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76 Comments
- gnews, on 04/14/2008, -1/+26The solar powered cell phones, dehumidifiers & harnessing backpacks ... won't be as effective in the UK, I haven't seen the sun in years ...
- MarkoBarko, on 04/14/2008, -0/+23uhh...my cell phone is in my pocket 99% of the time...solar is stupid. they should come up with kinetic like some of the watches
- rye425, on 04/14/2008, -2/+17"Here are 12 green inventions that are leading the charge for a cleaner planet"
A bike light? Really? - inactive, on 04/14/2008, -1/+14I'm an American please don't say that ***** even jokingly, you make us all look stupid.
- BlueSkyfish, on 04/14/2008, -0/+12Thanks for actually reading the article and not just looking at the pictures.
- electrokal, on 04/14/2008, -0/+9A wind powered bike light? What happened to the ones that had a magneto that the back wheel spun? Correct me if I'm wrong but I think they had those zero emission bike lights back in the 80's?
- wTheOnew, on 04/14/2008, -0/+7Buried for the improper use of an evil laugh.
- Duggan360, on 04/14/2008, -0/+6Shouldn't live inside a cave then, there's sun out right now!
- bongle, on 04/14/2008, -0/+6Because the mustang is a fat pig of a car (relative to the Elise/Tesla), so the performance would be awful and the range would be reduced. It'd end up being much more costly to get the same performance because you'd need far more batteries.
- TJ11240, on 04/14/2008, -0/+6Spend less time on digg then
- digggggggggg, on 04/14/2008, -1/+6The ecological benefits of these products probably don't offset a fraction of a percent of their manufacturing costs.
I think the craziest, and therefore the most useless of these products has got to be the power-generating revolving door. Exercising vigorously on a stationary bicycle generates only enough energy to power two light bulbs. Unless these people were running in circles, a bunch of people pushing around a door around at walking pace will not generate useful amounts of energy. - lisaawesome, on 04/14/2008, -0/+5Okay maybe I'm stupid but I went to the Eco Kettle website to read about how it worked and I still really don't get how it helps. Someone help me out.
Here's how I see it: The website claims that we cannot accurately measure the amount of water to boil and waste half of the water consequently. When I make coffee every morning I fill the carafe with water until it reaches the line for the amount of cups I would like. I dump that into the top of the machine to start the coffee making process. In the end the carafe is refilled to the same line with coffee. This is how every coffee maker I have ever used works. How is half of the water I put in wasted when it ends up as coffee in my tummy? - nekochan, on 04/14/2008, -0/+4biking in the dark will help the planet. you won't need to drive just because you can't see the road.
- inactive, on 04/14/2008, -2/+6The tesla roadster looks nothing like a mustang
- Dralite, on 04/14/2008, -0/+3experts estimate that we’re wasting almost 50 light bulbs worth of energy each time we do this.
How the hell do you measure energy in light bulbs?.... Did i just waste 120 light bulbs turning on my laptop? - Lubinski, on 04/14/2008, -0/+3How many general people can afford this stuff. And 2, how many people can go to a store and buy this stuff. Because I have not seen the most of it.
- alpinecow, on 04/14/2008, -0/+3i'm with you, that was really unclear. i think the point is that with the eco kettle, you'll boil 1 cup of water when you want 1 cup of tea, instead of boiling a whole quart of water when you want 1 cup of tea, which would take significantly more energy. seems a bit obvious, but that's what i read into it...
- bongle, on 04/14/2008, -1/+4This bike light does not illuminate the road. It is there for safety. The power requirements to actually illuminate the road are far greater than a tiny LED.
- rainierbeer, on 04/14/2008, -1/+4FAIL! the solar backpack puts out "4 watts per hour"? learn your units environuts.com !
- rainierbeer, on 04/14/2008, -2/+5it's totally silly, there have been bike light generators available for decades. they are likely more efficient too, since they draw power from the friction of your wheel, not the wind.
- darny, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2I've always lusted after those solar backpacks, but the problem is is that they're futt bugly. Wouldn't-be-caught-dead futt bugly.
- audi905, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2Ive always thought gyms should harness the power produced by their treadmills,cycles,steppers. Some machines even show output wattage but do nothing with it... they easily produce 300+ watts while in motion
- davidrools, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2You'd need a lot more surface area on the battery to collect enough solar energy in a reasonable amount of time. Maybe if there was a really thin panel that could be pulled out like a roll of film (that used to be used in cameras), that might actually work. Though you would be sacrificing some space for the battery material and would end up with a shorter-life battery.
- nekochan, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2it's for boiling water for tea and non-drip coffee.
- budser, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2Rechargeable batteries are the way to go.
