Well, SURE it feels good to be a Certified Tree-Hugger and Full-Time Loon, but at some point, y' just gotta draw a line in the sand and say 'Whoa, Ceesco ... ! Dat's jus' STOOOO-pid ... !' ... All of these qualify ... and it's worth clicking the link to see the rest of 'em ...

'Green' ... yeah - it's more than just a color now ...

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38779343/?gt1=43001

11 green inventions that go too far

The quest for environmentally savvy products takes some inventors down scary roads

Dance-powered portable charger
Orange

For once, the spastic, uncoordinated limb-flailing you call dancing can actually serve a purpose outside of embarrassing you at parties. Last year, UK-based mobile and internet service provider Orange actually released several prototype armbands that harvested energy through the kinetic power of the dance. Based on that, I would hazard a guess that the Chicken Dance might be the most efficient way to charge up a cell phone. Orange

Solar cooler
Sports Authority

The Picnic Plus is a solar-powered gadget docking station, insulated cooler and speaker system all-in-one. It's one of those “kitchen sink” gadgets that doesn't just take green too far, it takes everything too far. There's no way that it can do any of this well. $84.99 Sports Authority

Wind 'N Go shaver
Athena Brands

According to the manufacturer, winding up this eco-friendly electric shaver will net you enough juice for a full shave. Of course, if you really want to go green, non-electric shavers have been around for decades – I believe they're called razors. $43.90 Athena Brands

Tweet-a-Watt
adafruit

If you already chronicle every waking moment of your life on Twitter, you will love the Tweet-a-Watt system. This open source project can be installed yourself using a $90 kit and a $20 Kill-a-Watt power monitor. Once completed, the system will monitor the energy usage in your home and tweet that information to your Twitter account. So, to recap, you fire up a gadget that lets you brag to your Twitter followers about how little power you are using. Not only is it slightly ironic, it is a very slow way to get popular.
$90 adafruit

Man-powered Ferris wheel
YouTube

When I was a kid, I was wary of going on rides at the fair because it always seemed like the only thing separating a good time from an untimely death was a rickety safety bar, a carny and maybe some duct tape. My fear would be especially acute if I were faced with this human-powered Ferris wheel in Southern India. It doesn't use fuel or electricity; instead four or five men spin the bars and dangle from the beams, using their body weight to turn the wheel.
Environmental Graffiti

Solar-powered toothbrush
Japan Trend Shop

I don't know about you, but I like to brush my teeth while standing underneath a waterfall in a sun-drenched natural spring. It doesn't get any greener than that — unless I started using a Soladey Solar-Powered toothbrush that is. It doesn't vibrate or spin or anything. Supposedly, there isn't even a need for toothpaste. It transforms light into negative ions that mix with saliva to break down the molecular bonds that attach plaque to teeth. It's all very confusing and scientific, which must mean that it's good. Good for selling to gullible people, that is. $51 Japan Trend Shop

Water-powered desk clock
Bedol

This clock is eco-friendly because it doesn't use batteries or electricity from an outlet. All you need to run this clock for 12-14 weeks is some tap water and a dash of lemon juice. That's all well and good, but setting the alarm at the beginning of week 15 might prove problematic. You don't want to be late for work because you forgot to water your clock.
$16 - $40 Bedol

The Buscycle
The Buscycle Project

Taking public transportation is green, but taking a pedal-powered bus is greener. See the sights and work up a sweat with 15 other people on the Buscycle, an awareness initiative created by Heather Clark and Matthew Mazzotta and 60 volunteers in the summer of 2005. Though the Buscycle's goal was quite noble, "redefining how we move as a culture," I will admit that it is hard to see how this experience is at all different from the misery of being an oarsmen on an ancient warship.
The Buscycle Project

Pee-powered batteries
Japan Trend Shop

NoPoPo are hydro-electric batteries that utilize liquid combined with carbon and magnesium to generate long-lasting power. They can be charged using just about any liquid from soda to sake, but if you are in a real bind, urine or blood will suffice. Let's hope that you are never in such desperate need to power a portable gadget that you are forced to pee into a tiny dropper — or stab someone.
$74 Japan Trend Shop

Poo-powered VW Beetle
GENeco

This VW Beetle is roaming the streets of Bristol in the UK thanks to poo-power. That is to say, it runs on biogas, a fuel derived from the breakdown of organic matter like manure or sewage into methane. There is no doubt that this is a viable, sustainable source of energy (the waste from 70 homes in Bristol generates enough methane to power the car for a year) — but I shudder to think what filling stations might smell like in the future.
GENeco

Edible shoe cream
greenfibres

This isn't a gadget like the previous items, but an edible shoe cream is certainly worthy of a mention in a list about green inventions gone wrong. While there is certainly nothing wrong with replacing everyday toxic substances with biodegradable versions, there is just something unsettling about shoe cream that you can spread on a slice of toast and eat for breakfast.
$9 greenfibres

Don't like it, don't buy it! If the right had their way there would a oil rig opposite a gas well on every corner. Dolla dolla bills is all business cares about, its nice to see people not only thinking outside the box but obliterating said box!

