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.

There are many places in the world where power is simply wasted.  I’m not talking about hydro power, wind power, or solar power.  Instead, I mean people power.  Think of all the kinetic energy we produce every day that simply goes nowhere.  However, thanks to Fluxxlab, one source of that wasted energy can now be harnessed: the revolving door.

When we push through a revolving door to get into any building, our pushing creates energy.  However, this energy doesn’t really go anywhere—it’s simply wasted kinetic energy.  Fluxxlab, a New York based company, realized that they could harness that unused energy to create power.  All they had to do was add an electricity generator and a series of gears to every revolving door and the power that humans exert to open it could be collected and reused.

Think about all the revolving doors in the world.  Chances are you use one on a fairly regular basis.  Now think about how many people go in and out of that door in a day.  If all of that energy was collected, we would have a large amount of power for free!  That energy could be directed back into the building to help cut down on electricity cost or stored up to act as a backup power supply in case of an emergency.  Either way, that’s a lot of power going to waste, and I think it’s really great that someone not only realized this energy was wasted but had the initiative to do something about it.

Every now and then I come across a green product that makes me wonder what people were thinking.  I’m all about recycling and being green, especially when it comes to transportation, but I think I’m going to draw the line at what has become known as pee-cycling.  Yes, that’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like—recycling urine into water!

While that may be fine for astronauts since they can’t carry huge amounts of water into space (and hey, they knew what they were signing up for!), I don’t think pee-cycling is going to catch on with the general public anytime soon.  However, that’s not what Leonardo Manavella thinks.  His Aqua H20 device, which looks somewhat like a little robot itself, will take both human and animal urine and purify it using activated carbon.  This makes the liquid look clear and removes the, um, flavor from it as well.

After the Aqua H20 finishes cleansing the liquid, it is then released into a container that can be removed and used as a glass.  It sounds pretty nasty, but the liquid is perfectly safe for drinking.  The device isn’t actually meant for use in the average home; instead, the Aqua H20 was designed to help those in drought-affected areas get fresh drinking water.  It’s not a horrible idea since, well, everyone has to urinate at some point.  However, I do wonder if the produced water has any of the usual minerals and such that our bodies get from water.

OK, so this may not be a cool vehicle that most of us will ever use, but Toyota has recently created a diesel-electric hybrid forklift that is sure to make workplaces more ecologically friendly.  I and many others have been excited about the idea of diesel-electric hybrids, although most of us probably weren’t expecting forklifts to be one of the first diesel-electric hybrid vehicles.  Volkswagen did, at one point, announce that they were going to build a diesel-electric golf hybrid, but it turned out to be way too expensive.  The forklift hybrid, though, is not as expensive.

The hybrid forklift used a 2.5 liter diesel in combination with a NIMH battery pack.  It can lift a maximum of 3,500 kg.  When driving, it uses battery power.  When lifting, the hybrid combines the battery powered motor and the fuel powered motor to operate the hydraulic pump.  Toyota has announced that the hybrid engine will get 50% better fuel economy than a standard forklift and will also produce 50% fewer emissions as well.  That’s not as great as many people would like, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.

If you work for a company that uses a number of forklifts in their warehouses or in other locations, encourage them to purchase hybrid forklifts when they need to replace older forklifts.  Your company will save a great amount of money and will be much greener in the long run.

A laptop made out of bamboo?  What?  I couldn’t believe it when I saw the Asus Bamboo Eco Book computer.  It looks so incredibly cool—the case is actually made out of biodegradable bamboo!  Bamboo is one of the quickly renewable woods out there, and it’s incredibly strong, too.  I can understand using it to make furniture and such, but computers?  I would never have thought of that, but Asus did, and their eco book is incredibly cool looking.

Fortunately, the computer is more than just looks.  It comes in two sizes: 11.1 or 12.1 inches.  The larger version packs more punch—you get Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 320 GB of hard drive space, 256MG of RAM, a 256 MB NVIDIA GeForce graphics card, and WiMAX/WiFi capability.  The screen is lit by LED lights so it uses less power than other screens.  The computer also makes use of Asus Super Hybrid Engine Technology that allocates power in a very efficient way.

Why purchase one of these computers (they cost around $1899 USD) when you could get any other laptop for less?  Well, besides the fact that the specs are mostly in line with other laptops (more RAM would be nice, though it is upgradable), each Asus eco book will be truly unique.  This is because bamboo, like all wood, has a naturally ingrained pattern to it.  Since no two pieces of bamboo will have the exact same pattern, every eco book will be unique.  I almost think that’s cooler than the eco-friendly aspects of the computer!

If you love movies, you’ve probably heard of the service called Netflix.  The basic premise is that you pay flat fee to rent as many movies as you want each month.  Netflix mails the movies to you, you watch them, and then you mail them back in the pre-paid envelopes.  You then get another movie in the mail in a few days.

Well, I love Netflix, and I love the fact that this concept is now being applied to bicycles thanks to Bixi.  Bixi is pretty much just like the Netflix service: you can rent a bike for as long as you want, and when you’re done, you simply leave it at one of the Bixi stations scattered around the city.  The company has already implemented this system in a number of European cities, and they recently added Montreal as the first North American city to get Bixi bikes.

