Gadgets and gizmos are a great way to turn Planet Earth into one massive mountain of junk, brew chemical catastrophes, pollute the ecosytem and deplete our limited energy resources.

Believe it or not, but humankind bequeaths 20 million to 50 million metric tonnes of electronic waste each year. Upgrading your gadgetry may simply mean gleefully tossing out the creaky and the laggardly at one level, but at another all those discarded computers, monitors, MP3 players, mobiles, printers, et al are piling up as detritus some place. And do we even need to talk about the thoughtless energy wastage all around us?

Yet there’s also an ever-increasing shelf-load of palatable, often affordable products out there that help you do your own small bit to salvage the environment — in conservation of energy, recycling of products and materials, usage of renewable energy sources, or even simply getting more energy-efficient. Here’s a glimpse of the what and the where of today’s green product evolution.

Solar DAB Radio
www.robertsradio.co.uk
Price: £80

Widely touted as the world’s first solar powered DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) radio, this rather retro-looking contraption integrates a solar panel atop to ensnare energy from the rays of the sun. A level indicator on the display screen records the solar level generated by this panel.

Function icons for battery and signal strength are also available. The in-built rechargeable battery pack can hoard enough power to vocalise the radio for up to 27 hours before another recharge. Featuring soft-touch rubberised controls, the rather hefty (at 672gm) yet not so chunky (7.4in by 4.3in by 3.1in) audio comforter offers a white backlit LCD display, a line-in socket for iPod/MP3 playback, as well as a headphone socket. Available in white, black, pink, red or green hues, it also comes with an AC adapter for sunless days.

LG Solar Bluetooth Car Kit
www.mobilefun.co.uk
Price: £45

For many of us with quasi-amnesiac minds, one of the most tedious and troublesome aspects of using a Bluetooth wireless hands free kit for the car is remembering to charge it. So this slim, black, solar-powered LG HFB-500 set could prove to be an ideal solution for us forgetful intellects dwelling in sunny climes.

You simply pop it into a patch of sunlight (even on the dashboard) every time the charge runs out; two hours of sunshine gives you approximately one hour of talk time. Fully charged, the pocket-sized 72gm Bluetooth v2.0 kit is rated to provide talk time of up to eight hours, along with standby time of up to 1,100 hours.

Apart from voice dialling, last number redial and muting a call, it also has the ability to charge an LG handset. A call/end button and two volume keys on either side of the device are its only controls. The speaker squawks out at a fairly decent 1.5 watts. In emergencies you can use the accompanying car charger cable to juice it up via the cigarette lighter socket.

USBcell
www.usbcell.com
Price: £12 (twin cell pack)

This looks and works like any ordinary AA sized alkaline battery. Yes, it is also rechargeable. But not by the means that you are accustomed to, i.e. AC mains power. Just as the name says, the modest looking Nickel Metal Hydride, 1.2v 1300mAh power source accumulates its energy by plugging its innovatively concealed, intelligent USB prong charger into any PC desktop, laptop, hub, gaming console and even a keyboard or monitor socket.

The cell needs about five hours to top up its power through USB and provides a 500mA current at five volts. Besides preventing unnecessary battery waste, toxic landfills and carbon dioxide level increases, it draws on readily available power to recharge itself. USBcell helps you avoid lugging additional chargers/cables while travelling and allows recharge on the go.

PowerPlus Toucan Solar MP4 player
www.menkind.co.uk/ProductDetailsHori.asp?ProductID=13739 Price: $180

Alone and palely loitering in the wild or aiming to flex some personal carbon credits all around as a genuine tree hugger? Get your paws on a solar MP4 player like this one and watch more than a movie or two on the trot without worries of battery blackouts.

With its 262K colour, 2-in, 220 by 176 pixel TFT display, the player can stash 4GB of video and audio in its embedded flash memory. Once topped up, the 650 mAh / 3.7V battery can playback four hours of video and six hours of MP3 (using earphone in power saving mode). Apart from letting you eyeball AVI, RM, MPG, VOB, DAT, RMVB etc videos, it can tune into MP1, MP2, MP3, WMA, ASF, WAS, and OGG audio formats as well while serving you as an MP4 player.

And ah, it can also display text files and JPG images. Input/output of data is by means of a USB 2.0 port, which can be used to power up the player when the heavens are too cloudy to pump up the power.