I guess that means you'll be ordering one each ...

I like the poo powered vw beetle idea. As long as we are alive, there will always be poo. And, what an awesome way to make it useful.

Most people never realize just how 'people-friendly' poo really is ...

I've not heard of any of these before. Some of those are trinkets designed to convinced environmentalist to spend more money on more useless crap...to be manufactured and shipped and used at a cost to the environment. At the same time, I find it inspiring that people are trying to design creative ecologically sound devices.

I'm intrigued by tweet-a-watt; I'm guessing you can use it without actually tweeting the results - just emailing it or keeping a record at home.

I like that people might be able to measure and track their own electricity usage without involving other parties - especially proprietary or remote controlled power tracking solutions.

As far as it being ironic, in many cases the power used to track power usage is nothing compared to the power saved (through changes in habits, equipment choice, etc).

Did I step in something? No, it's just a VW going by.

I have three ideas so far developed that are green. Very green. I'm going to publish them here, so you guys can use them if you want to. They are not patentable. To patent an idea the idea must need to meet some certain conditions, and these ideas don't meet those conditions.

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1. Hot water savings on washing dishes.

I have arranged 4 buckets in my room: One full of soapy water, one full of air, one full of clean water, one full of air.

You put your dirty dishes in the soapy water. My dirty dishes have no scraps of food on them. Let them sit in the highly soapy water (ratio of about 150 mL of liquid dish detergent soap to 3 litres of water - Amys, I don't know Imperial units, sorry) for a few hours. If longer, great, no problem. Take them out, put them in the second bucket and let them drip the soapy water off. In few hours rinse them by hand in the clean water, then let them drip and dry in the fourth bucket.

I change the water in the buckets once a month. I am a single guy, and I cook, but don't cook much. I eat cooked food and cold cuts, etc. Also I cook quite a bit in the micro, incl. eggs and sausages, potatoes, beans, corn, everything. I live in a rented single room upstairs.

My method saves tons of energy by not using hot water every day to wash dishes. It also saves chores -- you just put your dishes from one bucket to another, no need to wipe and stuff. Also the timing is relaxed. You don't have the nagging worry of a sinkful of dirty dishes after each meal, and if you leave things in the buckets for longer, even for weeks (if you travel away) no harm done.

I use a small bucket for the cutlery.

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2. Washing the body. I got into a tiffy with my landlady, and now I don't have bathtub or shower privileges. So I learned how to clean myself without water.

I bought a squeegee, and encase it each time in a white absorbent cloth. Cheap dollar store towels, or handtowels. I pour rubbing alcohol on the cloth and wash my body. The poo hole sometimes stings when I wash there, but I take it like a man.

Washing and drying takes 3 minutes, opposed to the 5-20 minutes in the shower, and the 5 minutes drying, balancing on one foot, etc.

I wash my hair in alcohol, too. I bought one of those tic-combs. I wet my hair with alcohol, then comb it out. I can do it once or many times. Then I wet my hair with rubbing alcohol again, and rub it with a white towel. To see that it works. It gives me nice feeling to see brown and shiiit on the white towel, it shows that a cleaning has been done. Since I comb with the tic-comb, the towel shows very little discoloration after the rubbing, sometimes none. Oh, you need to keep wiping the tic-comb after each few passes through your hair.

I use one bottle of rubbing alcohol a week for this. I pay $1 for this alcohol at a dollar store. I don't know what the daily showering cost my landlady, in terms of hot water, back in the days when I used to be allowed in the washroom.


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3. Bicycle lights. I bicycle, I gave up my car two years ago. If the distance is far, I take a bus with the bicycle, but I live now in a smaller town, of about 400,000 people, nobody knows for sure how many, we lost count. But I bicycle, and at night I am worried about cars. I used to be a semi-professional bicycle racer back 40 years ago, and I know how dangerous it is when a vehicle moving at high speed hits a bicyclist because the stupid cyclists has no light and can't be seen until it's too late.

So for five years I've been experimenting. I won't write down the entire process, but the goal has always been to be visible, and not worry about the lights going out, which meant to have the batteries be always full of power.

