I love looking for new computer equipment, especially really neat, ecologically friendly devices.  Back some time ago, I mentioned that Asus had created a laptop that used a bamboo case.  Well, if you have one of these awesome bamboo computers, then you need one of these USB drives made by Hacoa Wood Products Design Co.

Hacoa’s device, called the Monaca, features a casing made out of wood instead of plastic.  Like the Asus notebook computer, the wood used in the Monaca is made from fast-growing trees.  The name actually comes from the look of the Monaca—it resembles the Monaca cookie, a traditional wafer cookie made in Japan.

Just because it’s made out of wood, though, doesn’t mean that the Monaca is lacking in technology.  The drive holds one gigabyte of information, which is a good amount.  You’ll find three different versions of Monaca: maple, rosewood, and teak.  All three are elegant and stylish.

While the USB drive looks cool, I do think it’s a bit expensive.  The average cost is around $100 or about 60 pounds.  For that, you can find a four GB or larger USB drive, so while the Monaca looks neat and saves on plastic, it’s on the pricy side.

You can charge your MP3 player off of one of several different solar powered charging systems, but what if you want to blast your tunes in your office or outdoors?  If you want to listen to music without using a lot of power, you might be interested in the Gramo Speakers, a set of speakers that are solar powered.

These speakers were created by Pekka Salokannel, a music lover who also wanted to find a way to save some energy.  The Gramo Speakers are easy to take with you—they fold down flat for storage, but when you need them, they fold out to form a gramophone-like speaker.  They will connect to just about any type of music player, including the iPod.  The solar energy collected in these speakers can even help power your MP3 player if the battery runs low.

Fold down the speakers and you’ve got a small, flat square no bigger than your hand.  You can easily fit this into your backpack or even pocket since the speakers can take some damage without breaking.

I’m a big fan of these little devices.  They’re absolutely perfect if you love going on picnics or sitting outside in your backyard and want some music.  The fact that they can help power your music player is another great added bonus.  While I’m not sure how great the quality of sound is (they are pretty small speakers, after all, and there’s no telling how much space is being used by the solar panels.  There may not be enough space inside to contain a great amount of speaker wiring and such.

One thing I never thought they’d improve on was the toilet seat.  After all, if you’ve got a padded, heated toilet seat, what else do you need?  What else, really, could you even do to the toilet seat?  Well, someone came up with a way of making the toilet seat ecologically friendly.  The result: the PropelAir.

How does it work?  Well, the PropelAir, which was designed by a company called Phoenix Product Development, actually created an air-tight seal when you close the lid.  A very small amount of water—1.5 liters—is released into the bowl to rinse it.  Then the PropelAir, as the name implies, uses air to actually blow all the waste and the water down the toilet.

The PropelAir doesn’t take long to flush, either.  In fact, it takes only three seconds.  Following the air flush, a little more water is released to trap odors and get rid of them.  In some ways, the PropelAir works very similar to toilets on airplanes.  The amount of water used is a faction of what standard water towels use.  They generally need about 9.5 liters per flush as opposed to the 1.5 liters used by PropelAir.

The PropelAir is also more sanitary.  There’s no rim to the bowl, so there are fewer places for germs to gather.  There are also fewer places to clean, too, which is nice.  Unfortunately, the PropelAir isn’t available yet, but development is continuing.

Looking for a nifty new toy for your kids but don’t want to buy something that uses non-recycled plastic or takes a lot of batteries?  If you want to find a cool eco toy (yes, there’s an emerging category of ecological toys), then check out this awesome six in one solar powered robot kit.  I think it’s one of the neatest little toys I’ve seen—I want to buy one for myself, never mind getting my kids one.

The six in one solar powered robot can be transformed into six different toys: a robotic dog, a boat, a moving air plane, a windmill, a desktop plane (which looks like a spaceship to me), and a car.  The desktop plane looks pretty cool because it seems like it could function somewhat like a small fan.

The best thing about this toy is that it’s all solar powered, so you never have to use any batteries or plug it in to anything.  It also doesn’t have any screws —to change it from form to form, just remove and reassemble the 25 different parts.  No tools are needed, and the solar panel provides all the power the device needs.  If you don’t have a sunny window ledge to power the toy, you can leave it under a bright light lamp.

Want even better news?  While some toys like this cost a lot, the six in one toy costs only $20.  I love it when cool gadgets are both economical and ecological.

One task many people find annoying is mowing their yard.  No one likes to get out there in the heat and push a mower around, and even those with a riding lawn mower have to go through the hassle of being out in the hot sun.  You can always hire someone to mow your yard, but that’s another extra monthly expense.  Plus, it seems like you’re just throwing away money since you could (even though you hate it) mow yourself.

But what if there was a way of getting your yard mowed without spending money or doing it yourself?  No, I’m not talking about making your kids do it (although that’s an option!).  Instead, I’m talking about this incredibly cool green gadget called the Robomow.  Basically, Robomow is like one of those automatic, circular vacuum robots.  You set it out in your yard, set up the boundary wires to guide it, and off it goes, happily mowing your yard for you!

Robomow may sound like one of those items that are so great, it can’t be green.  Well, it is.  The Robomow runs off of a battery instead of petrol.  The battery powers a 5.5 horsepower engine that turns the 53.3 cm cutting system.  The mower features three blades and a triple chamber mulching system that slices and dices the grass clippings down and then buries them in the lawn.  There, they decompose into a very natural fertilizer that helps your yard grow better.  There’s also no need to rake the yard later!

