On the first day of 2008, I was waxing poetic about a brilliant new bathtub that conserves water. Now in the first days of spring, it seems another vessel has captured my attention.Labels: consumer behavior, gadget, sarah, water
The dudes from Call and Response told me about a tour van rental company in the Bay Area that rents vans with video gaming consoles built in--pretty great for those long drives across Wyoming after the scenery doesn't do it for you anymore. On a related note, BoingBoing, posted a solar-powered gaming device today that would be great to stick next to the window of your van and use to play video games or charge your phone or ipod. From the pictures, it looks a little like a Speak-n-Spell, but hopefully sounds better.It comes with 2GB of memory built in, which is plenty for NES and GB ROMs, although perhaps not music and movies, and can be expanded up to another 2GB with an SD card. Oh, and it's got a USB out to which other gadgets can be connected—not for data, but to be recharged from the solar panel."
Labels: BoingBoing, fan resources, gadget, sarah, solar, tour resources
TreeHugger has delighted in watching solar grow as a technology, both from small to big -- as the claim to "the world's largest" solar park is almost continually one-upped by bigger and bigger solar arrays -- and from big to small, with more and more nanosolar in the news and a host of portable solar chargers, solar-powered bags and even solar textiles and the odd solar bikini or two. The big ones provide lots of juice, but you can't exactly put it in your back pocket, while the smaller chargers and such are quite portable, but can't charge anything much bigger than your iPod, or cell phone.
Enter Sun Table, a project of Brooklyn-based Sudia Design Labs, as the happy medium. The outdoor table is small enough to take home with you, but attracts enough rays to power your laptop and various other home office peripherals, and even a television and DVD player.
Like many of the other solar gadgets designed for home use, the solar panels charge a nickel metal hydride battery, which, in turn, power your gadgets. The battery's max storage is 13 amp hours at 12 volts (that's 156 watt hours), with a max output of 150 watts; the system charges in 3 hours in full sunlight. Depending on the exact specs of your gadgets, those numbers translate to about three hours of laptop use, and a couple hours of television (if watching TV outside is your thing...) thanks to the included inverter that provides 120V AC (that's what everything in your house plugs in to, in case anyone was wondering).
A handy LED display (pictured below) tracks the battery's charge level for you, and the inverter beeps at you if you load it up with more than 150 watts, making it easy to both track your battery's performance and keep it from getting overloaded. The table itself is mostly aluminum (for easy recycling at the end of its life) and comes flat-packed in recycled materials, making it easier and more compact to ship and store.
About the table, designer Devang A. Shah (who created the table along with Michael Low) says they wanted to create '"A product that pushes people to spend more time outdoors will be beneficial for humanity. Let's get rooted in nature again, even if it's in a 21st century kind of way." We think it's a great example of combining technology and design to create a forward-looking product; lots of tech ideas (like solar) that are difficult to integrate into our daily lives, and it can be very helpful and meaningful to be shown that it actually works.
In this case, the table brings context and a personal connection to solar power, bringing it down from the heavens to your backyard, with the potential to change the way your life works every day. Imagine shifting your home office to the sunny patio for a few hours every afternoon, or having to apply sunblock and wear sunglasses while sending emails (and reading TreeHugger). In the midst of the cold, dark winter, that sounds pretty great to us.
Such fun and convenience won't come cheaply. The table, available for pre-order now (it'll ship in March 2008), will cost $3600. But can you really put a price on something that allows you to get a tan at your desk job?
Get all the details and specs at ::Sun Table by Sudia Design Labs
Labels: gadget, renter, sarah, solar, treehugger
I stumbled upon this cool little light fixture on Charlesandmarie.com and thought it was perfect for GreenBasers.
One of my friends once lamented about a time he toured and kept holding his laptop up in the tour van to get a wireless signal while driving through Utah. When he finally got a signal, his battery died. Enter: Labels: gadget, musician resources, renewables, solar, tour resources, treehugger
Remember furbies? Remember how annoying they were? How small children would dote on them in the hopes that they would flourish? Well, here's a similar concept, but not at all annoying....well, they are kind of annoying because I want one and they are not in production yet, but, wow! The device pictured to the left will water and feed a small tree according to its owner's environmental footprint. Things like energy usage, home heating and cooling, and recycling efforts will effect whether or not the tree is given sustaining nutrients and water or damaging poison.THE ENERGY TREE. Every once in a while, we like to feature an interesting bit of conceptual design. Like the Energy Tree. Apparently in an effort to truly unite technology with the physical environment, designer Ben Arent has created a system that contains a real tree connected to a microprocessor. The device controls the watering and feeding of the tree depending on your energy usage, and also monitors your appliances, heating/cooling, and recycling habits. It uses this information to feed and water the tree, but only if you are efficient with your energy use. If you aren't, the Energy Tree will poison and malnourish the tree, eventually killing it.
The system will also be online, using something known as "the collector." The collector is there to encourage people to recycle; Once at the depot the collector will unit will be radioed indicating that you did your job. This system has the added benefit that someone can take your recycling to the facility, while you can still get the credit. You know, to keep your tree alive.
It's a visceral idea, and (natch) still on the drawing board. According to the article, "The EnergyTree will change the perception and view of how power is being used, implementing a complete system looking at device consumption, home consumption and long term sustainability." If you got this far, I think it just did that. ::more ::Ben ArentLabels: efficiency, gadget, high concept, sarah, treehugger
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