LONDON (Reuters) -
Gadget makers showed off their green credentials at a technology show
in London on Friday to try to tempt consumers worried about soaring
fuel bills, climate change and the financial crisis.
Amid the usual array of power-hungry televisions, stereos and
computers, a handful of companies promoted high tech products designed
to cut energy consumption.
London-based firm DIY Kyoto has come up with the Wattson, a wireless
device that lets families monitor exactly how much power they are using
at home.
It measures electricity consumption and displays the amount of power
and how much it costs on a sleek portable box with a digital screen.
The device, which costs 100 pounds, glows red when households use
more power than normal or blue when they are being energy efficient.
"The whole idea is to save money and to save the environment," Jason
Goldman, of DIY Kyoto, told Reuters at the Stuff Live! show. "You find
people try to get the reading down as low as possible."
British gadget Web site www.firebox.com displayed a Chinese-built electric scooter that it has converted for sale on the British market.
Called the Ego Street Scoota, it has a 30 to 40-mile range and a top
speed of 30 mph. It costs eight pence to charge the bike using the
mains electricity supply.
Parked next to it was a more powerful scooter from U.S. firm
Vectrix. Its Maxi-Scooter has a top speed of 62 mph and a range of 68
miles at 25 mph. Its latest model has a built-in music player and a
system that sends music wirelessly to your helmet.
While nearly all the gadgets on display rely on electricity or
batteries, a range of portable chargers from U.S. company Solio uses
solar power.
Its device can convert one hour of sunshine into an hour of playback on an iPod or 25 minutes of talk time on a mobile.
The gadget has three blades which fan out to catch sunlight which it then stores in an internal battery for up to a year.
Wearing its heart on its sleeve, one energy-efficient laptop came
with a shell made of bamboo instead of the usual plastic or metal in an
attempt to reinforce its eco-friendly aspirations.
Taiwanese computer maker Asustek said it used bamboo because it is
strong, grows back quickly and is biodegradable. One blogger quipped:
"Don't let your panda near it."
(Editing by Astrid Zweynert and Paul Casciato)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Infrastructure 
