The Habog Facility in the Netherlands is a massive warehouse for decaying nuclear waste, cheerily painted orange and inscribed with pastel-colored physics formulas by Einstein and Planck. According to Dutch law, all nuclear waste must be securely stored for 100 years, so the Habog facility will be repainted a lighter, less radioactive color every twenty years to symbolize the slowly decaying radiation. That's a few years short of U235's 703,800,000 half-life, but even Dutch bureaucracies aren't so optimistic as to plan the scope of their public art projects so far in advance.

A gorgeous monument to radioactive decay [io9]

The nut: The Brunton Solaris 52 is a big panel in a small package — at least when it's folded up — but you'll want a good battery like the Brunton Solo 15 to go with it in most situations, which affects the overall portability — and price.

For backpacking, the Brunton Solaris 52 isn't too big; the flexible solar panel array folds down into a pack that's only 11-inches wide, about the size and heft of a college textbook. And unlike most portable solar panels, the Solaris 52 can power big hardware — even laptops — provided it's getting enough sunlight to convert into DC power.

If you were only going to use the Solaris 52 for emergency back-up power, it would do its duty ably, outputting to a standard 12-volt car charger plug, one of four DC input tips (check your device's rating, of course!) or the included car battery clamps. But if you're relying exclusively on the Solaris 52 to power your devices (like I did when I took the gear into the woods), I'd suggest pairing the solar panel with a battery like Brunton's own Solo 15. Charging up a battery which in turn charges your devices allows you to keep the backup battery topped up while using your devices elsewhere, continue to draw power at night, and charge devices that need a more wattage than the panel can provide on a overcast day.

Then again, adding a battery adds more weight: four pounds in the case of the $650 Solo 15, added to the already wincingly prohibitive $1,300 price of the Solaris 52. But this sort of gear isn't for the casual backpacker who wants to top up their iPod battery — there are plenty of cheaper solutions for that, including units from Brunton themselves. Instead, this level of gear is for people who intend to spend serious time away from the grid with relatively serious hardware.

Just don't plug the Solo 15's DC-to-AC inverter directly into the Solaris 52's 12-volt output or you might get the same puff of smoke that I did. (To its credit, the inverter still worked!)

The Solo 15 unit I tested was a pre-release unit, but there was one annoying flaw that I hope the company will address before shipping: the charge indicator on the front of the battery seemed finicky, sometimes showing a full charge when the button was pressed, other times not showing anything at all. Worse, the three stage LEDs — three for full, down to one for empty — seemed to skip the middle LED almost completely, going from full- to low-power in just an instant. Rechargeable batteries are by nature finicky bags of chemicals, so be sure to follow best charging practices to squeeze the rated 12 amp hours out of the Solo 15.

The Solo 15 comes with the same adapters as the Solaris 52, as well as an AC input, making it possible — and recommended — to top its reserves off at a power outlet before setting off to rely exclusively on the sun's generosity.

Although its taking a bit of a drubbing as it passes through the chuckling locker room of gadget blogdom, this pedal-powered charger isn't as daft as its out-of-fashion powder blue design might imply. Called "Energized by You" — or at least that's what we're going to call it, since it appears to be one of those Chinese products that has so many names it's impossible to tell which one is the brand or model — the concept should be obvious to anyone at a glance: pump the pedals to recharge the battery.

And what's wrong with that? The little under-the-desk pedal exercisers might be a bit goofy, but working out while working is an idea that seems to be building momentum. Gym-class cardio machines are getting iPod docks; why couldn't the machines also use your exertion to top off your iPod's battery? Harvesting excess energy, however incidental it might be, is a solid idea.

If you'd like to purchase this particular implementation, Japanese retailer Rakuten is selling them for ¥14,800, plus shipping.

Catalog Page [Rakuten.co.jp (Machine Translated) via TFTS via Gizmodo]

Touchscreen computers installed in the hallways of fifteen apartments in Gothenburg, Sweden, inform the residents the carbon footprint of every action they've taken in their homes, helping them monitor the true cost of leaving the lights on or taking a long shower. They're part of a pilot program from Swedish start-up Manodo; they also give handy updates for things like tram stops, weather, and who's standing outside the door.

But do the screens report the impact of their own construction and operation?

