The Smart Solar window alarm is a green way to secure your home
Want to be environmentally aware but security conscious too? It may seem a difficult balance, but the Smart Solar window alarm pack may just be the answer. This discreet alarm is easy to install, but effective, with a 6.8khz alarm sound, so perfect for your security needs. Smart Solar is a company which specialises in making solar powered equipment for the home and garden so you can be sure of the quality of the product, as you are buying from the experts. As well as being eco-friendly because it runs on solar power, the window alarm is also economical because there are no day-to-day running costs involved. The fact that the alarm is solar powered also means there is no ugly or difficult to install mains wiring. The alarms come with an adjustable cable so will fit most windows and can be mounted anywhere. There are two alarms to a pack and, as each Smart Solar window alarm pack retails for under £30, you can affordably equip your entire home. As the recession sees burglaries rise, home security has rarely been more important, and many thieves are opportunists who are deterred by visible security measures. So it is good to know that, thanks to Smart Solar’s window alarm pack, you can secure your home without compromising on your environmental standards.
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!
Sparkle with solar powered Christmas lights
Solar powered Christmas lights are a great way to add some festive cheer to your home without any green guilt! Normal Christmas lights use both energy and create CO2 emissions, but you can still light up your life with these solar powered Christmas rope lights. Made in Germany and created for the British climate, they are designed for both outdoor and indoor use, though they do work better outdoors where, on clear winter days, they should be able to store enough power to work for around two and a half hours every evening. Stylish and simple, these solar powered Christmas lights can actually be used all year round as beautiful garden decorations, but are particularly lovely at this festive time of year. The solar powered Christmas lights are available with yellow and red bulbs (or you could buy two sets for a mixture of both!). If you don’t trust the British winter to deliver enough clear light to charge these over the whole of the festive season, you can always use these to complement your existing traditional tree lights, only switching on the electric lights if your solar powered lights have not fully charged – you’ll still be saving energy and money, and doing your bit for a greener Christmas. And probably impressing the neighbours more than having a giant glowing Santa on the front lawn…
Stay safe and stay green with eco-friendly cycle lights
Cycling is one of the most eco-friendly modes of transport, but now that the evenings and mornings are darker, it’s important to keep safe when you are cycling. Luckily, there is now a range of eco-friendly products available to help you cycle safely without damaging your eco-credentials! Pedalite battery free 360 degree pedal lights are a brilliant solution to the problem of visibility. Designed to keep cyclists visible to motorists from any angle, these lights are powered by your kinetic energy, so as soon as you start pedalling, the pedals harvest and store energy. This means that, if the bike is stopped at a junction or you are freewheeling, the lights continue to flash. Because they use no batteries or rechargers, they are environmentally friendly and cheaper to run. Pedalite also produce a solar powered bag light: this light slips easily over rucksacks and gives over three hours light when fully charged, so is ideal for cyclists (or horse riders) who want to be sure they are seen on the road. Another eco-friendly, battery-free solution is the Power Plus wind-up head light, which comes with a universal clip to attach it to any bike. Visibility isn’t the only issue in these winter months: no one wants to break down on a wet and windy road, so make sure you keep your bike well-maintained. You can buy eco-friendly bike maintenance kits from Green Oil UK, which will help keep you on the road all through the winter.
Stylish solar-powered Sun Jars provide eco-friendly lighting for home and garden
Solar powered lighting is many things, but it is rarely beautiful. However, eco-friendly designers Suck UK Design have come up with an innovative lighting solution that manages to be both green and stylish. Their Sun Jar lights combine solar technology with classical design to provide energy efficient lighting. Made with a traditional Mason jar, the lights contain a solar cell, rechargeable battery and low energy LED lamps. Simply leave in direct sunlight to charge up the Sun Jar, and it automatically activates when it gets dark or when the lights are switched out. (There is an override switch located inside the lid so you can turn it off and conserve the power). Because the Sun Jar uses warm coloured LED lights and the glass is frosted, it gives a warm glow – looking like sunlight diffused through the jar. With no visible external switches, it will intrigue and impress visitors! The Sun Jars are also watertight, so make ideal garden illuminations as they can be left outside whatever the weather. As they give a warm rather than harsh glow, they are also ideal energy efficient and safe nightlights for children. Suck UK Design produce the Sun Jars in a range of colours including pink and blue (the Moon Jar) so you can combine them to beautiful effect. For anyone who likes a more high-tech looking lighting solution, though, Suck UK Design also produces Glow Bricks, which use the same technology placed in an actual lightbulb, encased in an acrylic brick. Available in green and blue, these sharp designs give a contemporary look to your lighting, as well as saving you energy and money.
Eternaled and PIR: eco-friendly floodlights
Unfortunately, gone are the days when doors could be left unlocked at night without the fear of burglary. Sadly, gone too are the days when doors can be left unlocked during the day – even open windows are a risk in this age of social and moral decadence. Nevertheless, despite the oft-reported mobs of ASBO-crazed teenagers and recession-hit scoundrels who bring horror to communities up and down the country, the present day and age is also no time to be leaving the lights on. In fact, one of the few remaining social crimes happens to be relatively new: environmental inefficiency.Indeed, whilst the aforementioned unruly delinquents are served up meaningless anti-social behaviour orders and thieves are handed fines or suspended prison terms, anybody seen doing harm to the planet is likely to face a public hanging, at least metaphorically speaking. Thus, installing old style security floodlights may seem like a great idea to those who do not fancy having their properties ransacked, but to others they may appear to be an incredible waste of energy. Fortunately, the Eternaleds Floodlight Bulbs are on hand to make home security an environmentally friendly pursuit. Available in 9W and 18W varieties, the LED floodlights from Eternaleds offer energy savings of around 80% over their incandescent cousins. Furthermore, the bulbs feature a shatter-proof plastic casing with passive cooling technology, which basically means the bulbs are kept cool enough to be handled. Also of value to the environment, these superb floodlights contain no hazardous or toxic materials, such as mercury, which can cause harm to the local environment on disposal. Indeed, the Eternaleds bulbs provide basic home security in an entirely eco–friendly manner.
