Eco-conscious gizmos for the enviro to lust after

14 Apr 2008

Smart Strip
Household gadgets often suck up electricity even when turned off. To stop these "vampires," you can plug your gizmos into a power strip that is easily turned off with the flip of a switch. The $40 Smart Strip takes this idea one step further with a feature geared toward computer and home-entertainment systems: when the device plugged into its "control" outlet is turned off (say, a TV), the Smart Strip cuts off the current flowing to peripheral devices (like a DVD player and VCR). That's smart, all right.

(Read advice guru Umbra Fisk's column on power strips.)

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Comments: (13 comments)

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Folding bikes

I just got an IZIP EZGO which can be used as a regular bike or electric/rechargeable. I am hoping this will enable me to go almost car-free. I tried biking here (SW VA) but the hills were killing me, so I am hoping this will be the answer!

An ounce of practice is worth twenty thousand tons of big talk. -Vivekananda

by karenc at 11:08 AM on 15 Apr 2008

No thanks. The private automobile

should never be promoted as an environmental gadget.

Just the amount of toxic waste the production of this vehicle creates far outweighs any fuel savings.

Grist should write about cool new vehicles being used for public transportation. (Admittedly, the Bike Friday is pretty cool.)

The Tesla Roadster strikes me as a very expensive green viagra pill. Kind of like a hybrid SUV.

We can do better.

If you really want to go green, consider going carfree! A movement to liberate ourselves from car ownership growing in the USA and around the world.
http://carfreeusa.blogspot.com

Carfree advocates, urban planners, and architects will gather in Portland this summer. Join us!
http://carfreeportland.org/index.php

by carfree at 1:06 PM on 15 Apr 2008

Agreed

Even further, the ideal of an electric roadster is just silly. Electric cars are more efficient than gas cars at low speed in stop and go traffic. As speed increases, this advantage decreases. Due to the weight associated with batteries, they may even be worse depending on how the electricity was produced.

So...

A roadster which is designed to travel at high speeds on the open road with a technology that is best for stop and go traffic around town. It does't make any sense.

It does seem like a fun toy but just don't pretend it is green.
Let them pay for advertising assuming they are actually wanting to sell a product and not just stock.

by racc at 3:11 PM on 15 Apr 2008

lighting

The collective conscious thinks you are wrong about the efficiency of LEDs vs. CFLs.

Low-pressure sodium seems to be the way to go, if you don't mid everything being yellow.

check out http://www.envirowiki.info, the knowledge database for environmentalists and activists.

by naught101 at 7:11 PM on 15 Apr 2008

Bike Friday

Bike Friday is truly a remarkable thing and I applaud your inclusion of it in your 10 Green Gadgets. I am troubled by some details that may at first seem trivial, but reflect an obstacle to the overall goal of green transportation.

According to wikipedia, a "gadget" is defined as a small technological object (such as a device or an appliance) that has a particular function, but is often thought of as a novelty.

The idea that Bike Friday, or any other cycle that is used for travel, is merely a "gadget" and often thought of as a novelty touches on a much deeper and systemic challenge. As long as our society relates to products such as this as something novel rather than a legitimate movement toward effective sustainable and enviro friendly travel, we will be inadvertently branding these attempts as fringe.

The real core issues at stake reside in reframing the entire discussion about eco friendly transport so that policy makers see a legitimate and substantial link between the infrastructure that we build (e.g. roads, airport terminals, traffic safety systems) and the vehicles we use to get around on it.

Let's not even for a moment slip into thinking that Bike Friday is anything less than a movement. I believe that Bike Friday is a reflection of the deep commitment that the founders and their followers share in creating a new possibility in travel and transportation. Let's be careful not to dumb down our collective efforts by calling this a gadget. Words can be very powerful. I believe that unless and until we can upgrade the conversation from what is "kick ass" and "cool" into what is "inspiring" and "transformational", we as green thought leaders run the risk of being made irrelevant.

If you don't like the answers that life is providing, change your questions.

by toddjanderson at 9:44 PM on 15 Apr 2008

Back To Basics

Bikes are great...and the people of Washington State are crying out for the builders to put the majority of tax dollars to bicycle and pedestrian facilities.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/News/2008/04/01_WashingtonStateBi ...

