A novel use for plastic bottles... A clothes hanger!

Discovered via my Uncle M, and dvice.com, I bring you the very green, but unfortunately also very expensive... Rethink Hanger!





At 8 bucks a pop, it's definitely a tad on the costly side... However, I certainly do think it's a pretty ecoCool idea!

"Conceived by designer Xuan Yu, it's basically a hook with two holes that hold empty bottles. Once you've polished off a couple of Sprites, screw the bottles into the holes and you've got a deliciously convenient place to hang your shirt — without the awful flatness of a wire hanger."

What do you think? Would you use Rethink Hangers?

Well that's it for me this week.... I gotta say it's great to be back blogging again. Oh and keep those Ecojot Ecard January 2010 Giveaway entries coming! You've got nine more days to send ecojot ecards for a chance to win!

Bon weekend !

xo,

ej

Rechargable, colourful and oh-so cute!

While I don't personally own anything that requires batteries... If I did, I'd totally pick myself up some Sanyo eneloop batteries. They're eco-friendly since they're rechargable, they're colourful... Not to mention there isn't a cuter way to check the state of your batteries!

Shaped like a dog, the eneloopy lets you know if your batteries require charging. "When you place your eneloop batteries into the device the dog's nose will light up: green for fully charged, orange for partially charged, red means your battery needs charging and no light means you have a dead battery on your hands."

Not sure if they're only available in Japan, but according to DVice eneloopy launches this weekend!

Random, but too eco-cute not to post ;)

xo,

ej

A Very ecoCLEVER Science Project: A Solar Panel Made from Human Hair.

My Uncle M forwarded this article to me yesterday from DVICE with the message:

"With your longer hair I think you could power a city!"

My hair is at its longest these days. Part laziness for booking a haircut, part economical and well a much bigger part that I have become quite fond of long hair :) But back to the topic at hand.... Full excerpt from DVICE article:

A schoolboy from Nepal has come up with a recession-busting new solar panel which replaces the silicon component with human hair. Milan Karki, an 18-year-old student from the region of Khotang, devised the idea after discovering that hair pigment Melanin acts as an energy converter.

Each panel, which is around 15 inches square, produces 9 Volts (18 Watts) of energy, and costs $38 to make. This, it has to be said, is mainly due to the price of the raw materials: half a kilo of human hair costs around 25¢ in Nepal. Karki is hoping to commercialize his invention, which can charge a cellphone or power batteries to provide an evening's worth of light, and eventually mass produce it.

"First I wanted to provide electricity for my home, then my village," says Karki, who was inspired by British physicist Stephen Hawking. "Now I am thinking for the whole world. We have begun the long walk to save the planet." Catch a shot of the teenager's invention below.

I love stories like this. So inspiring. An 18-year old how was simply inspired to provide electricity for his home and then his village! I certainly hope that Milan Karki is able to parlay this into something amazing for him and his village... And hopefully the world!

xo,

ej

PS - A more in depth article posted by my bro on Daily Mail here.

sensored, timed and on call... lights!

I was inspired by the flowers I'd added to my pulling the February Giveaway Winner out of my bright pink beret, that I drew the green light bulb above. Whatcha think? Okay, perhaps I should leave the art to Designerjots ;)

By now you may have guessed, today's post is brought to you by light bulbs! How's this for an innovative idea, a light bulb with a built in sensor? As dvice points out "there are plenty of motion-sensing outdoor light, but about inside your home?" Hallways for example do not need to be let all the time.
"The Smarthome Screw-in Motion Sensing Light Adapter, as the name applies, screws into a typical bulb socket — no screwdrivers required. Turn on the light switch and the bulb will turn on only when it detects motion, then shuts off automatically when there's no movement within a 16-foot range. The length of time it stays on is adjustable from 5 to 100 seconds. It retails for $25, but who knows how much you'll save in energy costs?" Available at Amazon.

Also on dvice, I came across another cool light-related feature, this time regarding lighting whole street blocks... On call! That's right "on call." Cities are no exception to the need to save on green (cash variety) and so it's no surprise that "towns all over the work have started turning off their street lighting to save money."

However what about safety, or as dvice points out "when Grandma's pooch needs to go walkies at 2 AM?" Well a few German towns have come up with an on call solution... literally, called Dial4Light. Local residents can call up to selectively light up street by street. After 15 minutes a times reverts the street back into darkness. Thus far, participating towns have benefited from a 25 percent savings in their street lighting bills. For a more complete article check out Treehugger.