Manodo's Screen Is The Big Brother Of Energy Saving [Treehugger]

Sila Sutharat sells Thai roasted chicken at his stall in Bangkok, roasted under an array of sun-concentrating mirrors. It's a simple idea — one that many old solar ovens and newer solar energy farms are using — but it's the cooking time that surprised me: just 10 minutes for a whole chicken, claims Sutharat. Gizmodo's Mark Wilson thinks that the secret is in the marinade which, according to Wilson's theory, is highly acidic, effectively pre-cooking the chickens.

Now I'm curious. Have any of you guys built a solar-powered roaster before? I kind of want to try and make one, but it would probably be pretty wasteful to build a giant concave mirror concentrator just to roast the occasional chicken. This guy's saying he's knocking out 50 chickens a day, but there's no picture of his reflector.

Sun-cooked chickens are hot [BangKok Post (Google Cache) via Gizmodo via Inventor Spot]

The SOlo Lounge Table is a weatherproof table topped with a solar array that charges an internal battery that can charge laptops, phones, and more. It has a Bluetooth connection that can send updates on its status to computers indoors and has a sliding drawer in which gadgets can be left to charge safe from inclement weather. (And now, they won't be getting much charging then, but it's still clever.)

There's no price listed on the page of Intelligent Forms, but I contacted one of the designers who will be following up with us later to give some more details about the table. I'm sure it's not cheap, but it sure is purdy.

Product Page [Intelligent Forms via Gizmodo via Born Rich]

Update: Just talked to Keith Doyle, a co-founder of Intelligent Forms. Here are the details on the table:
• Currently built-to-order, four to six weeks for delivery.
• Lots of interest since shown at the show.
• Price is $14k.
• German company Schuco built a custom table chassis for the product.
• Off-the-shelf solar panels are wired in series, but the one used in the SOlo is "sub-divided into smaller systems of cells in parallel. If you shade one, you're only reducing [the output of] part of the panel."

A wine importer is selling a Malbec grape wine called "Yellow + Blue" in TetraPak, a container familiar to many in the UK for its use in drink boxes. Dr. Vino took a look:

The facility in Toronto is also certified organic. The wine is put in the one liter boxes that weigh 40 grams each (compared to 500 - 750g for a bottle) and loaded onto a truck for a warehouse in New Jersey. The total amount of wine will be about 10,000 nine-liter cases. Using my carbon calculator, I ran the numbers on this wine, called “Yellow + Blue” (makes green–get it?). I figure that each 750 ml of Yellow + Blue Malbec has about half the greenhouse gas emissions of a conventional bottle of wine from Argentina that followed the same route. The price will follow a similar discount: Yellow + Blue will sell for $10.99 in stores and Cain suggests that the same wine in bottle would sell for about $20. But Yellow + Blue, weighing in at one liter, holds a third more wine than a regular bottle.

But what about recycling? Wine bottles are relatively easy to dispose of properly, but in the US there is not a clear system for TetraPak recycling which can split the aluminum and polyethylene used to line the cartons.

I can't help but wonder if the trick is to stop drinking so much imported wine and trying to buy more locally available options as their available, returning and reusing the bottles. (Not always a good choice, I know.) Even so, a third more wine for the same price is a convincing argument.

Yellow + blue make green: a new organic malbec in TetraPak [Dr Vino]

Although certainly environmentally friendly, there are reasons not to encase your gadgets in the raw, seeping musculature of a freshly-slain bovine, no matter how many times you've seen Videodrome. Yes, it's delicious for a spell. Yes, it's a conversation starter. Yes, it will give you an in with that one goth chick who really has a hard-on for Hellraiser. Yes, it will ward off the smelliest of vegan hippies. But within a couple of weeks, all of these advantages are superseded by the drawbacks: a feeling of constant exhaustion that prevents you from brushing away the flies that keep landing on your eyeballs, the putrid kiwi-sized lumps glistening in your morning evacuations and, of course, the high cost of "freshening" up your protective iPod case every few weeks.

Enter the Mosquito Ruby Pod Rare, an iPod case that looks like you've slathered your MP3 player in glistening, marbleized flesh, but without the stench, the salmonella or the writhing of maggots. Unfortunately, the Mosquito Ruby is about as expensive as it gets for a rubber iPod case: $68 will buy you a lot of prosciutto. Perhaps it's time for the industry to start seriously examining the jerking process as a way to extend the life cycle of our gadgets' protective sheaths of flesh.

Mosquito Ruby Rod Rare [Rakuten via Dvice]

According to an in-depth report from Reuters, people are still throwing far too many of their gadgets in the trash:

But while the percentage of old electronics thrown in the trash can dropped to 19 percent in 2007 from 21 percent in 2005, according to the association, U.S. consumers still ditch millions of device such as TVs and computers with their coffee grinds and candy wrappers.

