Posts Tagged ‘green’

Green Pizza Box

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

If any of you are like me, you like pizza. If ever I can’t be bothered to cook I jump on the internet and order one of Italy’s best ever exports. A slight environmental dilemma raises itself at this point when it comes to disposing of the mountain of empty pizza boxes at the end of the week, you just think that maybe you should be getting a bit more use from these containers before dumping them in favour of a new one containing some piping hot cheesy goodness. Obviously someone out there has had the same concerns, but has done something about it and come up with the Green Box. The company that holds the patent, Eco Incorporated, say on their website that:

“The pizza box design has remained unchanged for the past thirty years. The box is too unwieldy to store uneaten pizza, takes up too much space in the trash can and is totally environmentally unfriendly. With the introduction of our revolutionary new environmentally friendly box manufactured from 100% recycled material, the ‘Green Box’, these issues have finally been addressed and overcome!”

The video below shows the Green Box in action, the lid tears off and splits into four ‘plates’, thus saving on the use of crockery and washing it up afterwards. Meanwhile two triangle shapes detach from the other side which then becomes a handy storage section for any leftovers, and could be perfect for transporting into work for lunch the next day.





I realise this is a promotional video which is designed to show the Green Box in action, but I am highly disturbed each time I see the guy put the half pizza straight into the fridge! Surely someone is going to want more than one slice?

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The Power of Hydroelectricity – In Your Own Home

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

Browsing my usual blogs today I came across this particular gadget, which I feel demonstrates perfectly my reluctance to blog about anything serious yesterday. It’s a concept that is believable and plausible, but at the same time just as likely to be ridiculous. Allow me to introduce the ‘Mini Hydro Turbine’.

The main idea behind it is that the water pressure from your bathroom tap is used to drive a turbine which should provide enough power to use an electric toothbrush, shaver, hair dryer, or anything else powered by the 220v power outlets found in bathrooms.

This seems to be a great idea for saving energy, but unless it can hold a charge you will need to keep your tap running while using whatever device it is, and you’ll end up wasting water in your efforts. I also can’t help but feel that for a small self installed appliance there is the whole ‘water and electricity’ don’t mix issue. Before anyone advises me I am aware that steam is used to drive turbines in most traditional power plants, but I see that as being (hopefully) more professionally installed, maintained, and just on a much larger scale with greater separation.

The product page can be found here.

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Sony TV’s Go Green

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009


Sony have just debuted their latest range of Bravia Televisions, and amongst them is the WE5 ‘Eco TV’. The WE5 is a full 1080p LCD TV available in 40 and 46 inch screen sizes, and although it will help you cut your energy costs Sony have not cut back on quality. The main features that distinguish this particular model from its competitors are:

  • Worlds first micro-tubular HCFL (Hot Cathode Fluorescent Lamp) backlight cuts power consumption by more than 50% when compared with a similar 2008 model.
  • Smart Presence Sensor which switches off the picture when the TV is not being watched.
  • Energy Saving Switch reduces Power Consumption to zero. Some televisions draw power when on standby, or even when turned off but still plugged in. The WE5 Features a handy switch on the side of the television which turns the unit off completely. When turned back on it will immediately return to its’ previous state. A much smarter and more convenient alternative to manually unplugging the TV when it isn’t in use.

With energy consumption of electrical appliances being highlighted ever more, especially when left on standby, it’s good to see manufacturers such as Sony looking at solutions to this problem. No doubt a lot of people find it inconvenient to get in behind the display unit where all the plugs and sockets are hidden away to switch them off and unplug them at the mains, and thus by having an easily accessible switch that does the same job you can encourage people to use it more to cut power consumption when not in use.

Another feather in the cap of the new range of Sony Bravia televisions is their ability to produce superior colour whilst also saving energy. They do this using energy efficient LED’s which are grouped in clusters across the screen. This grouping means that not all the LED’s need to light up at once, thereby saving the amount of energy the television uses.

Find out more about the new Sony WE5, and the rest of the new Bravia Televisions here.

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When Blue, Is Green.

