The Human Powered Ferris Wheel, otherwise called the Star Wheel, is a device created by Paul Cesewski. The contraption weighs 2000 pounds and reaches up 22 feet into the air. There are 3 seats inside the wheel, and each passenger has their own set of peddles. As you cycle inside the wheel, you’re driving yourself around the inside of the wheel. Gravity then causes the outer wheel to move forwards too.

As is clear from the video, its not particularly stable. However, the original design was just 2 seats inside the wheel, and cycling pushed the 2 passengers around inside. Cesewski thought that was too dull, hence adding the movement of the outer wheel too! The total build cost an impressive $7000 and took a total of 6 months to design and create it. The great thing is though, no diesel engines are needed to run the contraption. If he could make it more stable, it might catch on!

Source: PopularMechanics

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the Human Powered Ferris Wheel article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

© 2008 to 2010 EnviroGadget.com. You can follow EnviroGadget on Twitter here!

The Solar-Powered Bicycle GPS gadget is the creation of Brian Nadel, who wanted to be able to get home when he’d gotten lost whilst out cycling! Made from old computer parts in his office, Brian’s gadget cost him virtually nothing. Brian estimates you could build a similar unit using items from eBay and discount stores for around $150.

The GPS gadget is made up from an old Pocket PC, a 128MB SD flash memory card, Pharos iGPS-CF GPS receiver with Ostia mapping software, a solar pocket charger which delivers 2W of power at 4V to 7V depending on the weather, velcro, cable ties and a desktop PC for programming. You can see the full article on MAKE: Magazine.

A great example of innovation, recycling and being eco-friendly!

Source: MAKE: Magazine

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the DIY Solar Powered Bicycle GPS Gadget article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

© 2008 to 2010 EnviroGadget.com. You can follow EnviroGadget on Twitter here!

If you love a little DIY gadgetry, then take a look at this simple Eco-Friendly Mobile Phone Charger gadget. You put your mobile phone inside and connect it to the phone charger to charge it up. To electrically switch off the charger (so that it doesn’t use any energy), you simply close the lid!

The box works very much like a fridge with an inside light. When the fridge door is open, the light is on. When the door is closed, the light switches off thanks to a lever switch. A lever switch is a switch activated or deactivated by a vertical movement.

The GreenBox encloses a standard mains charger for a mobile phone, which is connected in series with the switch and a mains extension lead. This means when the box is closed, its the equivalent to switched off the charger at the mains. This means you’re not wasting any energy whatsoever.

The GreenBox is the work of Ricci Bitti. I think that the greenbox is an excellent example of a simple way to save energy. Just be warned though, there are plenty of metal parts that expose mains voltage in the design, so only consider making it yourself if you know exactly what you’re doing.

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the DIY Eco-Friendly Phone Charger Dock article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

© 2008 to 2010 EnviroGadget.com. You can follow EnviroGadget on Twitter here!

For us tinkerers, there’s nothing more satisfying than making your own gadgets, especially if you’re making eco-friendly gadgets. The DIY Solar Powered Boombox is a relatively simple speaker and amplifier unit that cost just $75 to make! The system is neatly housed using plywood, creating a very portable and very usable music system. Just plug in your MP3 player, and off you go.

The speakers are not too critical, so you can recycle some old speakers if you have them. The battery is around 2.5 to 5Ah at 12 volts, and is a sealed lead-acid type. The battery could be recycled from elsewhere if you can find one, such as from a motorcycle. The construction is pretty much soldering everything together.

Source: Instructables

Know of any other great DIY green gadgets? I’d love to feature them on EnviroGadget!

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the DIY Solar Powered MP3 Boombox GhettoBlaster article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

© 2008 to 2010 EnviroGadget.com. You can follow EnviroGadget on Twitter here!

A chap by the name of Knut Karlsen has been playing with flexible solar panels, and developed a basic solar-powered rechargeable battery concept. Using some specially cut solar cells, the cells have been wrapped around NiMH rechargeable batteries.

When the batteries are low, you just need to put them in the sun for a bit. The solar cells only act as a trickle charger, and there’s no facility to check when the batteries are full, but the idea is neat and simple. It wouldn’t be too difficult to create batteries with a chip-on-board (COB) circuit that could fit within the casing of the battery. This circuit would then prevent overcharging of the batteries.

However, in the name of efficiency, I think it’d be better to charge the batteries using an external charger. Not only would it be cheaper to make the batteries, but you could optimise the charging time of the batteries. Additionally, what if the solar panel on the battery breaks? That battery would then be useless.

Source: BareKnut via CraziestGadgets

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the SunCat Batteries – Rechargeable Batteries with Solar Cells article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

© 2008 to 2010 EnviroGadget.com. You can follow EnviroGadget on Twitter here!

