Save money and cut fuel consumption with a digital tyre inflator

You may wonder why a digital tyre inflator is a green gadget – and the answer might surprise you! Driving is a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions but unfortunately for many people it’s a necessity. While we should all be cutting back on car use where we can – most of us could easily walk to the shops if we had to – those for whom a car is simply essential to getting around can still make changes that reduce their fuel consumption and therefore make their driving habits more eco-friendly. One of these changes is simply to keep your tyres correctly inflated: some sources estimate that up to 50% of cars have under inflated tyres, which increases the rate of wear (and therefore means you have to spend money replacing them more often) and decreases fuel efficiency. This digital tyre inflator is super easy to use: you simply pre-programme it to the desired pressure, plug it into your cigarette lighter and it will switch off automatically when the tyres reach that pressure. The inflator comes with an LED worklight so you can always see what you are doing, and it’s small enough to store easily in your boot. So you should check your tyres are correctly inflated every couple of weeks and use the inflator to correct any under-inflation. By keeping your tyres inflated to the correct pressure, you will increase their longevity and your fuel efficiency, which will both save you money and reduce your carbon emissions. We can’t all stop driving – but we can all take small steps to reduce the impact that driving has on the planet, and the digital tyre inflator will help you do that.

Stop your battery going flat with a Sunforce solar car battery charger

This Sunforce solar car battery charger is perfect for cars, small boats and motorbikes and other vehicles. It utilises solar power to provide a ‘trickle’ charge to your 12 V car battery and is the perfect way to ensure your car battery never goes flat. (This is a particular concern at this time of year, when the last thing you want is to be stranded on the roadside in the cold weather hoping someone will stop to help jump start your car!) Compact, easy to install and affordable, the charger  connects in seconds via crocodile clips or your cigarette lighter and is easily mounted on the inside of your car window via suction cups (a cigarette lighter adapter cable, suction cups and battery clips are all included with the price of the solar car battery charger). The charger will also not overcharge a standard car battery, so you don’t need to worry about your car suddenly short circuiting! You can also easily adapt it for long-term use by simply using a silicone sealant to attach it to the car/boat window. It is rated at 1.8W and has a five year warranty. So why not add a Sunforce solar car battery charger to your car care kit? You never know when you might need it!

The Horizon H-Racer Hydrogen-Powered Car

Do you feel the need for speed – but the guilt to be green? The eco-friendly Horizon H-Racer is the world’s smallest Hydrogen-powered fuel cell car and lets you indulge your inner Top Gear without damaging the planet. This futuristic toy car is powered by Hydrogen – a non-toxic, renewable energy. The car’s fuel cell technology converts Hydrogen to electricity without any combustion, meaning the only exhaust resulting from fuel cell cars is pure water. The remote control H-racer is an exciting toy that uses the technology that is being developed by motor industry manufacturers to power this eco-friendly car. It contains an onboard Hydrogen storage tank, a fuel cell system linked to the car’s electric motor and a Hydrogen refuelling system that can be linked to an external system solar-powered refuelling system (which is included in the kit) so the car runs on completely clean energy! It is also totally safe, given the tiny amounts of hydrogen used. Developed by Horizon, a group of scientists and entrepreneurs dedicated to developing greener energy solutions, this toy car uses technologies that might one day be commonplace on our roads, helping solve one of the greatest energy challenges we face today – our dependence on fossil fuels. But in the meantime, it provides endless hours of eco-fun and makes the ideal gift for the would-be Lewis Hamilton in your life.

The Nissan Leaf: the Next Generation of Electric Car

Electric cars are not a new phenomenon, having been in development for at least 50 years. However, eco-friendly consumers will note many of the current models of so-called electric cars in today’s market are just hybrids, which means they use a combination of electric and gas power. If everybody adopted a high performance hybrid then the world would undoubtedly be a greener place. However, it would not be a totally green world. Indeed, the present crop of hybrid and electric cars is not as innovative in terms of environmental efficiency as it perhaps ought to be. In fact, whilst the hybrid designs offer more savings and produce less carbon emissions, they are not perfect. They are not solutions to the problem of global warming. They are cynical efforts to commercialise the evolution of the green electric car. In other words, introducing an environmentally-friendly car can be seen as a deliberately slow process in order to maximise profits.

However, the Nissan Leaf is due to be launched in markets across the world in 2010 and features the manufacturer’s very first zero emission electric car. Powered entirely by battery, the Leaf is thought to be capable of performance similar to a V6 engine and offers speeds of up to 90mph. The Leaf’s rechargeable lithium ion battery, when fully charged, will boast up to 100 miles of driving and efforts are being made to deploy charging stations across the country in time for its launch. Environmental enthusiasts can expect the Leaf to usher in a new generation of zero emission electric cars.