Perhaps if there were a set day for electronics pick-ups, like is currently done in many municipalities for recycling? (Some towns have this already.) Driving to a central location or having individual pick-up for each gadget seems wasteful, too.

Oh when will the Mega-Sort Reclamation Company spring into existence and disassemble and index every last bit of our garbage into its base parts?

U.S. consumers still slow to recycle gadgets [Reuters]

In fully a year of reviewing gadgets and other manly bits and bobs, Microsoft (via PR firm Edelman) is the first to send me something in a re-usable shipping box. And, clearly, it has been re-used, over and over and over again.

(The item sent in is the new DSM-750 Media Extender from D-Link, by the way. First impressions are that it's much better than the last generation, but very much wants you to have Rube Goldberg's home network set up for it.)

Update: Lenovo sent me a test unit in a very nice reusable box. Shipping all this crap back to the manufacturers is half the reason I don't do more hands-on reviews than I do. It's such a hassle. Lenovo's got it down: slick little reusable box, barely any waste at all, and packed and ready for shipping in seconds. – Joel

Within a decade or two, we might all be wearing clothing with built-in USB ports capable of recharging our gadgets, according to researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology:

The fiber-based nanogenerator would be a simple and economical way to harvest energy from physical movement,” said Zhong Lin Wang, a Regents professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “If we can combine many of these fibers in double or triple layers in clothing, we could provide a flexible, foldable and wearable power source that, for example, would allow people to generate their own electrical current while walking.”

That's all well and good, but my own personal evolutionary goal — a goal which I buy technology to help me facilitate — is to eventually live the life of a completely sedentary goo-back, my every bodily function automated. A shirt that recharges only when I move is going to soon result in a situation where I no longer have a single robotic drone available with enough juice left to clean out my suppurating bed sores.

No, what researchers need to be working on is a way to recharge devices not through motion, but by tapping my inner reserve of self-contempt and hate. That's an equally eco-friendly power source that's just going to keep exponentially growing... even as technology evolves and eventually gives me the luxury of ejaculating my skeleton in favor of an infrastructure made up of a series of interconnected bladders.

Power Shirt: Fiber-based Nanotechnology in Clothing Could Generate Electricity by Harvesting Energy from Physical Movement [Georgia Research Tech News]

Brando's "Mulit [sic] Purpose Solar Charger" is hard to criticize. It's a 15% efficient solar panel on top of a 1,350 mAh battery, capable of outputting power via a set of cell phone adapters or good ol' USB. It appears you can also charge via USB, then keep it topped off during the day via solar. Best of all, it's just $25 plus shipping.

It has a strange, clear plastic clip on the back that Gizmodo implied was to hold batteries for charging, but I don't see any electrical leads in the plastic, so I'm guessing it's just some strange Chinese design affectation.

Solar + batteries is where it's at. You could leave this thing in the window of your workplace all day, then plug in your phone on the way home and never hit an outlet for months. There are the production and environmental costs of the unit itself, of course — especially the battery — but it's great to see something like this showing up so inexpensively.

I ordered one. It won't be around by the time I'm ready to go out into the woods — next week! — but it still looks like a worthwhile thing to have on hand. I've got some more solar projects coming throughout the summer, too.

Product Page [Mobile.Brando.com.hk via Gizmodo]

These wooden cuffs from Bentwood are made from cast-off architectural veneer and are molded to double as a sleeve for hot coffee cups. They're lovely, as wood so often is, but at $70 CAD about $60 more expensive than they should be. I'm all for not wasting paper, but something about using an expensive zebrawood cuff in lieu of a nickel's worth of cardboard seems strange to me.

Product Page [Contexture.ca via Gadget Lab via Book of Joe]

From Alexandra Harney's piece at Slate:

The era of cheap Chinese consumer goods may finally be ending, thanks to irrepressible inflation. Now when the Chinese present their lists, some American importers are conceding higher prices, meaning that American shoppers, for the first time in years, are starting to pick up the tab for rising costs in China. Some Chinese factories are now asking their American customers for price increases of as much as 20 percent to 30 percent.

Everything we buy has a real cost from the environment, local economies, and the people who produce our products. Things should cost more than they do in the West. This is a good correction. (Not that I won't kvetch, too.)

