21st Century Green Tech

1. Zero-Energy Fridge Uses Gel to Preserve Food
2. Pocket-Sized Fuel Cell Charges Gadgets Away From Home

Zero-Energy Fridge Uses Gel to Preserve Food

2010-06-16 20:14

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gel-fridge
This one's a weird one, kids, but still cool. A new concept for a zero-energy refrigerator uses an odor-free, gel-like substance to cool and preserve food items.

The Bio Robot Refrigerator was designed by Yuriy Dmitriev and is currently a semifinalist in Electrolux's Design Lab competition. The Bio Robot has no motor, compressor or other electrical components, but it does contain a green biopolymer gel that uses luminescence to preserve food.

To store food, you press the item into the gel, which then envelopes it, creating a "separate capsule" for each product.

The designer highlights its benefits as being: zero-energy and silent operation, four times smaller than a traditional fridge, but maximized storage space and the absence of doors allows horizontal or vertical placement and displays food in plain view.

I'm not sure how you'd go about cleaning this refrigerator, or how it'd handle storing, say, a pot of soup, but any zero-energy concept is OK by me.

via EcoFriend

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Pocket-Sized Fuel Cell Charges Gadgets Away From Home

2010-06-16 18:31

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horizon-cell
Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies, a maker of cool fuel cell gadgets, like hydrogen-powered toy cars for kids, has introduced their coolest gadget yet: a pocket-sized portable fuel cell power plant that can charge your cell phones, MP3 players and other devices.

The MiniPAK, as it's called, comes with two refillable cartridges that each store the same amount of energy as 1,000 disposable AA batteries. It can charge devices requiring up to 3W and has a DC output of 2.5W. It contains an air-breathing fuel cell and a solid-state hydrogen storage unit (meaning no self-discharging of the energy).

The cartridges, called Hydrostiks, can be refilled with an included home recharging unit that uses water and electricity to generate and store the hydrogen.

The MiniPAK costs $100, not a high price to pay for grid-free charging on the go.

via Inhabitat