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As a newer and cleverer solution to solve the problem of “overcharging”, Bracketron’s GreenZero chargers can automatically shut off once your devices is fully charged. The GreenZero, available in a Mushroom and Stone styles, is compatible with iPhone, USB, and Android specific models, shutting off automatically to save energy and avoid top-off stress on batteries. Set to be released at CES in Las Vegas later this month, the GreenZero will be priced at $22 to $29.

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How are we going to live the future? According to Philips, in the next few years we should be using wall-mounted vats of bioluminescent bacteria as night light. That sounds bit of weird? Not exactly. Good news is that you don’t need to pay for the electricity bills any more, but instead you have to feed the bacteria with some household waste (which has been digested by other bacteria to form methane gas) so that the bacteria will provide soft green light at night.

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Along with the improvement of many designs, it is really hard for people to put forward better and cleverer products, but happily Ju-yeon Kim, Jin-beom Kim and Jin-seung Lee have managed to offer us a new package design that promises a more convenient use. It is the EZ Opener, a redesign of the can opener that features an extra handle for people to pull. Undoubtedly the EZ Opener would save the users some energy to open a can, but on the other hand it inevitably needs to cost more metal or other materials.

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Logitech’s Fold-Up Keyboard for iPad is a smart portable accessory that looks really cool as well. It attaches to the back of the iPad 2, acting as a protective case and a stand for most of the time while offers a full-sized slide-out Bluetooth keyboard when users push the iPad backward. Once folded up, the keyboard then turns off to conserve battery life. Clever. [Read the rest of this entry...]

One Swedish company recently released this PowerTrekk, a portable fuel cell charger that utilizes water to produce electricity energy. Over ten milliliters of water, either clean water or domestic sewage, is announced enough to have a cellphone or flashlight to work well. Good news is that you’ll soon find it in market and use it everywhere. [Read the rest of this entry...]

In the nature there’re many eccentric plants like pitcher plants that live on small insects, and now there’s a weird clock that can get energy from flies and then creates electricity supply to keep it working. But in fact the clock also gets electricity energy from other apparatus, so it cannot be deemed as “an independent clock that works on itself.” [Read the rest of this entry...]

About 2000 years ago, the great mathematician Archimedes concluded that anything shaped to displace the same amount of water as that of its weight can float on the water. Inspired by that principle, Muzaffer Kocer and Ayca Guven have collaborated with the Water Scale, a measuring device that can read out the weight of the object placed onto the scale plate. It can weigh anything within 1000grams, and it doesn’t cost any energy or result in any pollution- really a green device for household use. [Read the rest of this entry...]

The U.S. military recently developed a new Solar-powered Tent that uses a-Si thin film solar cells instead of conventional solar panels to produce electricity energy. Its hourly power generation ranges from 800watt to 3000watt, and the larger the tent is, the more energy it offers. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Whenever I get a receipt, a bill or something that concerns personal privacy, I’d always like to make them into pieces. Not with my hands, but with the Hand Paper Shredder. No need of battery or any power, the smart shredder can easily destroy your documents and then protect you from identity theft. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Smaller in size, the new wind power generator however performs much better in producing electricity. And it comes with a nice name, the “Wind Cube”. Made up from blades, a generator, a telescopic shaft, an electric power plug and a switch, one single device can generate 21.6 kilowatt-hours per month and 15 such fans can support one family with four people for a month. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Striving for a new breakthrough in technological innovation, the Energy Return Wheel designed by Brian Russell is an airless tire that can roll flat, save energy and most importantly never get flat during the moving. In that case, the number of traffic jam or traffic accident resulted by a flat tire would be greatly reduced. [Read the rest of this entry...]

You’ll never pick up any clean clothes from washing machines unless you take exercise. That’s what we may have to face when China based electronics company Haier launches its Pedal-Powered Washing Machines in the future. Shown at IFA 2010, the eco machine is really simple but practical: the charging battery will power the machine to wash clothes when a man pedals on the exercise bike. And you don’t have to spare too much time, as basically 20 minutes of work can wash one load of clothes on cold cycle. Since the human-powered washing machine would save your money and keep your figure, will it be taken back to your home?

Will you conserve more electricity if the light is as precious as time? Combining the hourglass concept with lights for public places like staircases, Jia Wen Chen and Wei-Ting Chen have collaborated with the Flat Light that will time your lights. Once the LED grains all reach the bottom, the lights will then go off and the time limit is merely about 30 seconds. So our conclusion is, cherish your time and treasure electricity resource. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Though what you’ve seen from the Seesaw Faucet is mainly fun elements and a distinctive design, Chanhee Han actually cares more about the environment and water energy. As the faucet acts up and down to dispense water from the left side and soap from the right, you’ll no longer have the water keep running when you’re using the soap. In other words, the Seesaw Faucet offers either water or soap at one time, but never both two. [Read the rest of this entry...]

A group of high school students from Automotive Design Studio, a unique class provided by Kansas City based DeLaSalle Education Center for high school students, has created a lightweight electric car that weighs less than 1,200 pounds, which is half the weight of 98% of most electric vehicles. Its body was shaped using a thin wire framework covered with a transparent skin made from a heat-shrinkable material, and that weighs only 39 pounds! Also due to its light weight, the DeLaSalle car is quite well known for energy efficiency, and it can achieve the equivalent of nearly 300 miles per gallon.
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