So. I got them garden-lights at a WalMart. You stick them in the ground, as is the intentional use for the product, and it absorbs sunlight during the day, and gives it out as weak light at night.

I bought two of these, lined the large bulbous see-though casing of one with regular white printer paper, cut to size, and did the the same to the other light, with red paper.

Then I affixed them to the bike. White light at front, red light at the back.

You see, the paper lining is good, because for city bicyclists the important thing is to be seen, not to throw light on the road. In almost all cities almost all parts of almost all streets are almost well lit.

Now my bicycle lights light up by themselves when it gets dark, and I never have to worry about forgetting to turn them on or changing the battery.

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I. Am. So. Jealous. ...

I want to be you ...

I don't know who you are referring to, but just in case it's me, please consider:
1. I'm old.
2. I'm fat.
3. I am so arrogant that they banned me from the local mall.
4. I am so short that people automatically take me for either a moron or a criminal. Sometimes both. I'm neither.
5. Chicks hate me like they do the plague. I learned to also hate chicks in return, tho I'd wanna screw them.
6. I'm very angry most of the time.

D'ya still wanna be me? Not a dream job at all.

love the solar lamp ideason the bikes you remind me of paradox. he is always coming up with this kinda of stuff. drives me crazy, makes me laugh, and puts me in absolute wonder at how differently we think and see the world.


loved the list by the way OP - tooo funny!

Bohemian: Glad you got a laff from this ... it's kinda like a 'Field Guide to Eco-Absurdity' ...

Wux ... I never said bein' you was EASY ...

None of these sound like "green technology" whatsoever.

These inventions seems to be just smart marketing to sell crap. Real green technology starts, at a bigger scale, not pee-powered battiers and water clock.

I am not sure about how the current power grid is set up, what percentage comes from hydro-plans and oil/coal burning..but if they can reduce the coal/burning with just 5% and replace it with an alternative source that is able to produce the same amount of energy as the coal/oil burning then I can say we are making progress in the green-technolgy.

I mean, look, it doesn't really matter as much on whether or not I use 2 more or 2 less AA batteries ...this won't really change much on anything.

just the thought of the bacteria count in ur environs scares me........a lot

Most bacteria are thermophillic by nature and are not killed by hot water that will not give you really bad burns. Its a common misconception.

Isopropyl Alcohol strips bacteria of the lipid outerlayers, very effectively killing them. As well as most fungus/spores, mold/spores ect.

I think for myself I would not use isopropyl alcohol to bathe myself, a bit too harsh for my pretty fair skin, and perhaps overkill after all. I do understand the advantage in water usage however and tip my hat to you sir, regardless of your motives.

If your dishes are not saturated with food particles then its unlikely much food will be left for bacteria to grow on, also and in fact more importantly if his first bucket is of soapy water, the detergents in the soap ALSO strip the lipid outer layer from the bacteria killing it. Also if the dishes are placed within the soapy water bucket and not left out with food particles then its a very thorough process IMHO.

So once the plates dry and have no more food particles they would not harbor anymore bacteria then anything else in anyone environment.

90& of molds, bacteria, fungal spores, dirt particulates exist within 30 inches of the ground, as long as his buckets are not on the ground its unlikely they would have anymore bacteria then your sink*, or dishwasher, and would be vastly more cost effective and energy efficient as well.

The only way someone is going to do much better at killing off bacteria, molds, fungus ect would be to autoclave all of there eating accessories and keep them in the autoclave until usage.

Personally I do not think you are qualified to have an opinion. I myself enjoy growing quality shatake mushrooms and have as a byproduct of being successful acquired much knowledge of many common pathogens that will typically grow on a wide variety of substrate including human food.

So not to be a troll, id suggests you take some time to evaluate your own understanding before passing judgment on others.

Cheers!





PS if you did not understand any of the words used google is your friend. Dont be lazy.

* I think some very strong arguments can be backed up with solid statistics to show that average households sinks have a much higher concentration of bacteria then many other things usually thought to be "filthy" I believe also a sponge only used a few times was one of the items harboring the most bacterial spores/cells. I am too lazy to find the study if you wish to, have fun.

sponges and the common household sink like a bold and brave warrior i battle mine daily! except when im lazy...then i battle it weekly(eeek!)

only use sponges on serious toxic spills and wear heavy gloves.

sinks ... well every few dish washing episodes a touch of bleach will help get rid of most of that bacteria ... but remember ... there is more benificial bacteria than harmful bacteria so just openly killing all bacteria can actually make your environment more dangerous.

as for this green stuff.... well

reduce, reuse and recycle what you can deal with. and stop throwing your trash on the side of the highway.

fix the fluid leaks in those combustion tools and toys and try using your legs more often.