Eco-friendly money saving gadgets

July 23, 2007 – 8:47 am

When people think of being eco-friendly they often think of installing solar water heating, and other expensive things, however being eco-friendly doesn’t have to be expensive and it can actually save you quite a lot of money. I’ve gathered together here a few suggestions of gadgets that are more environmentally friendly than their regular counterparts, and also which because of how they are powered or work, will help you to save your pennies as well. For example, imagine how much money you could save if you never had to buy new batteries, and didn’t have to pay the electricity to recharge rechargeable ones for example. Invest in some ordinary rechargeable batteries and a solar battery charger and you could save yourself from having to fork out on buying new batteries or recharging them for years. Maplins sell an inexpensive solar battery charger for £4.99 and it’s not bad, I’ve got one myself, and although a little slower to charge the batteries than a regular charger, it does the trick well enough, and I feel very happy when I see it charging as I know I’m keeping my carbon footprint down, and I’m also saving myself money too.

There are lots of other gadgets around that can save you money in a similar way, a staple-less stapler for example means that you never need to buy staples which means less impact on the environment. It also saves time and hassle when you recycle the paper as you don’t have to remove all the staples before you throw things into the recycling bag or box. This staple-less stapler from Safield only costs £3.99 and will staple 5 sheets at a time quite happily. In case you don’t know how this works, it carefully folds the layers of paper together through a hole it creates binding them quite securely without the need for anything other than the paper itself.

Lighting is another area where you can be eco-friendly and pocket-friendly, we pretty much all know about low energy light bulbs these days, but there are other lighting solutions such as solar lights for the garden which are another really excellent idea, they charge up in the daytime and then can be turned on in the evening so you can see your glass of wine when you’re sat out in the garden of an evening, the ones listed here cost £6.95 for a set of 4 that just push into the earth. Then how about a shaker torch for £2 which just needs a quick shake to make it light up instead of batteries is a godsend when you need a torch in a hurry and as there are no batteries to wear out you know it will always work no matter what. Maybe you don’t fancy a shaker torch – well, then how about a wind up one? This wind up torch from Amazon has a mobile phone charger socket built into it as well and will charge most nosier mobile phones, and only costs £7.99

All the above items I’ve mentioned so far, are under £10 in cost, and will certainly pay for themselves over time compared to their non-eco friendly equivalents. The next few gadgets are a little more expensive although still under £50, but are perhaps items that you might not have heard of. A Sava plug is a device which you replace the plug on your fridge with. With a normal fridge that doesn’t have this device attached, when the thermostat on the fridge drops below a certain temperature, it turns on the fridges motor to pump refrigerant around the appliance. The Sava plug basically limits this surge so that it matches the fridges actual power requirements thereby saving electricity. When the red light comes on, you know that it’s using less electricity than it would have without it, and therefore that you are saving money. It can save you up to £150 over a 10 year period, making this Sava plug – which costs just £19.99 – well worth its money!

I’ve come across wind up radios before, but never have I come across a solar headphone radio, and I’m so impressed by it I felt I had to mention it here. The Solar headphone radio is ideal for anyone who likes to sit in the garden or perhaps who walks a lot or has an allotment, as the solar panel which runs it is on the top of the headband. It costs £19.95 and I have to say looks just like a regular set of headphones, but what a clever idea!

The final item I’ve got for you is the Solio Solar Charger. This clever little device is a portable solar panel which will charge your ipod, mobile phone, blackberry, and most other mobile devices. It’s been designed to look quite elegant, and comes in a variety of colours. Closed it is petal shaped, and open it looks a bit like half a flower (the ‘petals’ spread to form the solar charging panels). The one I’ve listed here is the best price I’ve found for these retailing at £45.68, not long ago, it was impossible to get this under £60 and most places seem to be selling these at around £55 so this is not a bad price. Although a fairly expensive item in itself, imagine being able to go camping or caravanning and still be able to charge your blackberry or mobile phone while you’re away. Also of course you’d be able to feel really smug about it as you’re environmental impact when charging these things would be minimal!