The ENVI Energy Monitor comes with a sensor, a transmitter and a display unit. The sensor is attached to a electricity live feed and is connected to the transmitter. The transmitter sends energy usage data to the wireless display unit, which allows you to track energy usage up to 30 meters away from it.

The display unit provides you with many details regarding your electricity usage, such as the cost of the current electricity drain. The display can provide the information in graph form, showing night, day and evening consumption. It can inform you of how this differs to previous consumption and it can also use stored information to forecast daily, weekly and monthly consumption and costs.

This eco-friendly kettle also boasts a flat heating element. This feature allows it to heat the water quickly, in turn using much less electricity. This wireless kettle has a light on its on switch to indicate when the kettle is on, the light goes out when the kettle has boiled. Simple! Kettle-like! But eco-friendly!!

The Energenie is a device which acts as a go-between the appliance and the power source. Once connected, it automatically detects when the appliance is in standby mode and cuts off the power supply.

We think that this kind of feature should come with all new appliances, but until that happens, we are happy to see some innovation taking place.

The new Philips energy efficient range of consumer lifestyle products is made up of three ingenious vacuum cleaners, a powerful handheld vacuum cleaner, a range of energy saving steam irons, a family of volume control and temperature regulating kettles, Blu Ray home theatre systems, Blu Ray DVD players and a range of LCD TVs.

The system will combine Microsoft Hohm with Ford’s electric cars, specifically, next year’s Ford Focus Electric (image above). Hohm will act as an intermediary between a person’s house and the utility company and tell the owner when the most efficient and affordable time to plug their electric car in. It will also help balance demand out as it recommends charging at appropriate moments to consumers by offering reduced costs at the right time.

Smart grid technology is a burgeoning and crucial field of development for environmentally friendly technology and it’s good to see such heavy hitting companies contributing on this front.

In the next month or two Intel will start pilot tests on its new home energy management devices in Oregon. Intel is also currently working on project with Tendril Networks that will let people program their home’s energy settings via their television. The TV interface allows the user to communicate with their utilities as well as the their thermostat.

Both of these projects are being designed to help consumers save money by reducing their energy usage. Reducing energy usage also helps make for a more sustainable environment, something that green consumers should be excited about.

With the most current in eco-technology, the green smart home boasts a reservoir tank for collecting rain water. It’s powered solely by solar panels on the roof and wind turbine in the front yard. The combined output of the green energy systems will often leave the house with surplus energy which it channels back into the museum.

The recent redesign involved an environmentally friendly makeover by Midwest Liing’s Senior Home Editor Carol Schalla. Schalla’s overhaul included such adornments as an office desk made out of recycled paper and a trash can made from old newspapers.

Eco-friendly gadgets proliferate the house and range from a kitchen counter top that can boil water without heat and an iPod lobby that can play music throughout the entire house.

This three level home, complete with all it’s gadgets, eco-friendly furniture, solar panels and wind turbine, actually comes in at a reasonable value of $450,000. Not bad considering you’d be done paying for utilities.

If a window is opened the alarm sounds at 6.8 khz.

A couple of issues with this is that the alarm only sounds when the window is opened - not when the window is broken. Also, there is no way to tell how much power stored or for how long the charge will run.

Ideally we should be doing things like capturing the urine and recycling it as a nitrogen and phosphorus rich fertilizer. This would also save water that would have otherwise been used flush the urine away. Enter the NoMix toilet.

The NoMix toilet has been used for about a decade in Sweden but is just now getting attention in North America. The NoMix separates urine and feces right at the source, your bathroom, through its unique design.

The NoMix toilet has raised section at the front of the bowl that is designed for urine to drain into, while a different tank at the rear of the toilet receives the feces which gets flushed away as usual.

What do you think? Are you ready for the NoMix toilet?

The key to the nearly waterless washing machine is tiny, nylon beads that help eliminate stains with a minimum of liquid. The 3mm-long beads are capable of being used for hundreds of cycles.

The washing machine pours the beads into the washing drum when the clothes have been slightly moistened. They are small enough to get into every crevice and remove dirt and stains. Then when the cycle is done the tiny beads are drained out just like water would.

The Xeros waterless machine could hit the market as soon as 2011. No price has been set yet.

Source: Guardian