A wind-up lantern is the perfect eco-accessory for the garden
For eco-friendly light on the go, use a Freeplay wind-up lantern. Perfect for camping, travelling, or even just in the garden, this is a perfect eco-friendly source of light and requires almost no effort to run – as little as 60 seconds winding gives you up to three hours light. This portable lantern is fitted with a dimmer switch so you can set it to your perfect brightness – maximum light if you need it, or a more subtle glow. The Freeplay wind-up lantern doesn’t need batteries or replacement bulbs so is cheap to run and environmentally friendly – no toxic batteries to dispose of and no mains electricity needed. It also has a cluster of ultra-bright LED lights as a primary light source but a second, single LED bulb to use as a directional light – so you can use it like a torch if needed. When fully charged the light gives you around three hours of bright light but lasts an impressive 70 hours at the lowest setting – perfect for lighting on the go. (You also get 40 hours of directional light from a fully charged lantern). Pleasantly retro looking in design, this lantern in fact utilises modern wind up technology to create the perfect eco-solution and to give you the light you need anywhere, anytime.
Camping needn’t be a dirty business with an eco-friendly solar shower
Although the summer is not officially over for some time, the reliably miserable British weather has pretty much dissolved any hopes of a barbecue summer. Whilst the early indications were such that the summer of 2009 would be hot and dry, the initial fortnight of unseasonally good weather is now all but a distant memory. Nevertheless, the school holidays remain in full swing – as if that could be forgotten – and many people will have time off work, so what better way to spend this period than to head off on a camping adventure?
Of course, Disney World, Australia, Hawaii or Barbados would be much better answers to such a question, but when financial times are difficult expectations must be kept in proportion and a British camping trip is something of a national treasure. However, camping can be a difficult adventure to endure when the availability of warm water for showering is in dearth supply. Moreover, remote camping spots will not usually comprise shower facilities, so the requirement for a portable shower unit becomes important.
Nonetheless, remote locations offering no hot water supply will not usually provide electricity, so any such shower must power itself. In this respect, the eco-friendly solar shower is the perfect companion for an end of summer camping trip. Using the sun’s free, clean and renewable energy, the solar shower is simply filled up with water and hung out in the sunshine (if any can be found) for around three hours, after which time the device will be ready to provide a lovely warm shower! You can make your camping trip even more environmentally friendly by using recycled sleeping bags (made from recycled fabric and insulation) and recycled backpacks. And proving that ‘camping’ doesn’t mean roughing it, you can even make a decent cup of coffee on the move with the Handpresso coffee maker.