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

Keeping an eye on the Mobile World Congress show currently underway in Barcelona (mainly because I’m wanting release information on the Nokia N97, late May/early June apparently as reported by Phonedog.com) I have seen a new Green Phone that Samsung are due to release later this year in Europe.




The handset is made from recycled bottles, and is powered by a solar panel located located on the rear. It will come with an energy efficient “Eco-Mode”, and an “Eco-Walk” function which will utilise an inbuilt pedometer to calculate how much CO2 emissions have been saved by walking as opposed to driving. Of course the packaging will also be as minimal as possible, and what there is will also be made utilising recycled materials. The Blue Earth will have a touchscreen interface, as well as a special energy efficient Bluetooth capability. Further details can be found here.

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Gadgets Towers Going Green

Friday, August 8th, 2008

We’ve all been made aware just how important it is to ‘go green’, and we here at Gadgets Towers are trying to do our bit to help the fight against climate change. These are the latest weapons in our arsenal. First up is the new Green Charger.

I’m sure we have all seen the stats about how much energy is wasted by mobile phone chargers that are left plugged in and turned on with either no phone attached, or a fully charged one. The Green charger simply makes sure that no energy is wasted in these scenarios. It’s incredibly simple, but essentially it solves the problem without anyone needing to alter their behaviour. Simply plug the Green charger into your phone as you would a normal charger and… Well, actually that’s it, there is nothing complicated, nothing you need to remember, nothing you need to do to set it up, no adaptors, just the Green Charger and your phone. Our other new energy saving addition is the Eco Button.

Again it’s an incredibly simple concept. You merely need to plug the Eco Button into a spare USB port, and press the Eco Button before you leave your PC to enter ‘Eco-Mode There are those out there who, for whatever reason don’t like turning off their PC. The Eco button enables you to leave your PC on in ‘Eco-Mode’ saving energy and money whether you are going for a cup of tea, out for lunch, or even longer. Upon your return simply restart it, complete with any programs left open, with just the touch of a button. As an added incentive the Eco Button will tell you how much energy and money you have saved in the last session it was in use, or cumulatively over time you use it. These and other Eco friendly Green Gadgets can be found in our special Green Section.

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Cardboard crap, or a re-invention of the portaloo?

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

I have today been directed to a product fairly new to the market. It is one of those things that could revolutionise a particular niche market with its simplicity, somewhat like the Post-it Note. Or it could just be a really crap idea. Allow me to introduce the “Shit Box”.

This is the brainchild of one Richard Wharton.  He awoke in a tent early one stiflingly hot morning with a need to answer the call of nature. Afflicted by the excesses of the previous day he couldn’t face a trip to the ‘long drop’ toilets.  If you’ve ever been to a festival you have probably seen these, and know all too well how grim they get after the first couple of days. While considering his options he spies a tissue box, and naturally, as I’m sure we’ve all done at some point (or not), he then considers that if the box were slightly larger, more sturdy and by simply inserting a plastic bag he would be able to meet his needs with that handy item right there and then. Eureka!

Now I was always of the opinion that epiphanies and eureka moments like these normally came on the toilet, not thinking about using one…?

For the princely sum of £15.67 you can get the ‘Bog Standard’ edition which includes a box and 10 degradable bags, with more bags available on their own in packs of ten. Not content with being a just portable loo it also claims that if you fold the lid down you have your very own stool to sit on, maybe in more ways than one. 

To be honest I’m not too sure about this myself. After all you’re going to need to use this in your tent, unless you are a total exhibitionist, and with the inevitable excesses abound at festivals, as well possible complications from a rouge dodgy burger, it could get very messy, very quickly. A few of my friends have said they are quite curious about it, and as such have suggested we take one with us to the Reading festival this year. Others have suggested if we do they don’t want to camp anywhere near it.  But is this really all that different to already available products such as the “SheWee”, or indeed, just doing the same over a big ‘vat’?  At the end of the day it is more eco friendly than a chemical toilet, you know exactly who’s used it, and you have no need to venture out in the rain, or middle of the night.  People will be put off at the idea of doing their business in a box though.
Now at this point I could very easily say this is a movement in the right direction, or some other pun filled paragraph, but instead I shall simply direct you to The Brown Corporation and let you read your way through their highly entertaining site yourself.

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