Another eco-friendly solution is the solar powered PIR Light Stake. Retailing at under £30, this can be wall mounted or freestanding and is ideal for driveways and gardens. Operated by a motion sensor, it is a perfect green choice for security lighting.
Innovative SolarVoice 908 solar charged Bluetooth handsfree headset
SolarVoice 908 is a new solar-charged Bluetooth handsfree headset created by i.Tech Dynamic offering a wireless and eco-friendly solution to a number of everyday problems. Whether you happen to be in your car on the way to work (assuming, of course, that cycling is simply not an option!) or making your way through a crowded high street, holding a mobile phone to your ear is not always convenient or sensible. You may want to listen to some music whilst on a bus or train but your headphones might be uncomfortable or the wires might get in your way. The SolarVoice 908 is useful in these respects because it supports Bluetooth A2DP, which means the device can wirelessly connect to your mobile phone or mp3 players (or some other Bluetooth enabled device requiring a headset). Also featuring noise-cancelling technology, the SolarVoice 908 makes an excellent headset device providing clearly audible communications in difficult and noisy environments. Because the SolarVoice 908 features solar-charging, it is eco-friendly in the sense that it can be powered up by the freely available energy from the sun – there is no need for toxic batteries or an electricity mains connection to make this gadget work, although both mains and USB connections are included as an alternative. Furthermore, the included base or cradle unit comprises optimal positioning for increased sunlight exposure, with a maximum charge time of around 15 hours. Whilst the headset itself boasts talk time of around 5 hours, this is considered to be sufficient for typical everyday use. The SolarVoice 908 is currently only on sale in the US. However, while you may have to wait to get your hands on one of these, there are a number of eco-friendly ways to recharge your current portable electronic devices so that you can start being more eco-friendly – and save money – today. Solar powered chargers that are suitable for mobile phones, iPods and similar equipment are available in the UK – for example the Power Traveller Explorer Power Charger, which retails at under £50.
The £23 Solar Panel: a Hair Raising Idea?
An 18 year old Nepalese science student studying in the country’s capital, Kathmandu, has created a stir this week by announcing details of his inexpensive solar panel solution. Whereas traditional solar panel installations are costly, Milan Karki’s invention costs as little as £23 to produce a single fully functional solar panel. As to the main reason why it costs so little, the answer may surprise some people as it is, in fact, hair. Rather than using expensive silicon components that are necessary to conduct electricity in standard solar panels, Karki’s invention uses human hair, which is an excellent conductor of electricity.
Milan Karki’s ingenious solution demonstrates how eco-friendly products can be driven down in costs. Furthermore, it shows natural products can be used to harness renewable solar energy, which reduces the manufacturing process, in turn reducing the carbon footprint left by producing such devices. Moreover, human hair is already exported in massive quantities from countries such as India and China as it is used by a number of farmers (typically to help tomatoes grow bigger) and, somewhat perversely, by the food industry (typically to make pizza doughs) – presumably this has something to do with the amino acid, Lysine, contained in the hair.
Thus, it would appear the somewhat improbable hair business is set to increase further if Karki’s idea can be turned into a sustainable and viable eco-friendly product. Indeed, what started out as a greener solution to generate green power for his home village may just enable communities all over the world to do exactly the same. Of course, in the meantime, if you want to use solar power, there are a number of less ‘hair-raising’ solutions readily available in this country, including easy to use solar panel kits.
The Multi-Purpose USB Solar Charger
Numerous devices that use the sun’s free renewable energy as their source of power are available on the market. In fact, solar powered gadgets are becoming increasingly popular as the technology has made vast improvements to the efficiency of solar cells. Furthermore, solar powered devices can often be used for months without exposure to direct sunlight because, when the sun does shine on the cells, the energy is harnessed and stored in its battery. However, many conventional electronic goods continue to use standard non-recyclable battery packs, so there is still some way to go if the situation is to improve. Nevertheless, the introduction of the ZYRUS Compact USB Solar Charger is set to widen the scope of conventional electronic gadgets as they can now utilise a solar power source. Indeed, the ZYRUS Solar Charger features USB connectivity, which is standard for most electronic devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras and mp3 players. Normally, the USB port on such gadgets would be used to transfer files, photos and audio tracks onto a personal computer. However, the ZYRUS Solar Charger is able to connect to most such devices via USB in order to charge up their internal battery packs.
In fact, the ZYRUS Solar Charger, which has been branded the ‘Sun Drive’, can offer up to 100 minutes of talk time for the majority of USB enabled mobile phones. Furthermore, on average, it can power up such a device for around 30 hours on standby. The Sun Drive ships as a standalone charger or, for an additional cost, can comprise 4GB of internal storage.
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.
