The green gadget gift guide at MAKE - Environmentally friendly for the holidays!

It’s that time of year again so why not start it off with a guide to the greenest gadgets this holiday season! MAKE intern Peter Horvath and Jill Fehrenbacher of Inhabitat.com and Greenergadgets put together an amazing list!

Wind Up Phone Charger
Should you need to charge your mobile phone turn this vigorously for a few minutes and the Wind Up Mobile Phone Charger creates enough energy to power your mobile for 25-30 minutes.

Iqua Sun solar powered Bluetooth headset
The Iqua Sun combines first-rate technology with elegance and innovation, drawing its power directly from the sun giving you complete freedom, for the first time, from any charging devices.

Asus Everex Cloudbook P40
The reduced energy required by the Cloudbook, means a smaller eco-footprint. Inexpensive, low-energy, ultralight notebooks are turning into a legitimate product category.

Water Powered Clock
The water clock will display the time and date in clear easy to read numbers just moments after you fill the liquid reservoirs in the back with the liquid of your choice.

Belkin’s Conserve Energy-Saving Surge Protector conveniently minimizes standby power by enabling you to turn off the power to multiple devices with just one click of the remote switch.

HYmini is a handheld, universal charger/adapter device that harnesses renewable wind power / solar power and conventional wall plug power to recharge almost all your 5V digital gadgets.

Botanicalls Kits let plants reach out for human help! They offer a connection to your leafy pal via online Twitter status updates to your mobile phone. When your plant needs water, it will post to let you know, and send its thanks when you show it love.

Mousebot Kit
Herbie the Mousebot is a very quick, easy-to-build, light-chasing robot kit, perfect for beginners. Herbie is such an elegant, clever design using very few parts, it’s been featured in as a construction project in “Junkbot, Bugbots, and Bots on Wheels”, “Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Robots” and “MAKE” Magazine. Enhanced with functional whisker and tail sensors, it doesn’t get stuck in corners while it chases around. A very cool 9-volt battery-powered (not included) robot that loves to chase flash light beams. These little robots are so quick, you have to run to keep up to them!

The Solarspeeder kit is a very quick Solaroller that can cover 3 meters (10 feet) in under 40 seconds in direct sunlight. Uses small solarcell for power. Simple to construct and a great project for beginners!

Wind Power Kit
Build a working wind turbine to harness power out of thin air. Wind is now increasingly being used to generate electricity to power our modern world. The full-color, 32-page experiment manual offers illustrated instructions and scientific information. Ages 8 and up.

Power House provides an engaging introduction to regenerative energy sources while teaching basic concepts and principles in physical science. Ages 12 and up Includes 96-page Manual with 70 Experiments and 20 Building Projects.

The Solar Powered Theremin (Heliophone) Kit
This is an electronics kit suitable for beginners but it DOES require some soldering. With very few parts you can build a tiny solar powered theremin enclosed in an mint tin (NOT INCLUDED) like our new Make Tin. So when the oil runs out, the ice caps melt and civilization crumbles to dust, thanks to the Heliophone, we will still have electronic music.

HexPummer Kit
A solar-powered, night-activated dazzler. Comes with four high-intensity LEDs that “PUMMM” when the lights go out. That is, they turn on STRONG, then slowly fade away.
Want to add a Lantern kit? Add one to your order now and we’ll knock a couple bucks off their price!

Fuel cell car kit

This kit takes model cars to the next level: with it, you can build your own experimental reversible fuel cell car that runs on water. The kit includes a solar panel, which provides the electricity needed to activate electrolysis. The resulting fuel is then stored in the fuel cell. The kit also comes with all the materials needed to build the car, the complete reversible fuel cell, a digital multimeter, and a lab manual with 30 experiments. Cheapskates that they are, water is not included. Great for kids, but the parts are comprehensive enough that they can be a great building block for further experiments.

Solarengine kit
This easy-to-construct kit takes light energy and turns it into bursts of motor movement. Complete with a hackable cassette mechanism, the instructions detail several projects you can turn your Solarengine into. Rapid fire, SCC2433-MSE version. An upgraded version is also available.

Solarbotics Solarcell_A
This epoxy-encapsulated monocrystalline solar cell generates a nominal 4.5V / 18mA (sunlight) from a 24x33mm package. And has an integrated solarengine circuit board!

Solarbotics Solarcell_B
This epoxy-encapsulated polycrystalline solar cell offers 6.7V and 31mA in a 37x33mm package. Simply solder the components to the locations on the back, flip it over into the light, and watch it run!

Solarbotics gearmotors 2,3, 8 & 9.

Wet-Felt Kit – Wild Flowers
This is a great introduction to the ways of wet felt. Learn how to make a unique wool wild flower or organic creature with wet felting. All components of this kits are recyclable, recycled, reusable, low-impact or sustainable.

Wallet and Cuff Needle Felting Kit
Learn to use felting needles to turn colorful wool fiber into beautiful handmade felt fabric in less time than it takes to watch your favorite movie. Once your felt is ready, you’ll learn how to create and embellish a wallet, cuff, coin purse, eye glass holder and more, all without the use of soap or water.

Alcohol Can Be a Gas! is a comprehensive manual on that reveals a hidden history and theory related to alcohol fuel production. By David Blume. 640 pages.

CRAFT: Volume 6
The theme for CRAFT 06 is Play! Get ready to have a famously good time with fun, detailed DIY projects including making your own mix-and-match monster plush, custom coloring book, LED hula hoop, solar jewelry, and LP record bowls.

And last but not least Jill Fehrenbacher – publisher of Inhabitat.com and Greenergadgets creator sent along her list to us! Thanks Jill!

http://www.greenergadgets.com/

Greener Gadgets 2009
On February 27, 2009 innovators, entrepreneurs, visionaries, and eco-designers will return to New York City to discuss the future of sustainability for the consumer electronics industry.

This year’s conference will feature engaging discussion on: