Green Gadget Love

Wind-up Media Players and Power Hogs

by Deb Powers

Eco-friendly gadgets are all the rage - but are you up on the latest and greatest of them? Recently, the Sierra Club published the definitive 50 Green Gadgets You Can Use to Help Save the Planet, a list of 50 cool green tech gadgets that are fun, funky or... well, some of them are head-smacking what-were-they-thinking disasters. Here's my five favorites.

Baylis Wind-up Media Player - Renewable Energy Power

One night last week, the boys upstairs locked their keys in the car - with the ignition running and the radio on. In fact, the whole point of having the ignition running was to have the radio on - they were hanging out on the front stoop and wanted some tunes. Setting aside the obvious inefficiency of using an idling car engine serve as the power source for audio, the big problem with this notion is that when you turn the ignition key, the car doors automatically lock. If you're not aware of that - or if it slips your mind - you close the door and... lock the keys in the car with the car running.  Oops.

The real irony in the situation, though, is that Louis, the brainiac who locked his keys in the car, then proceeded to reach into his pocket and pulled out a wind-up flashlight to use as a light source while the four boys and one girl - my daughter - tried to break into the car so they could turn off the engine before the car ran out of gas and the battery expired. When I saw this nifty little wind-up media player at the top Sierra Club's green gadget's list, I couldn't help thinking that if Louis had owned one of these, he wouldn' t be laying out $200 for a new side window this morning.

The Baylis is not only a media player - it includes video playback, FM radio, voice recorder, text reader, expandable memory and a flashlight. In addition, you can even use it to charge your cell phone.

Baylis says that one minute of winding will store enough energy in the media player's battery to get 45 minutes of music. Considering how much time my kids' mp3 players and cell phones (which they use as mp3 players) spend charging on the house electricity, I can't help thinking that one minute of elbow grease every hour or so is a major bargain.

Eco Friendly Hybrid Computer - Energy Reduction

Dell's Studio Hybrid Eco-Friendly Small Desktop computer is one of the prettiest and sleekest PC's I've seen anywhere. But it's not just a pretty face. The Studio Hybrid is 80% smaller than a standard desktop, which means that it uses less materials. It consumes 70% less power in operation, and comes in packaging that is 95% recyclable. And when you're ready to upgrade to a new machine, you can send it back to Dell for recycling in the included return carton. Pair it up with an eco-friendly LCD monitor, and you'll cut the load computing puts on the environment - and your energy bills - significantly. With six computers nearly always on here at home, this is a machine that'd be  worth its weight in gold.

 RITI Eco-Friendly Printer - Recycled Coffee Ink

 This is one of those very cool "but what were they thinking" green gadgets that I love in principle, but suspect wouldn't be used beyond once or twice for the novelty value. That doesn't change the fact that I think it's a very cool idea, or the fact that I think they could make a few changes to make it more usable. What's to love about this? First, it uses used coffee grounds to make ink. No more $50 printer ink cartridges - just brew up a pot of coffee and save the grounds for the next time you need to print out that school report. What college kid wouldn't love this? Second, it looks cool. But it really does sound like a major hassle to use, and I don't see a lot of folks giving up their multi-function color printers for a gadget where they have to fill up a cartridge case with coffee grounds, then move the ink case back and forth across the page while pulling the paper through the printer. I'd guess it takes some serious practice to get that motion down so that you don't end up with blots on the page or uneven printing. Give this one a "cool idea but..." rating.

Blight Blinds - Solar Window Lighting

Okay, so I wish they'd given these a better name - I mean, blight is the last thing I'd associate with a greener planet - but the concept is totally green. I've been talking for a long time about wanting "solar window dressings" - curtains that absorb sunlight during the day and automatically generate light from the absorbed energy at night. The Blight designers have taken the concept to a logical level by using a product that's already in use and well-accepted, and upgrading it for greenness. Their project installs solar energy cells along one side of Venetian blinds to collect energy during the day, then uses that stored energy to light the room at night. It's just a concept so far, but I'll be watching for these to hit the market. I've got lots of nice, sunny windows that get sun for most of the day.

 Power Hog - Energy Meter

As the mother of teens who love love love their hand-held games, game consoles, computers and music players, I love love love this little gadget. It's a coin-op electrical outlet that can help you get a handle on your kids' energy use - and signal to them when it's time to put their natural energy to better use. You plug the green and white pig into a wall outlet. When your kids want to use an electric-powered game, they plug the game (or charger) into the pig, then drop in a coin to activate the outlet. They get a specific timed interval of power for each coin that they drop into the slot. When the time runs out, the power cuts out and they're done playing. Imagine the possibilities for negotiation on chores - two coins for the dishes, five for emptying the litter box... best of all, YOU don't have to do the yelling that time's up. The power just stops and the game is dead.