Ten great eco-friendly gadgets for 2012

The tech world is going green everyday. In the wake of looming energy crisis, the tech makers produce lots of eco-friendly gadgets. Consumers are willing to buy and test green products, which not only cut their electric bills, but also help reduce their carbon footprints. Out in stores there are too many eco-friendly gadgets and accessories for grabs. Here we review ten great eco-friendly products for this year. Most of them were displayed at the International CES 2012 in Las Vegas.

OLPC XO-3 Tablet
One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) has unveiled its solar powered XO3- Tablet at CES 2012. The 8-inch tablet with an HD display is meant for education purposes in developing countries, where electricity is still not accessible to many people. What makes the XO-3 notable is that it works on solar panels and it has a price tag of just $100.

SolarKindle
SolarFocus’ SolarKindle is a solar powered case for Amazon Kindle eReader. It is touted as the world’s first solar panel-backed case for an eReader. The case is manufactured using lightweight solar cells, which produce and store power in a built-in battery. The stored power can provide additional battery for your Kindle. The case also has an integrated LED lamp, which will light up 50 hours without using your eReader’s battery. The case is priced at $79.99 and it weighs 7.58 ounces.

Wagan Tech Portable Solar Power Generators
Wagan Tech has surfaced two versions of portable solar power generators; the Solar e Power Cube 1500 and Solar e Power Case 450. Both machines are meant to generate solar power using a set of solar panels. They also come with AGM/gel hybrid battery and Wagan’s power invertors to store and turn the solar energy to AC power. Wagan Tech will bring the solar generators into stores for around $1100 in Q2 this year.

AOC 22-inch HD USB-based monitor
Leading display maker AOC has surfaced a 22-inch USB monitor at CES 2012. It is an eco-friendly monitor, because it consumes less power and is mercury free. In addition, it is manufactured of recycled materials.  The monitor features 1920 x 1080 resolution at 60 Hz and it will work with Windows 7/Vista/XP and recent Mac OS versions. The high-clarity display comes for a price of just $199.

PowerTrekk mobile charger
PowerTrekk is a portable mobile charger that makes use of water to produce power to charge your smartphones or other devices. The charger produces hydrogen through a chemical reaction as it mixes water with a chemical substance, called sodium silicide in a cartridge. The produced hydrogen generates power to charge your handsets. The PowerTrekk mobile charger comes for $200 and the cartridge is priced at $4.

Eton Rukus solar powered Bluetooth speaker system
Eton’s Rukus portable Bluetooth speaker has received a solar powered version. The new speaker system comes with an E ink display and two full-range speaker drivers to provide better clarity sound. The Rukus portable speaker can stream content from any Bluetooth-enabled devices including your smartphones and tablets. Eton is to sell the product for a price of $150 in the second quarter of the year.

Eco ATM gadget recycler
Eco ATM is not to withdraw money from your bank account. It is an eco-friendly automated kiosk that will give you money if you dispose e-waste in it. A San Diego-based company has developed the Eco ATM gadget recycler making use of high-tech machine vision and artificial intelligence. The dumped e-waste is to be recycled for new products.

Panasonic DMP-BDT320 Eco Blu-ray Player
Panasonic’s CES 2012-demoed DMP-BDT320 Eco Blu-ray player comes with a special eco-friendly feature called, the Smart Sensor. The sensor is meant for intuitive power management as it can identify the movements of its user. The Blu-ray player can switch to the start mode once the user comes within 16 feet radio of the player. This system is highly useful in saving the power the Blu-ray player consumes.

SmartLook Home Energy Display
SmartLook Home Energy display is the latest generation of energy consumption meter from Wireless Glue Networks. The new SmartLook display provides real-time information on the energy use in your house. You can see all details regarding power consumption in your house in a day, week or month. It will largely help you bring down the level of consumption.

The House of Marley Bag of Rhythm
The House of Marley has unveiled an attractive Bag of Rhythm Portable Sound System to dock your iPod and iPhone. The travel bag-shaped speaker system is made of FSC-certified renewable birch wood and cotton canvas. The boombox can bring you crisp and clear sound from your iPhone, iPod or other devices.

Article excerpted from nvonews.com