Elsa Wenzel | Feb 15, 2008
Clothes dryers are the second biggest hog of household energy, according to
the Department of Energy. Most are so similar in terms of power hunger that the
Energy
Star label of efficient appliances doesn't even mark dryers.
By this fall, however, consumers could enjoy faster, greener, and safer
clothes dryers that draw half the power of conventional models, according to
Hydromatic Technologies Corporation.
Its
Dryer Miser
technology would dry garments 41 percent more quickly without shrinking as much
or stinking them up with the odor of burnt lint, said Michael Brown, the
inventor and company president.
He plans to sell the Dryer Miser in the fall as a US$300 retrofit kit that he
says could be added to existing dryers in 20 minutes by a technician. Up to 40
percent of dryers from Whirlpool, the top brand in the market, as well as
others, could be converted.
The company is also working with a large European appliance manufacturer to
integrate the technology into a scratch-built dryer model.
Liquid is the key ingredient to drying clothes more quickly, according to
Brown.
"We used NASA and MIT engineers to prove the technology is an oxymoron and
(that) I'm not a moron," said Brown.
Read more »
Mike Yamamoto | Feb 04, 2008
Finally, the solar-powered fan hat has a mate. Let's have a round of applause for the
Solar-Powered
Visor Radio.
Like its counterpart, this is a functional piece of headgear that makes use of the sun's rays to impress your friends, but for entertainment purposes as well as protection from melanoma and heat stroke. The visor has a speaker on
each side, Gearfuse says, piping in tunes from a built-in AM/FM tuner.
It just goes to show that being green is no guarantee of immunity from the dreaded
Date Repellant Syndrome.
Via
Crave CNET