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I am the kind of person who seldom remembers to unplug the devices when they’re fully charged, so you can imagine how much I’ve paid to the electric power bureau. But the Wind Up Socket, featuring an integrated timer, may change that. All you have to do is to rotate the plug to set the duration. And the socket will then cut off the power automatically, as the time passes by. For forgetful guys like you and me, the socket is really the best choice. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Although named as the “Saving Energy Multitap”, the strip actually won’t directly reduce your electricity cost, but helps you to develop a good habit of unplugging the unused gadgets from the strip so as to save the energy. It sucks up the energy wasted by the unplugged devices and uses it in a rational way—to power the touch-sensitive ambient lights on the wall. The main task of the ambient lights is to remind you to switch off those unplugged gadgets if you no longer use them. As for the ambient lights, they could also be turned on or off via simple tapping. [Read the rest of this entry...]

You could always spare the time to unplug each gadget when you no longer use them? Or you just leave the plugs in and let the electricity leak? But you have another option now. Designed by Conor Klein, the Outlet Regulator could disconnect itself from the power source automatically (just like a real leech) when the device gets fully charged. And that’s why the plug is also named as “Leech Plug”. No idea on whether such a conceptual design will ever see the light of day in the real world, but I really love the idea a lot. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Flattery must have gotten you everywhere Mr. Lufdesign and I’d like to describe your concept as ‘a stylish cord that lets us see the electricity leaking’. The product is meant for warning the users to pull out the plugs so as to reduce the power waste, through a visible and direct way. Named as “ECord”, the design mainly attributes to the PVC covering that changes colors when a specific range of current (from 1 to 15W) is provided. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Can the water tower be used for any other purpose? Just come in and check it out… [Read the rest of this entry...]

Print your documents with a pencil! Yes, that’s just what the ‘Pencil Printer’ is intended for! You don’t think that is practical? Well, put a pencil into the hole on the top right of the printer, start the machine, and then you’ll see the device printing on paper using the pencil powder…Wow, cool! To top off the great design, Hoyoung Lee also adopts eraser to erase off the printed paper so that you could use the paper again. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Creative Factor: Cool machine converts office paper into toilet paper.

The Japanese company Oriental has come up with a machine by the name of ‘White Goat’ recently. It is an innovative machine that converts your wasted office paper into toilet paper in about 30minutes. After you put about 40sheeets of paper into the machine, ‘White Goat’ will then shredder the paper, dissolve it in the water, thin the paper out, and then dry it into toilet sheets. Merely costing $0.11 to churn out one toilet roll, claimed by the company, the machine will save up to 60 cedar trees every year. The cool machine is expected to hit the market in Japan this summer, at a price of $100,000. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Creative Factor: Micro wind turbines allow each family to use electricity converted from wind.

After two years of research, French designer Philippe Starck and the Italian company Pramac have finally come up with the innovative Micro Wind Turbine for urban areas. Philippe Starck Micro Wind Turbines includes two different versions- the ‘revolutionair WT 400W’ is a quadrangular device with a power output of 400w and the ‘revolutionair WT 1KW’ is a helicoidal-shaped turbine that can generate power of 1kw when the wind blows at a speed of 14mps. The blades of both the two types are made of transparent plastic, which is invisible in the pictures. A family may need up to 3 turbines to meet their needs of electricity.

The quadrangular model is priced at about 2,500 euros and the helicoidal shaped form costs about 3,500 euros. Installation cost of each is around 1,000 – 2,000 euros. [Read the rest of this entry...]

It would be nice to preview what our cities will be like in one or two decades, and Norway has already drawn a blueprint of that and named it as the ‘Turbine City Concept’. Several huge wind turbines will be adopted to convert wind into electricity to supply needed energy to offshore hotels, spas and museums. Connected together like an archipelago of islands, these wind turbines also function as a base for passing sailors. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Designed by Hung-Uei Jou, the so-called ‘Green Noise’ is a self-powered runway light that converts annoying noises of the airports into useful electricity. All energy converted by the system is used to power the onboard runway lights and therefore reduce the airport’s energy requirements. The system also features a tripod base, which allows the modular structure to be easily removed for maintenance. [Read the rest of this entry...]

The Power-Hog is an attractive design from the Greener Gadgets Design Competition, and the concept is all about helping the users to develop an awareness of energy conservation. Shaped like a lovely pig, Power-Hog is actually a power monitor that needs to be activated by putting a coin into the metering piggy bank before you use it and a coin offers about 30 minutes of electronics use. Therefore, the more electricity energy you use, the more money you have to pay. And that’s just how the design introduces us to energy efficiency. Good work!

Let’s check out what great changes the bottle dispensers have brought to us. On one hand, the dispensers have made it convenient for us to use shampoo and sanitizer. But on the other hand, that also means a great waste of resource, due to the high demand of plastic bottles. So what should we do to reduce the wastage while still ensuring much convenience? The Eco-pump Refill Dispenser by Bang Ki Ryoul and Junga Kim seems like a clever solution.

It’s an outer shell with a nozzle and pile that fit to all types of refill pouches. As a result, you can directly screw the Eco-pump Refill Dispenser to another pouch when you’ve run out of the shampoo. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Though claimed featuring a perfect energy saving property long ago, LED hasn’t been widely used yet due to its high cost of up to 28 dollars each. But that’s no longer true after the Cambridge University researchers have developed the cheap LED bulbs that are priced at merely $2.85 each. Even better, the new LEDs are much brighter than usual one and can last quite a long time of up to 60 years.

You’re paying too much money for the electricity bill! And you look around at all those electrical appliances— TV, refrigerator, microwave oven, etc— but none of them seems to consume much energy. So why not let the Diet Watt to do the calculations of these gadgets for you? The system comes with two parts, the Diet Watt_Sub for displaying the consumption information of each gadget and the Diet Watt_Main for calculating the energy consumption of all the appliances. By doing that, you’re supposed to conserve the resources from planning proper electric energy consumption. [Read the rest of this entry...]

So you always forget to pull out the plugs but simply turn off the electrical appliances when not using them any more? Well, my friends, you’re wasting both the energy and your money. And aiming to help you form a good habit of switching off your electrical outlets, Daun Yun and Junil Choi have brought the ‘Switcle’ Concept Design to us. It is a combination of the switch and the receptacle, making the outlet look like a big switch and all that is expected to call for your attention to turn off the outlet. [Read the rest of this entry...]