EnergyTree PC concept ransoms a tree to make you conserve energy

Taking a much more, um, direct approach to educating consumers about the need to conserve energy, the EnergyTree concept PC presents a simple proposition to the user: use energy efficiently, and the tree contained within the case will be cared for. Get greedy with the juice (by joining the Engadget Folding@home team, for example), and the tree will be straight-up poisoned and killed. The concept, by UK evil genius designer Ben Arent, was recently picked as one of the 34 finalists in the 2007 Microsoft StartSomething design competition. The tree PC (treeputer?) contains a host of sensors and interfaces to monitor energy usage in an entire house, and can even turn ancillary devices on and off to keep your energy usage low (and that tree alive). While it's interesting to see an explicit attempt to turn energy consumption into an emotional experience, we think we're going to stick with those EnergyStar stickers -- they never threaten to kill anything.

[Via Crave]

[guilt+1 @ Apr 30th 2007 10:15PM]

It would be more effective with a child. Or a bunny rabbit.

[Richard Berkin @ Apr 30th 2007 11:14PM]

Build one like that and I'll be your first customer!

[brian @ Apr 30th 2007 10:17PM]

all well and good, but you'd think he'd catch the typos on his site
i mean coem on just do some proofreading

[Jesse S @ Apr 30th 2007 10:22PM]

That...is just...strange...

[bob @ May 1st 2007 1:16AM]

...thats what she said :)

[SwissFreek @ Apr 30th 2007 10:29PM]

I would get it just because it would mean that it would be one plant I could have in my house that would take care of itself (and hence not die in a week). But then again, given the amount of gadgets I have, that's probably not even true either.

[bebofire @ Apr 30th 2007 10:30PM]

Yeah, "interlergent recycling bins"

*wince*

[John C. Randolph @ May 1st 2007 12:25AM]

Make one that strangles a hippie, and I might be interested.

-jcr

[wellingj @ Apr 30th 2007 11:09PM]

If you really want to be have an energy efficient computer go to one of these places and pick up a VIA or Geode based solution with a flash disk for storage.

http://www.logicsupply.com/
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/store/
http://www.norhtec.com/

You'll even cut down on noise pollution.

[Jason @ Apr 30th 2007 11:21PM]

A lot of environmentalists probably would prefer it just kill everyone in the house, and spare the tree.

[Mike @ Apr 30th 2007 11:35PM]

Anyone else notice Mr.T on the product's web site? Seems a bit out of place to me...

[klew @ Apr 30th 2007 11:49PM]

Is the energy tree made of environmentally freindly materials?

[Firebird @ May 1st 2007 12:03AM]

whos up for hacking it so that it takes care of the tree regardless of how much of an energywhore you are?

[Chuckles McGee @ May 1st 2007 12:23AM]

Killing the tree just adds to the waste... Though revving up your PC's kilowatt power supply and seeing life being sacrificed in your glory seems pretty awesome.

[orange.micro @ May 1st 2007 12:50AM]

Cool. Save energy and grow my dro, sweet. Kill 2 birds with 1 stoned.

[Lee Gibson @ May 1st 2007 1:10AM]

OK, instead, can I just not buy that thing, kill a tree on my own, and keep using the same computers I already own?

[philadelphonic @ May 1st 2007 1:10AM]

hmm... Is that the first pic of the Treeo 950?

[boomhauer @ May 1st 2007 1:37AM]

i am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sick of all this green crap. Im not forcing my religious beliefs down your throat, can you please return the favor?

yes i know saving the poor wittle helpless world makes you feel so important...

[tim @ May 1st 2007 1:50PM]

Oh the ignorance! So what if the hippies are shoving their views down your throat, but so is your government and other religious groups. You can't possibly use that whole "public" argument because it's so stupid.

But anyways, the website was FILLED with typos that I couldn't bear to read on. Proofread?

[Wayne Robinson @ May 1st 2007 3:12AM]

Shouldn't that be a cat?

[citizen @ May 1st 2007 9:01AM]

they should use a bunny rabbit in a plexi box instead of the tree, and add co2 according to your power usage, you turn the computer off it will feed the rabbit, replenish its oxygen and maintain its box.

If you use too much power the cute little rabbit will suffocate. Seeing a decomposing rabbit in your chassi is bound to make computing more green.

[kowalski @ May 1st 2007 6:17AM]

i probably could give a shit about tha tree and would enjoy watching its slow painful starvation while i vacuum my house for the 10th time

[Cameron @ May 1st 2007 2:00PM]

Good lord. Do you people actually believe this thing is real?
Put those brains in gear people. It is all just a wind up. The terrible spelling, the bins that know what you put in them, the entire concept, everything about it.
I also detect a considerable Digitiser influence (bins and Mr T gathered together).

[Harry @ May 1st 2007 8:36AM]

Better build a keyboard or mouse that poisons the user if he is using the PC too long. ;-)

[Ben Arent @ May 1st 2007 12:32PM]

wow, Engadget. My Design career is officially started! I'm Ben, the guy who did this, yes,, and the guy with god awfal spelling and copy-writing skills.

This is actually a half finished project, that I almost didn't enter because of the problems with the lack of finish and bad spellings. (I have now corrected the really bad ones) You may need to update your cache.

Thanks for all the comments and crit, My site is still being built, and I wasn't really meant to be *live until September. My hits have just gone crazy, So I have been busy trying to get the rest of the site up to date. Mr.T was a joke that seemed funny when I was getting 2 hits a month, but in retrospect he now Rests in Peace.

In response to "It is all just a wind up. The terrible spelling, the bins that know what you put in them, the entire concept". Its not so far off. With the cheapness of RFID's, and material analysis, recycling bins are capable to knowing what has been put in them.

I will post my next concept which is socially connected device. Keep and eye on my site, I'm always looking for freelance, Criticism, internships and a copywriter.

[tim @ May 1st 2007 1:51PM]

And a functional spell check :P

[murray @ May 1st 2007 1:27PM]

In the event of a power failure, could you burn the tree to generate power for your PC? That would be teh awesomes.