Environmentalists have been urging consumers for decades to wake up to impending disaster and change their buying, driving and living habits to reduce pollution, cut energy consumption and help reverse global warming.
Traditionally, taking personal action to protect the environment involved inconvenience: recycling trash, riding a bike to work, carpooling.
Researchers working on environmentally friendly innovations have been more than inconvenienced. Innovative start-ups with environmentally friendly products used to beg unsuccessfully for venture capital crumbs and government investment.
Pro-environment has often meant "antibusiness" in some political circles, so politicians pushing environmentally friendly policies have had difficulty getting elected.
Helping the environment has been hard for everyone. But thanks to three quiet "revolutions," it's about to get a lot easier.
The gadget revolution
A new generation of green products appeals to the selfish, the lazy, the materialistic and the status-obsessed. New green gadgets don't require inconvenience on the part of the user. And that's why they could really make a difference.
A solar-powered wireless keyboard called the Genius SlimStar 820 gets its power from light. The SlimStar 820 comes with a wireless mouse that isn't solar-powered but still uses very little power. The mouse's batteries need to be changed less often than once per year, compared to every few months, as is the case with most wireless mice. The Genius SlimStar 820 is easier to own than conventional wireless keyboard/mice combinations.
The Genius SlimStar 820 wireless keyboard and mouse are solar-powered.
Rechargeable batteries have been around for ages but have been widely rejected by consumers in favor of disposable batteries in part because of inconvenience. Who needs yet another charger? London-based Moixa Energy Holdings Ltd. recently unveiled a line of batteries with built-in USB connectors. By turning every PC into a battery charger, the company makes rechargeable batteries even more convenient than disposable ones because you don't have to keep going to the store to buy new ones. They're cheaper too, paying for themselves over time.
Moixa Energy has a line of batteries with built-in USB connectors. ScottEVest Inc. makes a range of solar-powered jackets, including the Tactical 4.0, a waterproof jacket with lots of pockets and detachable solar panels for charging cell phones and iPods. Instead of having to remember to charge your devices once you're at home, you can charge them all the time as you're walking around.
This jacket from ScottEVest includes detachable solar panels that will charge your devices as you walk.
A company called DigitalXtractions makes and sells an outdoor webcam called the SCIRC t1. The camera gets its power from the sun and connects to the Internet using built-in cell phone electronics. It eliminates the chore of getting electricity and Internet connectivity to outdoor cams.
A new, self-contained headphone radio has solar panels on top that charge the batteries. If you prefer earbuds, you can buy an inexpensive ($17) solar-powered radio with the panel on the radio. No more swapping batteries or charging. These radios have power all the time without action required of the user.
These products are just a small sampling of the green convenience gadgets available today. But several organizations, including Germany's Fraunhofer Institute and Japan's NTT DoCoMo have already demonstrated prototypes of the Holy Grail of green gadgets: The solar-powered cell phone. Google co-founder Sergey Brin already uses a solar-powered cell phone, according to a report in the Times of London, although details on it are not publicly available.