It appears that the Nintendo DS Lite was made for solar panels, as the Instructables author dark sponge has created a useful solar charger for the DS Lite. The top face has enough space for two 60×60mm solar cells side by side, each outputting 3V at 40mA.

By installing another 2 solar cells on the bottom of the DS. Each pair is wired in series, and the 2 pairs are wired together in parallel. This gives you a total of 6 volts at 80mA, perfect for charging a DS lite. To charge the DS, you simply open it out and leave it in the sun. The article was recently updated to use a charge protection circuit, so keep an eye out for the revised Instructable.

Source: Instructables via Technabob

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the Solar Powered Nintendo DS lite article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

© 2008 to 2010 EnviroGadget.com. You can follow EnviroGadget on Twitter here!

This guest article was kindly written by Ron Bean of The Green Chameleon. It’s a great introduction to domestic Solar Heating and how it all works.

It’s that time of year again – time to break out the sweaters, winter coats and watch those winter heating bills go up every month. Chances are that along with those monthly energy bills, you’re also contributing to global warming.

If your home uses a conventional gas-fired furnace, or fuel-oil, both of which are fossil fuels, which generate greenhouse gases. If you have electric heat, you are indirectly generating greenhouse gases, since the electricity needed to power electric heaters is often provided by coal-burning electric power plants.

But what if you could keep your home toasty warm all winter long, generate zero greenhouse gases and your monthly heating bill was zero? That’s right, I said zero – as in nada, nothing at all.

By using the sun’s energy to heat your home, you can effectively do exactly that. A Solar water heater uses a solar panel which to collect energy from the sun and convert it to electricity. Solar heat works on an entirely different principle known as “convection” or “thermal siphoning”.

There are two primary categories of Solar Heaters; active and passive:

• Active Solar Heaters use fans to move solar-heated air through a building
• Passive Solar Heaters uses the fact that warm air rises to the heated air through a building

In both types of solar heaters, a collector is used to capture the sun’s energy. There are two types of collectors.

Active Solar Heating

In an Active Solar Heater, an air collector is used, which consists of a metal box with a glass top that allows the sun’s energy to enter the box, trapping it. The trapped energy is concentrated on a dark metal plate and transferred via air-filled or fluid-filled tubes and then passed to the rest of the house using electric fans.

In Active Solar Heaters that use fluid collectors, tubes filled with a heat conducting fluid (usually water or antifreeze) are used. These tubes capture and transfer the sun’s energy and pass it to the rest of the house using electric fans.

Passive Solar Heating

There are several types of passive solar heat in use today. In Passive Solar Heating, the structure of the building itself is used to capture the sun’s energy. This heated air is then transferred to the rest of the home without electric fans or other energy-consuming method.

One type of Passive Solar Heater, known as a Thermal Chimney is constructed with a chimney with a glass panel on one side. Inside, a blac panel absorbs the sun’s energy. As the air in the chimney is heated, it causes an updraft which transfers the energy to the rest of the house either by convection (the heated air and enters the house through a vent) or conduction (the heated panel transfers heat to the adjoining walls).

DIY Solar Heat

The technology behind either type of Solar Heater is simple enough that with some careful planning is something that some homeowners are doing themselves.

Several sites have plans for building your own Solar Heater – here are a few:

• Build-it-Solar – great DIY solar site with many types of projects and information on solar projects.
• Alternative Energy Sources (AES) – has some excellent information on DIY solar projects
• Sundance Solar is one of my favorites. Sundance not only has some excellent information, but also sells all kits, hardware and parts for DIY that wants to build their own solar project.

You can find more information on eco-friendly projects from Ron at The Green Chameleon.

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the Eco Tutor: Solar Heating for your Home article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

© 2008 to 2010 EnviroGadget.com. You can follow EnviroGadget on Twitter here!

The team over at Tom’s Hardware Guide have had a flash of inspiration and created a new eco gadget, a solar powered Wii gamestation. Using a high-def screen, a Wii, solar panel, inverter and heavy duty battery, they’ve created a slightly odd looking portable and green entertainment device. The whole system gives them an estimated 8 hours of playing time, however, the charging time via solar panel is a little longer than that.

The Wii is a great games console as you have no controller wires to mess about with. If you’re playing games that need lots of space, then you could just wheel the system out into the garden! The whole system cost $1,431.17, with the monitor being the most expensive part of it all at $679.99. Neat idea though.

Source: Tom’s Hardware

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the Solar-Powered Nintendo Wii System article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

© 2008 to 2010 EnviroGadget.com. You can follow EnviroGadget on Twitter here!