The Last Days of Cheap Chinese [Slate]

Wired is profiling "Green Ghostbusters," their nickname for the work of San Francisco startup Sustainable Spaces, a company that uses a suite of gear to determine where a home or office's heating and cooling systems are working inefficiently.

After closing all the windows and doors, Bowers and Golden depressurize the house by mounting this blower door. [Not this picture. -Ed.] The door contains gauges that measure how much air is being pulled in through the house's envelope. This house had 36 percent air leakage, according to this test, which is equivalent to punching a 22 inch by 22 inch hole in the wall. Sealing up a house's outer shell keeps warm (or cold) air in, increasing a house's energy efficiency.

Green Ghostbusters Nab Hidden Power Leaks [Wired.com]

Image: Jonathan Snyder/Wired

Benjamin Nelson built his own electric motorcycle from parts he got on Craigslist and from a local farm store. It only has a 15 mile range, but it gets the equivalent of 300MPG (based on current prices of gas and electricity).

"Then I mounted the motor to the frame using the existing engine mounting holes and a piece of scrap aluminum plate. I found a sprocket and chain in the tractor repair isle of the farm store."

And Mr. Nelson even admits that he doesn't own any power tools other than a drill, doesn't know how to weld and only took one metal shop class in high school.

DIY Electric Kawasaki Motorcycle [Treehugger] (Thanks, Chris T.!)

I'm currently reading Paul Stamets Mycelium Running, a book about how mushrooms can be used to clean our environment, repel insects, and cure diseases. I tripped over this interesting bit of lore in Chapter 9:

Frank Herbert, the well-known author of the Dune books, told me his technique for using [mushroom] spores. When I met him in the early 1980s, Frank enjoyed collecting mushrooms on his property near Port Townsend, Washington.

...

Frank went on to tell me that much of the premise of Dune–the magic spice (spores) that allowed the bending of space (tripping), the giant worms (maggots digesting mushrooms), the eyes of the Fremen (the cerulean blue of the Psilocybe mushroom), the mysticism of the female spiritual warriors, the Bene Gesserits (influenced by tales of Maria Sabina and the sacred mushroom cults of Mexico)—came from his perception of the fungal life cycle, and his imagination was stimulated through the experience with the use of the magic mushroom.

For what it's worth, most of Mycelium Running has little to do with psychedelic mushrooms—not that there would be anything wrong with that—but instead focuses more on the technical details about the growth cycle and practical uses of a wide array of fungi.

Image: Nunavut

Boeing has successfully flown the very first hydrogen fuel cell-powered airplane in Madrid, the company announced.

A two-seat Dimona motor-glider with a 16.3 meter (53.5 foot) wingspan was used as the airframe. Built by Diamond Aircraft Industries of Austria, it was modified by BR&TE to include a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell/lithium-ion battery hybrid system to power an electric motor coupled to a conventional propeller.

Is there a cooler industry R&D shop name than "Phantom Works"? I doubt it.

Press Release [Boeing via Treehugger]

Happy Monday, everyone. Before I get started, I would just like to announce that there is a company in Denmark—Dansk Olie og NaturGas—that abbreviates their name as "DONG." As DONG is Denmark's state energy producer, this could be the most important development in sustainability in a long time.

Let me illustrate the gravity of this news, via quotes from Treehugger:

The Danish press questioned whether DONG can pull off its promises.

Lord, we've all been there.

DONG is in the news because they have teamed up with auto manufacturer Renault to build an electric vehicle system in Copenhagen, followed by expansion into the rest of Denmark. I wish them all the best, because electric car infrastructures are neat—and because I would like to continue to childishly titter when writing about their success.

Denmark's DONG Bets Big On EVs [Treehugger]

Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), part of the U.S. Department of Energy, have developed thin-film solar cells capable of 19.9-percent efficiency, a new world record for flexible cells and approaching the 20.3-percent efficiency of silicon-based rigid cells. The copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) cells, the same sort of technology used by new solar companies like Nanosolar, will only reach this high rate of efficiency in the lab using expensive production processes. Commercial CIGS cells will be in the "12-15% range," according to Nanosolar. Every little bit helps over the lifetime of a panel, especially since the "printable" CIGS cells can provide costs as low as a buck a watt.

NREL Sets Thin Film Record [Renewable Energy World via Treehugger]

Designer Nobuhiko Arikawa has created a line of edible tableware for the Orto Cafe in Japan, baked from traditional sailor's hardtack—a simple dough of flour, water, and salt. The bowls and chopsticks are shelf-stable for several months as long as they are kept dry.

