10 friendly environment gadgets

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In the framework of the world environment day (05-06-09) I am very interested in the information about the following friendly environment gadgets. (from: http://gadgets.infoniac.com)

1. Solar Necklace With LED night

An increasing number of companies are looking forward towards using green technology and thus a variety of eco-friendly products appear on the market, highlighting a new stage in the field. What you are currently observing is a necklace called Lux.

The device was designed by May Yokohama. The necklace is composed of a set of small solar panels that accumulate energy during the day and then use this energy at night to power the LED lights that beautifully enrich the necklace. The panels need only a couple of hours to gather enough energy to make the LED lights radiate for four hours. The solar necklace is a simple and yet stylish representative of green technology.

2. Solar-Powered and Bluetooth Headphones

Using the energy of the sun these huge Bluetooth headphones were developed by a student from Transylvania University of Brasov, Shepeleff Stephen. The gadget is dubbed Q-Sound and though the headphones will probably make you feel like some kind of weirdo, they are still unique and most importantly they are eco-friendly.

Q-Sound features solar cells installed across the headband's top. These solar cells can generate power for the two removable rechargeable NiMH batteries, both having a capacity of 800mAh with an operating voltage of 1.2V. The headphones allow you to run Bluetooth and an mp3 player. On a full charge the device can run for up to 40 hours.

3. Solar-Powered Netbook from iUnika

Imaging leaving your netbook with a dead battery on the sun and then discover that its battery is fully charged. This beautiful 1.5 pound netbook could be one of the greatest steps towards dealing with the biggest problems of ultra-portable computers, i.e. battery life. Surely the solar-powered Gyy netbook from iUnika will not be able to run graphics-heavy computer games, but it is still stylish, eco-friendly and inexpensive, being available for just $ 180.

The netbook includes an 8-inch monitor, 400MHz processor and 128MB of RAM. It might not be a powerful computer but it is definitely a unique device made of sustainable components. Its body is made of bioplastics and biodegradable materials that were created from starch and cellulose. The back of the Gyy monitor features solar panels. It is expected that the gadget will hit the stores this summer.

4. Coffee Printer Uses Coffee Grounds to Make Eco Ink for Printer

A great idea for coffee lovers - the RITI Coffee printer, which offers a "green" way of transforming old coffee grounds into sustainable source of ink you can use for you printer. The device simply plugs the leftover grounds from your coffee into an ink cartridge, thus making an environmentally friendly source of ink. If your morning ritual involves a cup of coffee and a newspaper, then you will most likely start looking for this gadget in the stores.

5. Solar-Powered Lunchbox

The idea of developing a solar lunchbox came to Teo Song Wei. This green gadget uses solar energy to keep your food warm, which is very useful if you like to take some food to the office or give some snacks to your kids. It is a very interesting idea, which is yet to be developed, since currently it is just a concept.

6. Solar-Powered Wifi Repeaters

Meraki presented this incredible solar-powered Wi-Fi repeater that can provide Internet access to people in remote regions. The gadget is ideal for national parks and rural areas, being easy to set up and entirely energy-independent. Besides, the gadget is powered by a high-tech solar-charged battery.

This solar repeater is composed of a mesh radio, a solar panel and a pole mount. It is a great way of making Internet available in developing countries, but still the only drawback is the gadget's price that can vary from $ 900 to $ 1500.

7. Solarbulb Uses Old Plastic Bottles as Lamps

This is an original solution for lighting up your garden. The miniWIZ brings you this impressive solar-powered outdoor lamp that features the Hymini Portable Wind Charger. Taking advantage of old plastic bottles, the Solarbulb represents an ingenious solution for night lighting. All you have to do is attach the bulb to a bottle and get 6 hours of non-stop night lighting from 0.18 W solar cells. The LED light starts radiating after its sensors automatically identify the darkness.

It is worth mentioning that the casing of the lamp is both UV-ABS weatherproofed and water resistant, which means you can fill the bottles with water in order to intensify the light and weight the lamp down in case you leave in a windy area.

8. Solar Battery Charger from Energizer

The Solar Battery Recharger is Energizer's new eco-friendly gadget. With its help you can charge both AA and AAA batteries using renewable energy. The gadget can hold several batteries simultaneously.

In addition, in includes a USM port that allow charging a number of mobile phones, GPS devices, cameras, as well as iPods. In case you want to recharge batteries in a cloudy day you can use the Solar battery Charger the usual way, i.e. plug it into an electrical outlet. The device comes with two rechargeable batteries. Quite useful in case you like to travel a lot.

9. Solar-Powered Robotic Lawnmower

This smart garner mower is called RBZG001 Solar Lawnmower Robot. The green gadget charges using solar energy. Besides it takes advantage of network technology in order to add intelligence on its mowing behavior.

Special technology allows the RBZG001 Solar Lawnmower Robot to climb slopes and make out its route automatically. The robot can avoid obstacles with the help of integrated image recognition software. The gadget is surely a good helper for any gardener. Though the price is not known yet, the device is expected to be rather pricey.

10. COM-BAT - Solar-Powered Spy Plane

This gadget was conceived by the United States military as a tool of collecting information for soldiers. The design of the robotic spy plane was dubbed COM-BAT. The Army gave engineers at the University of Michigan College of Engineering a $ 10 million grant to create the bat-shaped spy plane in five years. COM-BAT would be powered by the sun, wind and vibrations.

Engineers will use the grant to built a Center for Objective Microelectronics and Biomimetic Advanced Technology (COM-BAT) that will create sensors, communication equipment, as well as batteries for the spy-plane. Some of the concepts for the bat include miniature cameras for stereo vision, a series of mini-microphones able to follow sounds coming from different directions, and tiny detectors able to identify nuclear radiation and poisonous gases.

In addition, the plane will feature "quantum dot solar cells" that have the capacity two times that of photovoltaics. COM-BAT will also include an independent navigation system that is 1,000 times smaller than the systems used today.