Solar powered torch

Just leave this solar torch to recharge in the car or on the windowsill and the 8 cell solar panels will quickly recharge the internal battery and in turn power the 3 high performance ice white LEDs, talk about lateral thinking, there’s something clever about getting the big light in the sky to power torches.

Solar powered torch from Alt-Gifts

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Solio Charger

Solio Charger from Firebox

Isn’t the sun great? Because as well as being big, bright and orangey (a bit like this website) its rays can be harnessed to power things. Sadly, unless you’re a Bond villain, solar energy is normally associated with dreary things like calculators and central heating systems. But not for much longer, because the ingenious Solio Solar Charger is a brilliant take-anywhere gizmo that will charge your iPod using the power of the sun.

Solio Charger Armed with a Solio you’ll never run out of juice again, even if you’re miles from the nearest power socket. All the rage amongst polar explorers (no, really) the award-winning Solio features a fan-blade design that allows it to soak up lots of lovely rays. Just spread out the blades and expose them to direct sunlight (either outside or affixed to a window).

Solio Charger The chic Solio’s high capacity internal battery stores energy and then releases it when the unit is plugged into your iPod. And it doesn’t just release a wimpy trickle; a fully charged Solio delivers enough energy to extend iPod playtimes by up to 9 hours. And if you’re ever stranded on a desert island you won’t need to leave the Solio in the sun for days on end just to listen to one Shakin’ Stevens track, because one hour of sun can provide an hour’s worth of play time.

Solio Charger All you treehuggers out there will be thrilled to learn that the Solio is environmentally friendly – the more you use it, the less carbon dioxide you emit into the atmosphere. There really isn’t a downside to owning this pocket-sized miracle. It might seem a bit daft but you can even plug the Solio into a regular wall socket to charge up its battery for instant power anywhere. Not a bad idea as the Solio can store energy for more than a year!

Solio Charger We’ve seen some bright ideas in our time but the Solio Solar Charger is surely one of the brightest. Whether you’re backpacking, skiing or trekking across the Antarctic, the Solio is an essential travelling companion for anyone who loves music on the move. Get in there, sun!

Solio Charger from Firebox

Wireless Outdoor Solar Speaker

Wireless Outdoor Solar Speaker from Firebox

Not so long ago the only way to share your music with the great outdoors was to lug a ghetto blaster around the garden or buy a really long cable for your stereo speakers and pray for dry weather. But not any more, because the nifty Wireless Solar Speaker renders the aforementioned practices obsolete.

Simply plonk this discreet device on the grass or hide it in the hedge and its 5w speaker will pump out up to 70dbs of punchy music al fresco. How? Easy, because the speaker itself contains an eco-friendly solar panel to charge the onboard battery directly from the sun’s rays and an accompanying mains-powered transmitter plugs into your MP3/CD player/radio and beams the music to the speaker from up to 150ft away. Brilliant!

Whether you’re chillin’ in the garden, partying on the patio or boogie-ing round the barbecue, the Wireless Solar Speaker is bound to become an indispensable outdoor accessory. Yes, you can listen to your MP3s outside via headphones but that’s no good when friends come a visiting. With the small but effective Wireless Solar Speaker you and your pals can listen to whatever playlist/CD you fancy without having to crank up the stereo in the kitchen and fling open all the doors.

As you’ve probably guessed from its name this smart device is wireless, so you won’t keep tripping into the tulips when you’re raving around the lawn. It even comes with a handy remote control so you can adjust the volume without having to put down your pina colada and get off the sun lounger.

Just think, with a Wireless Solar Speaker lurking in the backyard you can prune to Pink, dig to Dizzee Rascal and sunbathe to System of a Down. You can even barbecue to Billy Ray Cyrus. If you want. Musical preferences (and rubbish alliteration) aside, this smart little speaker system is guaranteed to add ambience to any garden soiree. Who says there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues?

Wireless Outdoor Solar Speaker from Firebox

Solar Mobile Phone Charger

Solar Mobile Charger is available from Crazy About Gadgets

How many times have you had that all-important phone call cut short, or your favorite MP3 end half way through because of a dead battery? The solar mobile phone charger is the environmentally friendly battery charging pack that will save the day time and time again. The battery charger can be powered both by ac adapter or solar energy, and can be used to charge various mobile phones (with different supplied adaptors), CD players, MP3 players, digital cameras and PDAs. Supplied with both AC adapter and 12v car cigarette adapter you can even pre charge your solar charger and store the energy in the internal lithium-ion battery for use when disaster strikes. When used in sunny conditions the unit will fully charge a battery in about 3 hours (larger batteries may take longer).

This cool flip open pocket solar panel even has Dual lights on the charger to indicate that it’s working, i.e. recharging its own lithium-ion internal battery and also supplying the battery of the source that your plugged into. When you have your own solar charger your really do have the power in your hands.

Solar Mobile Charger is available from Crazy About Gadgets

Hydrogen Car

Hydrogen Car is available from I Want One of Those

Voted ‘Best Invention of the Year’ 2006 for TIME magazine.

Science at its sleekest. A car that runs on water and solar power is every gadget-loving environmentalist’s dream. Designed by the clever chaps at Horizon, the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car is the model toy of the future.

Billed as the smallest fuel cell car in the world, and nominated for the Intel Environment award in Silicon Valley’s Tech Museum, the HFCC ticks all the boxes for design, engineering and sheer greenness, and will save you having to do any unnecessary carbon trading. It comes as a kit, so it’s great for science-heads and model builders and anyone who likes to tinker.

Hydrogen is produced in the fuelling station from water in a matter of minutes, you then port it into the car, and off it trundles for up to a hundred feet! You can use batteries or the solar panels to charge the fuel cell, and power it up again and again. Not only was it voted ‘Most notable Product 2006′ by ID Magazine, it was also chosen as Best Invention of the Year 2006 by TIME Magazine. This beautifully designed model car is at the forefront of Science, and just goes to prove that the future’s already here.

Hydrogen Car is available from I Want One of Those