Greener Gadgets Design Competition winners on display

You may have heard a little something about the Greener Gadgets Conference, a gathering in New York focused on cleaner, renewable, recyclable, or generally forward-thinking technology and design. At the end of the one-day event, Core77 editor-in-chief Allan Chochinov MC'd a showcase of entrants to a design competition held by the Greener Gadgets team, which were then vetted and discussed by co-organizer (and Inhabitat editor-in-chief) Jill Fehrenbacher, Valerie Casey of IDEO and The Designers Accord, and our own special-somebody, Ryan Block. When the dust settled, first prize went to crowd favorite Ener-Jar -- a DIY project which allows you to easily view how much energy an appliance is using. Second place was snapped up by the Gravia, a gravity-based lamp which generates its own power by slowly dropping a weight in its center. The third place spot was nabbed by the Green Cell Universal Battery, a standardized battery which could be swapped out in vending machines. Sure, they probably won't inspire you to trade in your gas-guzzling Hummer for a bike any time soon, but this stuff might at least get you thinking in the right direction. Check the video after the break to see how it all went down.

[Dankoozy @ Feb 9th 2008 12:57PM]

What a terrible shame none of these things are actually on the market yet

[Wesburl @ Feb 9th 2008 1:14PM]

Is it just me, or does anyone else actually want that lamp?

[Martin @ Feb 9th 2008 1:39PM]

Nope, not just you, if the Gravia went for a reasonable price (

[Plawa @ Feb 9th 2008 1:40PM]

Nope, not just you, if the Gravia went for a reasonable price (~400$) i'd get it without too much thinking. A, it looks great, B, i love the idea.

However this being a design competition I guess the price (if it ever goes on sale) is going to be in a completely different league, meaning not many people will buy thus somehow defying the whole purpose of the thing...

Sorry, my previous post got truncated..

[Ellianth @ Feb 9th 2008 3:11PM]

I thought the gravia was awesome. Or were you talking about the crank lamp? Cuz that sucked :p.

[KJ @ Feb 9th 2008 4:13PM]

you can find something similar to the enerjar here http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/travelpower/7657/

the enerjar seemed familiar so I HAD TO look it up of course
unsure of what the difference is between the two actually,
one just looks more home-made and the other is actually for sale

[Darkroom @ Feb 9th 2008 4:49PM]

i would totally buy that Bravia floor lamp... maybe 2 actually...

[Darkroom @ Feb 9th 2008 4:51PM]

oh sorry, it's Gravia, not Bravia... but yeah, i'll take two

[MEgo @ Feb 9th 2008 7:44PM]

I may have a reason that the gravia isn't a real product yet. Lets say the weight weighs 50lbs (22.6kgs) and the lamp is 5 ft (1.52m) tall. The maximum possible energy removable from the system is 338 joules. If the weight takes 4 hours to fall like the video says, we're looking at 14400 seconds, giving us approximately .02 watts of power. I don't know what kind of light we can get with such little power. By my estimates for this to work (that is, to get at least 5 W which probably still wouldn't be enough to light even a small space), the weight must fall in about one minute, or weigh about 10,000lbs.

[Ras Thavas @ Feb 9th 2008 1:00PM]

So they gave 1st prize to someone who made a DIY version of an already available commercial product?

http://www.cyberguys.com/templates/SearchDetail.asp?productID=5382

[SimonRichards @ Feb 9th 2008 1:04PM]

Hehehehe, I like how the picture at that link makes the socket look like a horrified face. Perhaps to deter you from plugging in? hehe.

[ericisshort @ Feb 10th 2008 2:14PM]

Um, sockets have always looked like horrified faces.

[KJ @ Feb 9th 2008 4:23PM]

ha!
exactly

[LesbianHam @ Feb 9th 2008 1:00PM]

That presenter sucks.

[ReggieXuk @ Feb 9th 2008 1:10PM]

i think inventions are good.
i hate how we wont be able to use inventions that are TOO GOOD.

if you know what i mean.

[Matt Meshulam @ Feb 9th 2008 1:19PM]

I'm one of the designers of the EnerJar, we have set up a website: http://enerjar.net where we are posting schematics and code so that anybody can build one. We're also looking into making parts kits available.

[Phineas J. Whoopie @ Feb 9th 2008 2:08PM]

Pretty cool project for an undergrad, Matt. Congratulations!

[KJ @ Feb 9th 2008 4:28PM]

ok now I feel like a real jerk

sorry Matt

was thinking of it as a product
instead of a DIY project

I'd never consider plugging any of my expensive electronics
into ANYTHING I'd built

[sven @ Feb 10th 2008 10:33AM]

Kill-O-Watt already exists.

[larry @ Feb 9th 2008 1:21PM]

the whole GO GREEN thing is just a marketing scheme IMO, but anyway, these things look like smoking devices.

[MEAT! @ Feb 9th 2008 1:54PM]

How does that lamp work? Do you have to hoist the weight up yourself? How long does it last on a single mechanical "charge?" Now when you enter a dark room do you no longer grope for the light switch, but instead grope around on the floor, find the lamp, and pump a hydraulic jack for three minutes?

[Matt O @ Feb 9th 2008 2:01PM]

watch the video dumbass.

[MEAT! @ Feb 9th 2008 2:06PM]

I don't watch videos I can't fast forward through. Especially when the speaker is that guy.

[Superprime @ Feb 9th 2008 2:10PM]

That speaker is incredibly annoying. I'm surprised Ryan didn't stand up and punch the guy out to take hold of the presentation

[mmh @ Feb 9th 2008 2:13PM]

Is it just me, or is the video like 1fps?

[LesbianHam @ Feb 9th 2008 2:27PM]

Just you.

[mmh @ Feb 9th 2008 8:22PM]

Thank god for that, time to ditch my Duron.

[BigD145 @ Feb 9th 2008 2:14PM]

I'd love to see 1st place hooked up to 3rd place to see how much energy is being wasted.

[Carmelo Lisciotto @ Feb 9th 2008 2:27PM]

Very cool lamp!

Carmelo Lisciotto

[Brent @ Feb 9th 2008 3:04PM]

Greener Gadgets sure does pull in the celebs huh? At least I know these are nothing but top quality.

[Gygaxis @ Feb 9th 2008 6:05PM]

I loved the Gravia and definately want one, and the Green Cell piece reminds me of the green plug, which reminds me of the disappointing COMPLETE LACK OF INDUSTRY SUPPORT from CES for moving towards a standard based power supply system.

[Alex R @ Feb 9th 2008 6:53PM]

Although I don't know about the US, here in the UK it's a real shame that almost everyone sees the word 'Green' and either dismisses it as a scam or just ignores it because it's '*X amount of money* more than a regular *insert item name*'.

[hotwings1 @ Feb 9th 2008 10:19PM]

Man, I really want that gravity lamp. And actually, you could ditch your Hummer if you really wanted too in favor of a bike. Why? Hummer actually makes bicycles too. And they're actually able to fit in small spaces unlike the SUV because it's foldable (guess Hummer took a hint) Just as long as your able to fork out over $600 to a $1000. visit hummershop.co.uk

[Timerider @ Feb 11th 2008 4:53PM]

A battery vending machine that recycles batteries would be cool.

BTW, can used alkaline batteries be recycled? I know dead rechargeables can. I have a bunch of dead alkalines but I don't want to just throw them in the trash.

[Theo Richardson @ Mar 15th 2008 5:11PM]

Thanks for the great response from all!

Please see more DESIGN + IDEAS here:
http://www.RichBrilliantWilling.com

Thanks
Theo.