Check it out here: http://robomowerusa.com/

One of the best ways I’ve found of saving power is to know how much power I’m using in the first place.  Nothing makes me change the setting on my air conditioner faster than seeing my monthly bill and noticing how much power I’ve used.  However, it’s hard to gauge just how much power you’re using to run your televisions, DVD players, and other devices.  Well, now you can figure out how much energy these devices use with the Kill-A-Watt Electricity Usage Monitoring Power Strip.

This Kill-A-Watt product features eight standard plugs like most power strips do, but it also features a small LCD screen that will tell you how much power the devices plugged into the strip are using.  It can also give you an estimate of how much power these devices will use in a day, a week, a month, or even a year.  This way, you know exactly what it’s costing you to run your television or power your computer.

The device has a few other options as well.  It can monitor the voltage coming into it so you know if you have any sort of leakage or short in the system.  The display is backlit, too, so you can read it at any time.  This means you don’t even have to turn on the lights (and use that energy) to see how much power is being pulled to your devices.

This power strip is a really cool idea.  I’d really like to know how much my computer costs me to run and how much I could save by shutting it off when I’m not using it.

I’ve read about some cell phones like Samsung’s Blue Earth that have a solar panel on them to charge them up.  However, these small panels don’t really help that much when it comes to energy, especially if you use your cell phone a lot.  They’re just too small to collect enough power, especially for those of us who don’t have a nice, sunny window ledge to put them on during the day.  Those who dwell in cubicles really don’t get much use out of solar cell phones.

However, Konarka Technologies is working on a way around that.  They have created a roll up solar charger that makes use of a very, very thin solar panel to gather energy.  They don’t have a final product available for consumers yet, but they aim at providing two different versions of the charger.  One will include ports to directly connect your cell phone, iPod, or other mobile device to the charger.  While those who are stuck in cubicles without windows all day still won’t get much use out of the device during the day, they can charge it on their lunch break.  The larger solar panel collects much more power than the tiny one on the Blue Earth.

The other version of the roll up charger will contain an internal battery that charges as the panel is left out in the sun.  Once it’s powered up, you can plug devices into it and charge them off the battery.  Both types sound very useful.  What I love about this product is that the solar panel is larger than other solar chargers, yet since it rolls up, it takes up less room.  I can’t wait to grab one.

As a guy, I’m not even going to try to understand what is in all of those little jars, tubes, and cases found in many women’s bathrooms and medicine cabinets.  The world of beauty products is a huge mystery to me.  What I do know, however, is that many of those jars, tubes, and cases are made from plastic, and while some are recyclable, some end up in the trash.  That’s not very green.  But I’m very glad to say that I’ve discovered a new line of paper packaging for beauty products.

Created by the Chicago Paper Tube & Can Company, the new EcoPak packaging is made from 100% paperboard.  This packaging can hold a number of different products, including solid perfumes, balms, Shea butter, and pretty much any type of cream or oil-based product.

There’s no plastic or glass involved.  The entire package is made from up to 95% recycled materials!  Up to 80% of that is from post-consumer content, which is also fantastic.  Want even more great news?  The containers are produced using water-based glue, and soy inks are used in printing the labels.  The whole thing can be recycled and is biodegradable.  Even better, the company is dedicated to keeping production pollutant-free, and nothing is introduced into the water, air, or waste system during production of these cool recycled containers.

Some companies go out of their way to be green and never get the recognition they deserve, but I’m glad to say that the EcoPak has been awarded the Noteworthy Accomplishment Award at the 21st Annual DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation.

Back when I was in school (and even when I was down to my last dime in college), I would take my lunch instead of paying to eat in the cafeteria.  During the cold months, I’d heat up some soup at home and put it in a thermos to keep it warm.  However, the thermos didn’t always do a great job, and more often than not, I’d end up with lukewarm soup that just didn’t taste very good.  I think Teo Song Wei may have had this same experience.

Wei is the inventor of a solar powered lunch box that will soak up the sun’s energy and use it to keep the food stored inside at a nice, warm temperature.  This is perfect for students who often take their lunch to school or for working professionals on the go.  The lunch box is capable of providing a good amount of heat, although it won’t really cook your food.  Think of it more as a take-away bag with a built-in heater.

Unfortunately, the solar powered lunchbox hasn’t moved beyond the concept and prototype stage yet, so you won’t be seeing them in schools.  I’m wondering if they can’t put this technology to use in the opposite direction, though.  How about a lunchbox or picnic basket complete with cooling system to keep your drinks and your other snacks cold?  I would think there would be more demand for that than there would be for a heated lunchbox, although again, I remember the taste of lukewarm soup and wish I’d had a heated lunchbox then!  The ultimate model, of course, would be a lunchbox that would use solar power to provide either heated or chilled food.  That’s what I’m waiting for.

I’m always looking for cool bicycle gear, especially bicycle gear that’s recycled or somehow uses old items.  That’s what I found when I checked out these mud guards (basically, bicycle fenders).  They’re very useful for anyone who has to ride in the wet since they’ll keep you from getting splattered with mud.  But they’re also environmentally friendly.

The mud guards were created by Portland Design Works, a company founded by two employees who used to work for the website Planet Bike.  The two created their mud guards from 100% post-consumer recycled water bottles.  Water bottles, as anyone who has been to a landfill knows, are one of the biggest non-recycled items on the planet.  They make up huge mountains in just about every landfill, and they take a very long time to degrade.

The mud guards will fit most standard bikes, including city and mountain bikes.  In addition to selling these recycled mud guards, Portland Design Works has an entire line of green bike products like grips made from bamboo and leather tanned using natural oils.  While they have a small offering now, they are planning to expand their inventory with more green solutions for bikers.  Also, the company has promised to donate one percent of their entire gross revenue from 2009 to the Bicycle Transportation Alliance.