To get started with Bixi bikes, all you have to do is go to one of the Bixi stations and swipe your credit card.  Yes, you’ll be charged a small fee for the time you use the bike, but if you’re riding around all day, it will save you money on fuel or on public transportation.  Once you’re finished with your errands, you just find the nearest Bixi station and return the bike.  If that station is full, a display will point you towards the next station and give you a time credit so you don’t pay for going out of your way.  This is great concept for the environment and for your health.

There are many different types of cool eco-friendly gadgets out there, and I enjoy checking them all out.  However, I never thought about making my computer greener.  After all, what can I do to change how it works?  I recently learned about the cool PC toolbar by GreenDaily.  This toolbar, which is completely free for use, can actually help you monitor your computer’s power options and make it more energy and resource efficient.  Just note that before you get all excited, the toolbar only works on Windows XP/Vista or Mac OS X, plus you need Microsoft Internet Explorer, Flock, or Mozilla FireFox.  If you’re running something like Linux, you won’t be able to use this program.

Once you’ve got the GreenDaily toolbar downloaded and installed, you’ll be able to use the Green Wizard to fine-tune your computer’s energy settings.  Once you’ve done that, you may think that the toolbar has completed its tasks.  However, it hasn’t—in fact, I find some of its printer settings and tips just as useful, if not more useful, than the energy saving ones.  The toolbar will help you adjust your print margins so you actually get more information on each printed page and don’t use as much paper.  It also provides you with daily tips for being green both with your computer and in all other aspects of your life.  Again, the toolbar is completely free, so why not download it?

Looking for a new backpack for going back to school?  I know I always had a hard time choosing one, but if I were to go back to college today, I’d buy a Voltaic Solar Powered Backpack.  The entire front of this bag is covered in solar panels, allowing it to collect a lot of power during the day.  It’s also very sturdily built so that you can use it for just about anything from camping and hiking to walking around campus or as a laptop bag.  Just like a standard backpack, it features several pockets and different places to store stuff.

The biggest difference, of course, is the battery pack that collects solar power and the 11 different adaptors the backpack features.  With only about six hours of solar charge time, this backpack can power a cell phone!  It can also charge up your MP3 player, GPS system, digital camera, and your PDAs.  It isn’t meant to charge laptops—they need more power than the Voltaic can really provide.  The backpack does include an USB adaptor and a car charger, though, so you can use it to charge items even when the bag doesn’t have a full solar battery.

The other thing I really love about the Voltaic is that the bag itself is made from recycled soda bottles.  The entire body of the bag is made from PET plastic, which is some of the most non-biodegradable plastic out there.  It’s really cool to see people finding a way of using this plastic so that it doesn’t end up in landfills.

I love riding my bike to work every day.  It saves on gas, gives me a great workout, and it’s just a good way to start the day in general.  Riding through my neighborhood enjoying the bright, pleasant morning is a lot of fun.  However, I hate riding my bike at night.  It’s just not as fun, and it can also actually be very dangerous.  If you don’t have the proper reflective gear outfitted on your bike, lights or reflectors, or some other way of being easily seen, you can be hit by a car and injured or even killed.  Because of this, I rarely go out at night on my bike.

Puma, a known name in sports equipment, has come up with a great solution to those who have to bike to work in the dark or who live in an area that is often overcast or has a short daylight period: they’ve created a bike that actually absorbs light and glows in the dark!  Just like a glow in the dark flashlight or other item, this bike will glow in either the standard neon green color or in a golden orange color.  The glow period lasts for a good amount of time, too, so you should be able to make it to your home before it loses its light.  What’s more, the bike also folds for easy storage or so you can take it into your office so it doesn’t get stolen.  I love this idea, and I can’t wait to try it out for myself.

With summer coming up, many people, myself included, will start working in our gardens and flowerbeds again.  While tending to these greens, why not use materials and products that are green?  Here are some of the newest recycled gear I came across that are great for all your outdoor needs.

•    Discarded plastic that often takes up room in landfills can now be recycled into buckets and barrels.  Remember to recycle your own old buckets so that they don’t end up in a landfill.
•    Plastic bottles can also be recycled into work gloves.  How is that possible, you may ask? These gloves aren’t hard or uncomfortable to wear like you may think.  Instead, the companies that create these gloves are very careful to turn the used plastic into soft yet durable fibers.  The gloves are completely machine washable and dryable as well. I actually own a pair of these gloves and love using them for gardening on a Sunday afternoon.
•    Old tires can be recycled as well.  They can be turned into mulch to keep weeds out of your garden or into walkways. They can also be used to create rubber shingles for roofs in residential areas.

While it may seem like a new idea, the concept of taking old plastic and turning it into fibers that can be made into cloth items has been around since the 1980’s.  It was first used to make carpets, but at the time those coarse fibers would never have worked as gloves.  However, over the years the technology has been refined to create a new, soft textile.  Each recycled glove is made out of one 250 milliliter plastic bottle.  New technology that will use two bottles to make an almost 100% recycled glove is currently being tested. It’s great to see that there really is a use for those old plastic bottles after all.