Edible tableware by Rice-Design [Dezeen]

Previously • Leaf Bowls of India [BBG]

In a move sure to please my mothers around the world, I will be working with the new Discovery offshoot Planet Green as a correspondent for an upcoming daily news show. I'll be covering "green" technology, from pure research projects, to companies using green tech to grow their businesses, to smart gadgets that improve our lives without being so wretched for the health of the planet. I'm pretty excited about it, although my first assignment is apparently drinking my own urine on camera, so it looks like I've both arrived and discovered a sure-fire way to scuttle a television career all at once.

This will definitely be a side project for me—one that I gave a lot of thought to before accepting. After consideration, I realized it'll actually end up providing even more opportunities to talk about green tech here on Boing Boing Gadgets, as I will have a double-barreled reason to go visit these companies, test out their products, and drink their urine.

Right now I'm assembling a list of products and companies to cover to pass up the chain. The network wants to shoot a few dozen 3-5 minute segments this year, which, you know, yikes. That's a lot of content! So while I doubt we'll be able to knock out that many there's no time to waste. If you've got a green tech product that you really like and would like to have highlighted, even as just a happy customer, speak up and I'll take a look.

So far I'm looking at several solar products (including some to be tested during my week in the woods), the Aptera electric car, rechargeable batteries, Nokia's "remade" prototype...pretty much all the stuff I've been excited about and written about here on BBG.

Anyway, just wanted to let you guys know so I could start casually dropping references to my "shoots" and "the time I was on television but you weren't." I don't think television is the path for me, but I think it'll be a lot of fun to play around with, especially with Discovery and Planet Green (and Treehugger!) who make a lot of television I enjoy. I promise to stick to my knitting as long as you guys remind me if and when I have my head up my own ass.

BuyMyTronics.com, the company that buys broken iPods, iPhones, and game consoles, has now added most cell phones to their line up.

BuyMyTronics.com just added Cell Phones to our growing list of items that we purchase broken and used. For example; we are able to pay up to $225 for a Broken iPhone and up to $220 for a Used Blackberry. We are still the only major company out there that actually pays for broken electronic gadgets, not to mention our prices for used items are typically the most out there. We now purchase Cell Phones, iPods, iPhones, Smart Phones, PDAs, Game Consoles and Zunes with laptops coming soon. Plus, we're proud to announce that BuyMyTronics.com is now 100% wind powered which has lowered our impact on the environment further.

Company Page [BuyMyTronics.com]

Previously • BuyMyTronics.com, Another Repair/Recycling Joint [BBG]

Update: Earth2Tech recently assembled a list of five sites, including BuyMyTronics, that accept gadgets for recycling.

Jeff "Coding Horror" Atwood beams about his La Crosse Technology BC-900 AlphaPower battery charger, which as chance would have it is the exact same battery charger I purchased a couple of months back at all y'all's suggestion, but haven't actually yet had a chance to use, as my AA usage mysteriously has dropped to next to nothing.

You can also switch between four different readouts after the mode is engaged: time elapsed, voltage, and two mAh (I assume one is charge/discharge rate, not sure what the other one is). That refresh mode is incredibly slow-- it's basically discharging and recharging over and over-- but it really works. It can take marginal batteries from the brink of death and give them new life. But you don't have to care about any of that; if you just drop 4 AAs or AAA batteries in the device, it will charge them fine. I spent several hours after I got it plugging various batteries in it, trying different modes, and watching it work. I'm not sure what the exact definition of geek is, but I think "enjoys recharging batteries" has to be very high on that list.

Adventures in Rechargeable Batteries [Coding Horror]

Spy shots from the set of the upcoming Star Trek movie show two items of note: the Starfleet-issue miniskirts are back (and about time!) and the three-wheel Aptera Hybrid might be making a cameo in the movie. An Aptera can be seen parked in the shade, perhaps prepping for a lazy background drive-by of the courtyard. I think it's a perfect fit, really. Part of what makes me adore the Aptera's styling is its call back to the clean lines of the late '50s and early '60s, which should work just dandy in a movie that appears to be acknowledging at least a little of the '60s style that influenced the original.

Why do these shots from the filming of "Corporate Headquarters" look suspiciously like the Starfleet Academy? [AintItCool.com]

Previously • Aptera Three-Wheeled Electric Car May Reach Production [BBG]
• PopMech Gets First Drive of the Aptera Electric Car [BBG]
• Aptera's Steve Fambro Interviewed About Three-Wheeled Egg Car [BBG]