Husqvarna Automower
www.husqvarna.co.uk/node1556.aspx?pid=12517
Price: $4,000

The Husqvarna Automower is a solar electric hybrid robot lawn mower. Besides using renewable energy as a power source, it can automatically cut grass in an irregular pattern within an area defined by a pre-laid boundary cable. This ensures that its grass chomping jaws don’t run amok among the flower beds.

It works whisper quiet with nearly zero emission. That’s not all: along with its aptitude for muscle mowing around 1,000sq ft of grass in one hour even without sunlight, it can also be pre-programmed to work at certain times or days of the week.

It’s weather-proof and features an in-built theft protection alarm. With its bank-busting $4,000 price tag, could you expect any less? According to Husqvarna, the bot is constructed from 90 per cent recyclable material. The Sunwhisper/24 mulching lawnmower (www.freepowersys.com /sunwhisper.htm), is a far cheaper option at $695 but it is not an autonomous device.

Samsung E200 Eco Mobile
www.samsung.com
Price: To be announced

How corny can we get by talking about an entry level tri-band cell phone with a 1.3-megapixel camera (yawn), video messaging capabilities (sigh), MP3 player (oh please)? Yet we must... Because, in a serious effort to reduce the environmental impact of electronic devices, Samsung has used materials extracted from corn (yes, corn) in a phone’s entire casing.

Making its debut barely a couple of months ago, this eco-friendly communications device is the world’s first such handset to use bioplastics (bioplastics are derived from renewable biomass sources like vegetable oil, corn starch, or pea starch instead of traditional plastics which are extracted from petroleum). Further, the E200’s charger is said to be free of a common flame retardant material that is harmful to the environment.

Hand Cranked Cellphone Chargers
www.nextag.com; www.21st-century-goods.com/page/21st/CTGY/HCKP
Price: $12-20

Solar power cellphone chargers are available aplenty. But for times and climes when the divine Apollo, Helios, Ra & Co. are not smiling down on us so radiantly, we must turn to more mechanical alternatives like hand-cranked cell phone chargers. Right from the Sidewinder Portable Cellphone Charger to the Surplus Computers cranker to the more reliable Japanese ECO models, these hand-wound, clam-shell phone sized systems have the aptitude to generate enough power for a cellphone to make some quick two to five minute calls. Critical gear for any intrepid road warrior.

Verio Wind Up MP3 Player
www.allthingsgreen.net
Price: £40

Hate having to nurse your MP3 player back to life after it has died on you when you need it most? Maybe this wind up and rechargeable dynamo power player could be a way out to always having harmony emanating from your earbuds. Okay, we acknowledge that its paltry 1 GB flash memory is hardly anything when pitted against an iPod and other portable media players. But then it also promises never to become a piece of pumpkin.

And ah, let’s not forget the integrated flashlight and mobile phone charger it also boasts. Winding up the Verio for a minute will give as much as 15-20 minutes of 30 milliwatt auditory sensations with MP1, MP2, MP3, WMA, WMV, ASF, and OGG music formats. Fully charged it can trill away for about four hours.

A three-minute wind up promises to give 10 minutes of talk time for most mobile phones, while a minute’s winding is said to power its LED light for about 50 minutes. Also included is a USB and mains charger for days when you are feeling too lazy to exert yourself — or care a damn for Mama Earth.

Electronic Housekeeper
https://ehweb.electronichousekeeper.com
Price: $765 onwards

An intelligent, environmentally conscious “control and monitoring console”, this one automates switching off all electronic equipment and appliances dawdling on standby power and thereby helps save wasted electricity. Touchscreen operated, wireless and plug-and-play, it can play music, stream online TV and also send out an SMS if you’ve forgotten to turn off the coffee percolator or the iron.

And you can monitor exactly how much electricity each electrical appliance consumes — from your PC to your hairdryer — with it. According to Electronic Housekeeper’s Danish manufacturers, by severely curtailing standby power consumption this device can help a household reduce its emission CO2 emissions by approximately 10 per cent.

Noon Solar Bags
www.noonsolar.com
Price: $330-$500

Be it an extra large Oakley tote or Logan laptop bag, a Sawyer messenger sling, or an ordinary Augusta, each of Noon’s solar bags are fitted with a flexi solar panel on one broadside. So even as you walk around in the sun you can accumulate the solar energy in the bag’s built-in lithium-ion rechargeable battery pack.

Using the companion USB tips, cables and adapters, you can charge your cell phone, iPod and similar handheld devices even as they lie ensconced within the bag. A wall charging adapter for the Power Bank for drearier days is also provided.

ashishone@gmail.com