It’s a simple premise: innovation through
competition. And Core77.com and GreenerGadgets.com is putting that premise to
good use in the second annual Greener Gadgets: Design Competition that wraps up
at the end of this month. After a plethora of entries the competition has been
narrowed down to fifty proprietary green gadgets. Through online voting that
list of 50 will be narrowed down to just 10. In this, our third and final part on Greener Gadget’s top
50, we look at some of the more abstract but ideologically grounded concepts.
For sometime now kinetic ‘reclaimers’ have been disseminated
out into the world, designed to harvest upon all the unused and wasted energy
we expend in our daily lives. From the complex, like sections of road that build
electricity from the weight of passing cars, to the simple, such as light generators
on bicycles, we’ve started reclaiming that lost energy spent outdoors. But in our
daily, household lives there are numerous activities that could go towards ‘getting
off the grid.’ And that’s precisely what concept artists Carla Diana and Jeff
Hoefs have in mind with the Inlet Outlet.
What they’ve envisioned is a series of inlets installed into
homes. Then, using accompanying kits, these inlets would be connected with
various sources of energy (Diana and Hoefs suggest the kinetic energy expended
on exercise equipment or the capturing the heat that dissipates from the stove
top). It’s a little abstract and a little scant on details but a household
network for claiming otherwise lost energy really brings home the notion of ‘self-sustained.’
Knowledge is power and when change is needed it’s the most
forceful way to move people. One has to wonder if Hernando Barragan was channelling
these ideals when he conceptualized the Social-environmental Station. The
concept, also known as the Environmental Traffic Light, is intended to be
erected in neighbourhoods throughout a city and record environmental statistics.
While the stations relay the information to the appropriate persons, they also
display their stats for the public to see.
The potential ramifications of such a project are
impressive. Imagine a community rallying together due to their poor environmental
quality. What’s more, having accurate, up-to-the-minute feedback helps
acclimatize people with what the numbers actually mean, exposing them daily to
feedback about the quality of their neighbourhood.
So, there you have it; in three parts some of the green
gadgets winning the popular vote in the Green Gadgets 2nd annual
competition. Voting ends February 20th, with judges choosing from ten finalists on February 27th. So get
out there and vote.
Curious as to who won the first annual award? Look no further.
