greener gadgets

the greener gadgets design competition has just drawn to a close and in its wake are some novel, clever and unusual ideas. the competition was a sidebar to the greener gadgets conference held in new york in february of this year.

the mandate for the competition was to create innovative solutions addressing the issues of energy, carbon footprint, health and toxicity, new materials, product lifecycle, and social development. a fairly lengthy and deep list that addresses what i would describe as the key criteria by which any new product should be evaluated as worthy of entry into the marketplace.

among the many notable entries, i was drawn to these very clever, easy to look at and green gadgets . . . . ”green eye” brings the power to make informed choices when buying something to its logical next step by allowing the consumer to scan a product’s bar code from which you are linked to a database that has determined that product’s footprint including the following details:
1. sustainability score based on current location
2. energy used
3. carbon footprint
4. logistics / locality
5. materials / packaging
6. health effects / toxicity
7. social aspect / fair-trade values
8. recycling / life cycle


the solarvoir addresses the fact that water consumption in most western homes has risen dramatically in the last thirty years. taking its inspiration from cisterns, the solar voir is a proposal for storing and reusing household grey water. by integrating it with the uv waterworks system which treats used water and converts it into potable water, the solarvoir will dramatically reduce the typical household’s water useage rate and its corollary carbon footprint.


the ”recycle” is a system to store energy generated during a bicycle ride that can be transferred to other uses such as electronics and lights etc. “micro generators create an electric charge during any movement of the bicycle. they are oriented to target the most common movements when riding a bike, such as bumps in the road and pedaling. When this electric charge is generated, it is stored in a lithium ion battery. this battery is attached to the charging unit while the user is riding their bike. after the ride, the battery can be easily removed and used to power any number of electronics. at one end of the battery there is a basic wall socket which provides universal adaptability to nearly every electronic device.”

to see more clever and creative green ideas, including the top three ideas in the competition then visit core 77’s greener gadgets design competition page.