Most people can agree that solar energy is a great green way to power your home or business. But unless solar panels are integrated into your building at the time the building is built, they can look pretty obtrusive and added on, particularly if you are in an older building. A Brooklyn based sustainable design start-up company called SMIT has come up with a smart solution- solar panels that look (from a distance) like ivy.

As you can see above, it fits in nicely with the architecture of classic brownstone building. The great thing about this idea is that not only to the panels look pretty good, you can also place them on walls which give you a huge advantage in places that are built up. Once a building hits 2 or 3 stories tall, the wall space becomes greater than the roof space (which is often taken up by mechanicals, skylights, or decks). Right now the group is very close to finalizing solar ivy for commercial use, they are looking for more investment money.

via dvice

Energy. Kids seems to have an endless supply of it and adults are looking for it to power their devices for living. Those are not exactly the same types of energy but with an invention called the sOccket, one can be converted to the other. The device is a soccer ball (football) that stores the energy it gets from rolling around while being kicked by kids (or adults) in much the same way a shake-to-charge flashlight works. That energy is stored inside the ball and then can be used to power devices.

The ball is intended for use in lesser developed areas where electricity is usually created from dirty burning and expensive generators (if at all). Kicking the ball around for 15 minutes can generate enough power to run an LED light for up to 3 hours. And it’s free off the grid clean energy! The ball is regulation size but it slightly heavier to account for the electronics inside so it does have a slightly different feel.

(oh gizmo)

Green Power has introduced the GP 400n, a unique sliding speaker for your iPod Touch or Nano. Unlike the iPhone, neither of these two MP3 player models has an included speaker, so a small external speaker is a must if you want to listen to music without headphones while still remaining mobile and portable.

There’s a pair of 1.5w powered speakers which run of a 600mAh built in rechargeable battery which is good for 12 hours. Your iPod connects via the dock connector and the GP 400n is powered via USB. So you’re not going to be enough sound to drown out the DJ at your local pub, this should be sufficient enough for a hotel room or other small area where you need some amplified music. No prices listed.

via gizmag