I have to agree with some of the other posters about "gizmos". What we really need is "infrastructure" -- yet, that big, noisy, public word -- for bicycles.

I have a perfectly great bicycle, a Trek 7000, that I bought for $220. What I need, however, is a multimillion dollar bicycle network to drive it on.

The voters have already said they would rather we build that than more automobile infrastructure.

So what's the hold up?

by jabailo at 7:22 AM on 16 Apr 2008

Reply: J. Bailo

"So what's the hold up?"

Bicyclists, that are willing to pay an annual FEE, to pay for them!

Roads were and are built, to carry cars & trucks, the bulk of the funding for them comes from Gasoline Taxes, Registration Taxes, and other fees.

Since vast segments of the population CAN'T (physically, monitarily, or practically) use bicycle paths, which would be basically Recreational, there should be a FEE, to register your bike, and an Excise Tax to use it, to help pay to build the paths, and pay for the enforcement officers to keep it safe!

No bicyclist, should be allowed to use the road way, without being licensed, after passing a test, on the rules of the road. There are way too many arrogant, and ignorant, bike riders! Riding three abreast, not staying to the side of the road, or turning in front of cars! I'm sure the problem goes both ways, but right now, it's always the auto driver that's blamed!

Every time I see an article in my local paper about 'Bike Paths', it's always sponsered by someone selling expensive bikes, not for transportation to work, but Yuppie Recreation! So he can benefit, from tax dollars spent, to increase his sales of over-priced bicycles!

**Country Before Party** GO GREEN (Party!)

by AndieG at 8:30 AM on 16 Apr 2008
[ Parent ]

Lighten up people

This feature had me drooling. Way to go Grist on bringing some cool "gadgets" to my attention.
Now if I only had a bit more money...

by piojin at 9:26 AM on 16 Apr 2008

Bikeways

Don't forget that almost all cyclists are a subset of auto drivers. That said, I/we are already contributing extensively to the tax and use fees necessary to build infrastructure. I think the debate needs to tend away from recreational bike paths and towards cyclist friendly structure. For example, it's difficult and dangerous to commute to most downtown areas of many cities in the country. I would like to see the attitude of what is acceptable alternative transport to evolve into something that is useful to the subset of auto drivers knows as cyclists.

If you don't like the answers that life is providing, change your questions.

by toddjanderson at 10:53 AM on 16 Apr 2008

CFL, LED, Incandescent

Bad, bad old incandescents, right? Good, good CFLs, right? Hmmm... The problem with incandescents is the same problem with internal combustion engines: old technology that stagnated with improvements as long as the cost of energy was low. Problem with CFLs (and my house is full of them, mind) is they contain mercury. And silly people all over the country who are adopting CFLs (thanks to various incentives) aren't really 'qualified' to properly handle and *dispose of* CFLs. GE (remember them, heh) I've heard is developing a more efficient incandescent. LEDs (we also have at our house) have a long way to go on price, unless the gov is just going to give them away. A more efficient incandescent might be a heavy-metal-free, cheap alternative.

by DannyGirl at 10:08 AM on 22 Apr 2008

mellow yellow

Low pressure sodium may have uses in specific applications but, last I checked, no one wanted everything in their homes and offices illuminated yellow. Maybe it could be used for "rise and shine" lighting, however.

by DannyGirl at 10:15 AM on 22 Apr 2008
[ Parent ]

Folding Bikes

Don't Fret over the expense, people! A little research yields this at REI.com:

http://www.rei.com/product/775717?ext_cat=undefined

They also make a bike called the Buzz Fly By...but it looks like it's back ordered right now.

In any case, both are considerably less than a thousand smackers like the tikit is.....

Go Bike Fridays!!!

by kayakchik at 9:20 PM on 22 Apr 2008

Electric Bikes

They have a $350 electric bike you can pick up at Walmart now. It will go 20-25 miles with the assist on. If you use the assist sparingly for hills and such it can go quite a long ways.

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by green8659 at 9:31 AM on 25 May 2008

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