- smacksaw, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2I'd like to see the Ice Energy system combined with geothermal in the summer. I'd like to see several of these technologies combined. A geothermal system that used multi-split and the ice system would be incredibly efficient and negate the shortcomings of all 3 technologies.
- digggggggggg, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2I use a regular 'non-green' water heater for tea, and it has these markings on the sides to let me know how much water I've poured in. Because I look at these markings when I'm filling it, I can choose to stop filling it when there's enough water to fill the teapot.
I don't see any advantage to "dialing in" an amount of water to boil when "paying attention" is adequate. - colinmhayes, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2fail.
most of these are useless. real useful things are solar water heaters, desiccant dehumidifiers, energy recovery ventilators, and radiant heating. - torontoliam, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2The conservation of energy suggests otherwise.
- MrDee23, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2Interesting stuff on this list i've never seen before
- davidrools, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2I thought so too about the revolving door. But in a busy building where it's rotating constantly...it'll make some useful energy but still a tiny percentage of a busy building's energy.
Other than that, the "ecological benefit" will grow as environmental impact becomes a more and more pressing issue. Manufacturing costs go down as production goes up, but too much of this "it's not worth it" thinking won't allow that to happen. Either way, something's gotta give. - iamnotbill, on 04/14/2008, -2/+4dugg down for saying the word silly.
- torontoliam, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2And just like those, these don't provide energy for nothing. You have to peddle harder to overcome the extra drag from the mini-turbine.
- zakool21, on 04/14/2008, -0/+1"The plane is fairly useless, as you're powering the electronics while the plane consumes prodigious amounts of fuel. Why not fly just fly less?"
You're right, but you didn't really spell out the rationale. The alternator is going to be driven by the engine whether you're using the energy coming off of it or not. Even if you were to physically decouple the alternator from the aircraft engine, it's not going to measurably increase your economy. There are all sorts of engine driven devices even on a simple aircraft; the vacuum pump being one of them.
If people remembered to lean out their fuel/air mixture on their engines at altitude then they might be able to save some more fuel. - ChiefShaman, on 04/14/2008, -0/+1It's funny how they call these green technologies, after all they are still manufactured in the same manner - not very green!
- shaitanx, on 04/14/2008, -0/+1t=anon ??
- EdgeOfEpsilon, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1I actually saw NiCd batteries with solar panels in an old textbook from high school. Problem is, NiCd batteries are a terrible chemistry. Li-Po + thin film solar cells, and you've got yourself a winner.
- EdgeOfEpsilon, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1>The power requirements to actually illuminate the road are far greater than a tiny LED.
That's just silly. If you're in rural areas, you're not blinded by glare from street lights, so 2 LEDs is quite adequate. If you're in well-illuminated suburban areas, why are you bothering to illuminate the road? "illuminating the road" and "illuminating the road brighter than the street-lights do" are quite different, however I think most people would default to the latter. It's a sad commentary that the unending daylight we've created has become "normal" for most people.
Also remember that compared to cars, bikes aren't going as fast, so the required visible distance is less. Assuming the bike is going at half the speed of a car, the required illumination is 1/256 that of a car. - EdgeOfEpsilon, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1I think the point of the solar plane is so you don't have to have the engine running to do the pre-flight.
- krystofr, on 04/14/2008, -0/+1Every time someone diggs "green," an angel loses her wings
- CrackyJSquirrel, on 04/14/2008, -1/+2Watts used..
- Laconis301, on 04/14/2008, -1/+2The Voltaic Systems backpack is foolish. How much energy is being consumed to produce this $250 backpack, regardless of the recycling cost for the pop-bottles they claim it is made from? Let's see:
Manufacturing cost of rechargable battery
manufacturing cost of photovoltaic cells
recycling cost of recycled materials
manufacturing cost of devices that make the backpack relevant
To me it looks like the backpack is about as green as Exxon Mobile...but that's just me... - wallryan, on 04/14/2008, -4/+5dont know if i would trust a solar powered air craft..
- argonlightray, on 04/14/2008, -0/+1i heard that bamboo takes a lot of chemical to break it down to cloth softness. anyone know how it's done?
- KingGorilla, on 04/14/2008, -1/+2If we use the bamboo for shirts what will the pandas eat??? Someone think of the pandas!
- elementop, on 04/14/2008, -0/+1Maybe not, but it still looks really cool. I'd buy one if I 1) didn't need a pick-up truck and 2) could afford one...
- lisaawesome, on 04/14/2008, -0/+1Thank you for the example. You're quite right. If you know you aren't drinking 12 cups of tea don't fill the entire thing up! Even without markings on the teapot I think you have to be pretty dense to not figure out how much water fits in your cup. The Eco Kettle makes it sound like measuring is rocket science.
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