providing the torque to spin the globe. The globe is suspended in a clear liquid inside a clear acrylic shell, creating a frictionless environment (much like the earth’s) that enables the globe to rotate steadily and silently at a gentle pace. The acrylic shell can spin 360º in any direction yet the globe itself will always remain upright and in proper alignment. The globe comes with an acrylic stand but it will rotate on most other surfaces, including your hand.

The globe measures 8.5″ in diameter, where it will also show a political map of the world alongside 3,500 place names which include continents, countries, cities and the seven seas. Expect the Perpetually Rotating Solar Globe to retail for $399.95. Steep, yes, but at least you won’t need to buy any batteries…

The solar tree turns any sunny day into a charging station.

And not only Beach goers. Campers. Hikers. Sports enthusiasts, even backyard warriors. Pretty much anyone who enjoys spending time outside would love to have the Solar Tree. And probably, not just one.

Invented by a trio of smart guys over at Yanko, the Solar tree sticks in the ground and has a solar panel at it’s head. In the stick itself, there are electrical plugs for more than one gadget, be it iPod, camera, cell phone, or even boom box (well, probably a small one). Three total can be solar charged and operated simultaneously.

The Solar tree not only convers solar energy, it stores it.

Like your typical solar panel, the Solar Tree collects solar energy and converts it from between 12 and 230 volts of electicity. With a built in battery reserve, the Solar Tree will also save energy for use when the sun goes down.

And it couldn’t be easier to set up. Just bring it outside, and if at the beach, stick it in the sand. But if for the ground, it may be wise to bring a hand trowel to dig a good deep hole to place it in as you wouldn’t want to hammer down on the head in order to go into the dirt.
No word on how much or if it’ll be available any time soon, but it should be!

Hat Tip – Yanko Design

There is never a shortage of various portable ways to charge the iPhone, mostly due to people being very unhappy with the battery life.  However, for those of us using an iPod Touch, it seems like there are far less options.  Which is bad for those like me that are notorious for forgetting to charge their iPod while they’re at home.  This Surge case will help out those that are always on the run and always forgetting to plug in their iPod.  It’ll make sure you can get a charge no matter where you’re at.

It will of course make your iPod quite a bit more bulky, but at least you’ll be powering your iPod in an eco-friendly and portable manner.  The best part of this case is that they were smart enough to make it possible to sync your iPod without worrying about taking the case off.  You’ll also get a decent amount of selection when it comes to choosing the color of the case you would like.  They have these in green, blue, black and lastly pink.  These Surge Cases are retailing for $70 later this month.

Source: GeekyGadgets

If you’re headed out for a picnic, you don’t have to go for the usual wicker basket.  Instead, you can let your tech loving side show through with this Picnic Plus Cooladio Solar Cooler.   It will be far more convenient than just packing all of your food in your average picnic basket.  After all this one even helps you out by giving your smaller gadgets an extra charge should they run low on battery life.

Inside you can keep your food and drinks nice and cool, just like you would with your average cooler.  Then you can hook up your cellphone or MP3 player to the solar panel and get it all charged up.  Then in addition to that it has 2 speakers that will play all of your music.  If playing your music out loud doesn’t suit you, there’s a headphone jack so that you can listen to your music through.  Although that seems a little silly since you could easily unhook your MP3 player from the cooler and plug headphones directly into it.  You can purchase the cooler for $84.99 from Sports Authority.

Source: ChipChick

Solar chargers are thankfully getting smaller and smaller, which is good for those of you that prefer to use renewable energy every chance you get.  It’s also great for those that just would like to have a small solar charger in case of an emergency.  This one is plenty small enough that it could even easily fit into your pocket.  It’s ideal for all of your smaller gadgets to give you a charge when you’re in dire need of one.

Something like this would not only be great to have around, but having a spare one to keep in your car just in case of emergencies would be great too.  You can charge up cellphones, MP3 players and digital cameras.  This small Sun Drive is actually only 64mm by 25.8mm.  On a full charge it’ll give your phone up to 100 minutes of continuous talk time and up to 25 hours of standby time on a single charge.  The solar panel isn’t out just yet and there’s no real price right now.  When it does come out though, it looks like it’s at least initially going to only be hitting the South Korean market.

Source: TechFresh

New Sole curved solar tiles promise to improve solar power generating efficiency ...

Last year, we reported on the development of solar roofing tiles which can take the place of asphalt based roofs and do double duty. But in California, many of the roofs use clay tiles which are layered onto another and give a Spanish style hacienda look. So, while solar tiles have been an intriguing (but sadly, not very efficient) solution to generating solar power, a great many in the Southwest couldn’t embrace the technology. Then came along the Solé.

Made by SRS Energy and available through US Tile, these clay tile looking solar panels are the first curved roof tiles designed for southwestern homes which offer the solar power options. Power wise, a 30 tile section, which has a 3 inch overlap and 14 inch exposure area, can generate 860 kilowatts her hour during a 6 hour solar exposure.

And it seems that SRS has improved the efficiency issue a bit as these tiles are claimed to provide between eight and twenty percent more solar energy than the crystalline silicon panels reported on last year.

And the tiles are independent so that if one tile goes down, the whole system stays generating. Installation comes with SRS monitoring your tiles to make sure they stay healthy and generating power at their maximum output.

The tiles are currently undergoing testing in Philadelphia, but are available through both the SRS and US Tile websites.

Hat Tip – GizMag

My gardening talents have always been somewhat limited, it seems that every year I kill a few less plants, but I’m still definitely not skilled.  I’m sure I’m not the only one that envies the perfectly symmetrical plants that hang at the homes of people that aren’t so bad at gardening.  Well now instead of attempting to remember to rotate your plant, you can have a gizmo to do it for you.  You won’t even have to remember to change the batteries.

Just hang this from one of your hanging plant hooks and then hang a plant from the other end of the gadget.  You won’t ever have to change out the batteries since this gadget is completely solar powered.  The brighter the sun is that day, the more the plant turns.  Although be careful when hanging up your basket since this hook can only hold a maximum of 27 pounds.  You can purchase these Smart Solar Roto Basket hooks for $14.95 a piece from Amazon.

Source: GadgetGrid