I guess the sod-covered picNYC table also served two purposes – it’s a table and a litterbox – but the Raintree idea from Christina Bertea is truly a dual-use product. During the summer, the Raintree is an outdoor clothes dryer and in the off-season, it’s a raincatcher that can collect 3 – 65 gallon drums of water during San Francisco’s rainy winter. The Raintree is made out of plywood scraps, an umbrella stand and vinyl from recycled convention banners. Jubbling 101.
Double-Duty With The Raintree Raincatching Clothesline
December 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Changers Starter Kit Is Better At Social Networking Than Jubbling
October 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The Changers Starter Kit solar panel and battery combo is good but encouraging owners of this product to use it makes it a little better. It’s a simple product – a solar panel paired with battery pack. The battery can be fully charged via the solar panel in about four hours and can re-charge any device with a USB connection.
What put the Change in the Changers is how it “Tweets” your recharging data for the Changers Community to see and encourages you to re-charge/reuse it by giving you credits towards goods and services. The Changers Starter Kit is priced at $150 and is available for pre-order. [Wired.com]
The Ray: A Suction Cupped Solar-Powered Cellphone Charger
October 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The Ray is a smartly designed solar powered charger from Brandon Craven that can stand on a table top and most importantly, attach to your windshield with a suction cup to face the sun and charge your electronic devices. Charging your cellphone can be handled directly through the Ray’s USB connector via the solar panel or by drawing power from its included battery. You can pre-order the Ray through Quirky.com. Once they hit 2000 pre-orders, they can go into production. [Quirky via Gizmodo]
d.light: Making Solar-Powered Lighting Affordable
May 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Inspired by an article on FastCompany.com.
Most people sh#t a brick when they hear how much it costs for solar-powered anything but d.light is out to make solar more affordable. Their latest offering, the d.light S1, is a solar-powered study lamp that sells for around $10 and works for 4 hours on a full days’ charge. The best feature about d.light is that they’re not marketing their products to the eco-suavé – instead, d.light’s goal is to get their products in use so they don’t apply the “pay-more because we’re green” markup.
It’s great to see a company like d.light opting not to exploit the good intentions of conscientious consumers by demanding a premium price for their sustainable product. Check out their website to see their other offerings including the d.light S250, which sells for $45 and works as a solar-powered lantern and mobile phone charger.
IKEA’s Solvinden Line Of Solar Powered Lighting Products
April 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Checkout IKEA’s new Solvinden line of solar powered lighting products. Kind of a cool gift idea for the kids; a solar powered reading and nightlight that the kids are responsible for recharging. [BoingBoing.net]
Wysip’s Photovoltaic Film Hopes To Turn Your Cellphone Into A Solar Panel
March 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
From an article on LaptopMag.com
Wysips might have created a truly Jubbling technology that could change the way we charge our cellphones. Their product is a super-thin, transparent photovoltaic film that sits on a cellphone screen and according to the Wysip, the photovoltaic film will not affect the accuracy of a phone’s touchscreen. The photovoltaic film, which is 100 microns thin, sits on the screen for the demo only; future models of the Wysip photovoltaic film will be integrated into your phones LCD.
An important feature pointed out in the video below is how the Wysip photovoltaic film will continuously charge a cellphone as long as the screen is facing light and whether it’s in use or not. To charge a typical cell phone battery, it would take Wysip’s photovoltaic film 6 hours of outdoor light, indoor charging would take considerably longer. Wysip’s goal for the second-generation of their product, which is due out next year, is 30 minutes of talk time after an hour of charging. Not quite the speed of AC or USB charging but definitely more Jubbling.
On Wysip’s website, they calculate how a nuclear reactor’s worth of production of electricity could be saved by porting their technology to the 2 billion mobile phones being used today. Vampire draw would also be an area for saving with the Wysip photovoltaic film. Future applications and integration of Wysip’s photovoltaic film technology would be in laptops and e-readers.
After reading about $60 million wave power farms and researching the heck out of the Solar Bra, I’ve become a little cynical of all of the crap labeled as green. It’s nice to see a Jubbling idea that may actually work and change the way we currently consume.
Blank us on ......