Green gadget guide for geeks

Bamboo hardware, eco-friendly chargers, and power-measuring devices are ideal tools for the tree-hugging techie

Like J. Peterman, the eccentric clothing-catalog mogul from “Seinfeld,” I’ve stumbled across some interesting treasures in my travels. Granted, my findings are more of the eco-friendly-tech variety, not exotic birch wood clogs and hand-woven wheatgrass sombreros. Oh, and my travels tend to be limited to the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, and the Internet, which is arguably environmentally friendlier than flying halfway across the globe to test-drive a camel-skin tote bag. Plus I don’t need any immunizations shots beforehand. Or cavity searches en route.

The green gadgets below are quite different from the more datacenter-oriented hardware you’ll generally find me writing about. Still, many of them do have applications at work, such as keeping a geek-on-the-go’s device charged. Some of them might take a little creativity getting your boss to foot the bill, though.

I should add that I haven’t tested any of these items, so if you feel compelled to rush out and buy them, caveat emptor.

– This is, by far, the niftiest green gadgetry I’ve seen advertised. Bamboo (which is a type of grass, not wood) is considered a very sustainable material, especially compared to traditional hardware materials like plastic. And bamboo is a mighty handsome substance to boot. Or walk on, as is the case in my house.

Some clever boutique hardware makers have used the material in creating rather handsome electronics, such as monitors, mice, and keyboards available at Nigel’s Eco Store. The monitors range from 15 to 19 inches, with the smaller starting at a list price of around $360. A mouse is around $30, and a keyboard costs around $36. And that all before shipping from across the Pond (which is British for “the Atlantic Ocean”).

And next year, Taiwan-based ASUS (which appears to have good green credentials as it is) is going to start shipping bamboo-paneled laptops called EcoBooks. How much they cost? Will the warranty cover panda nibbles? Only time will tell.

– You’re on the road. Your cell phone dies and you have an important call to make. And there’s no place to plug in your charger. Feeling cranky? Well, crank away on the Sidewinder Cell Phone Charger, and soon, your phone will have juice to make your calls.

This minute 2.5 oz. device doesn’t contain a battery. Rather, you generate power by turning the small handle on the side. According to the company, two minutes of turning gives you six minutes of cell phone time.

Also nifty: It has a bright built-in LED runs for over 5 minutes with only 30 seconds of charging. List price is $24.95

– If you’re like me, nothing warms your heart quite like solar energy. While solar panels might not be a viable option for your roof, perhaps you’ll find use for this hybrid battery/charger for mobile devices, including most cell phones, iPods, PDAs, and other portable. Yes, you can power it by letting it bask in Mr. Sunshine’s warm glowing warming glow, but you can also plug it into the wall, if need be, so you’ll have some extra juice ready when you need it.

According to the company, one hour of sun will give you enough juice to play your MP3 player for about an hour or provide up to 25 minutes of talk time on most cell phones. It’s a pretty slim gadget, too, so you can, say, bring it to the beach with your geek tools and make business calls and check e-mail all day. List price starts at $119.95.

, with Solar SeV solar panels – This may very well be the ultimate in green geek wear. The jacket, which comes in black, has 40, yes, 40 “strategically located, ergonomically designed storage pockets/compartments,” as the company describes it. Yet the garment (which comes in black and is made of a GoreTex-like material called FineTex) is designed not to show bulges where you’ve stashed your MP3 player, glass case, smart phone, PSP, bag of Jelly Bellies — and the battery charge pack. As in the battery charge pack that gets its juice via the solar panels that you can slip into the back of the jacket. Thus, if you’re strolling outside and your cell phone or iPod is low on juice, you can connect it to the solar-fuel battery pack and resume talking or rocking out. List price for the jacket is $279.99. The solar panels are listed at $125.00.

– Here’s another take on recharging, but this time, it’s for AA batteries. And we all know that simply throwing out an old battery and putting in a new ones is wasteful, right? Using rechargeables spares the environment and, in the long run, your wallet. If you’re an on-the-go mobile warrior with laptop and a AA-powered device or two (camera, wireless mouse, laser pointer, electric toothbrush), you might find use for USBCell batteries from Moixa. They look like normal AAs, but you can flip their tops to reveal a USB plug. Plug them into handy USB outlet and refill the juice. List price for the USBCell AAs is around $16.75.

Interestingly, Moixa has also announced that it will offer similar-style batteries for charging phones and other portable devices, though it hasn’t specified when we might see them.

– Just how much juice is that PC, server, or coffee maker consuming, anyway? Plug it into this baby, and this device will log the energy usage data at intervals you choose (from one second to one day). You can then view how many watts of energy the system uses, how much it costs to power in dollars and cents, as well as more than a dozen other data points. Business applications include sizing the UPS requirements of your hardware to actual needs instead of generic listings on labels.

The device can record up to 8,000 records on the device, then transfer the data to your PC and track trends using the included management software. You can also upgrade to management software, which is capable of continuously logging data in real time. List price for the Watts Up? Pro ES is $195.95. There are lower-end models available, too.

I’m sure there’s plenty more green geek gadgetry out there that have some eco-friendly application for work. Comment below or drop me a line and let me know what else should be on the list.