These two brilliant energy, pun intended ;) ideas got me thinking about my recent year in France. Whenever I visited an apartment building (large or small), and small office buildings, all light switches in hallways and stairwells were on a timer. I found this to be one of those obvious clever ideas, one I am surprised not to see this put into more practice in North America.

Well that's it for now. Clearly my absence last week has left me with lots to say 0;) Again, my apologies, here's hoping you're still reading... Please leave me a comment to relieve my fears *wink, wink, nudge, nudge.*

xo,
ej

Eco-cool coffee re-use.

So apparently Punxsutawney Phil (the Groundhog) did see his shadow, as did Nova Scotia's Shubnedacadie Sam which means six more weeks of winter :(  Or as "Ontario's Wiarton Willie then weighed in: 'The sun has peaked, my shadow I see, six more weeks of winter it will be.' "

Interestingly, although Punxsutawney "town authorities say Phil is always correct about the duration of winter but according to the U.S. National Climate Prediction Center, Phil and other U.S. and Canadian groundhogs get it right about 39% of the time," according to the National Post. So there's hope yet! Clearly, I'm not so secretly hoping this is the 61% of the time the groundhogs are wrong!

Instead of announcing the January Giveaway winner today... I like to keep a little suspense going 0;) Two tidbits today none weather related one eco-cool and one just plain hilarious...

If like me, you're fond of coffee (my preference lately is a bold shot of espresso), and like me, are hesitant of purchasing an ink jet printer particularly because the cost of printers are always cheap but the ink cartridges never are... Check this out, a printer that uses coffee grounds or tea bags as ink!  

As seen at DVICE and Inhabitat, it does not appear available for purchase yet.  The RITI Coffee Printer is among 49 other eco-friendly inventions competing for your vote as a top greener gadget of 2009!  Voting details here.  I plan to check out the full list later today ;)

Finally for the "one just plain hilarious..."  Since I've gotten the habit of putting YouTube videos up on a regular basis, recently shared by a friend and perhaps already seen, but still enjoyable twice, maybe even thrice...

Happy Tuesday!

xo,

ej

Wow Inspiring Wednesday

day 337 - [remote] control freak
Originally uploaded by Amadika

So I have to admit, I am thrilled to see so many ecoResolutions posted in response to my January Giveaway. What an inspiration to see so many of you committed to giving back to our planet.

It's particularly inspiring to know that the desire to be eco-friendly encourages innovation and innovation encourages eco-friendliness.

What I clung to most in a recent NYTimes article "Design Loves a Depression," is the hope that the better design will result not only in more affordable, "but packaging and other everyday objects to be designed specifically for recycling so that their parts and materials are used and reused without waste."

From Eco•font, which *~Jackie~* mentioned and I touched upon on in a previous post, to low power radio technology.... There are exciting eco-innovations abound!

My Uncle Matt was kind enough to forward this article to me, "Low power radio technology means no more remote control batteries," that I somehow missed on DVice. Apparently

"Not only does this technology [by Green Peak] enable better remote controls - they'll work through walls up to nearly a hundred feet away - but could help eliminate the 8 billion dead remote control AA and AAA batteries that are tossed into the garbage each year."

If you hear of an exciting eco-innovation, please do share. Thanks for stopping by :)

xo,
ej

New buds to welcome you into each month...?

All this talk about ecoResolutions got me thinking about calendars, not just agendas... When I came across the Plantable Eco Calendar at ecofriend.org. I agree with ecofriend, it's still a bit on the pricey end for $19.99 ($24.95 on the manufacturer's site!) but a great concept... How lovely would be to have new buds to welcome you into each month through the year?

Speaking of innovative ideas... How about a wrist-phone? Not quite Dick Tracy's, and honestly, not sure if it's for me... Especially if when they say "disposable" they mean intended to be used one and then thrown away rather than readily available. I am obviously anti-disposable and pro-reuse, with the few exceptions... Like Kleenex!


However since the design is pretty sleek (or rather appears to be) I had to mention LG's Wrist Phone by Shirley A. Roberts featured on dvice.com What do you think?
Thank you to all those who've participated thus far in January's Giveaway. Am so happy to see so many of you resolved to make an ecoDifference in '09! Please help spread the word... Tell your friends!

Happy Monday! Bon Lundi !

xo,
ej