The Greenest Gadgets At Ces 2015

Clean technology is already off to a great start this year. At CES, a host of startups debuted smart, eco-friendly gadgets that are more energy efficient than ever before. From gardening systems that conserve water, to smart home appliances that save energy, to solar powered chargers and electric scooters, clean energy and green tech made an impact at the conference -- and hopefully tech companies will continue to grow that impact throughout the year. Here are 10 awesome green gadgets that stuck out at CES 2015. 1. 3DPONICS This startup is out of Canada, and has built a platform to create 3D printed hydroponics systems to grow plants and food. But more than that, the company uses their open source platform to bring STEM education into classrooms. It's a teaching tool for K-12, and kids can customize their own systems to either print themselves or have the company print for them. 2. EDYN GARDEN SENSOR AND WATER VALVE This smart gardening system monitors and tracks environmental conditions so that outdoor plants can maximize their health potential. The system includes the Edyn garden sensor, water valve, and a supplemental app, which helps you monitor soil quality and make sure the garden is healthy any time of day. The system won "Tech for a Better World" category of the CES 2015 Innovation Awards. 3. XYZ GREEN CUBE Chinese company XYZ Printing has gained a lot of notoriety in the past year for its affordable desktop 3D printers. But the company has also expanded into clean technologies as well. The Green Cube is a contained hydroponics box that can grow vegetables year-round. The boxes are stackable, so you can fit several of them in one room of a home. 4. GOGORO SCOOTER This scooter was all the talk at CES, and won several innovation awards as well. The electric scooter uses Panasonic batteries (which are also used in the Tesla Model X) and has easily swappable battery packs so you can charge on the go instead of plugging in. It's also a smart scooter, and syncs information constantly about how it is operating and the location of the nearest charging stations. 5. DROPLET Even in the middle of a devastating drought, you'll see homes and businesses watering their yards with a sprinkler system, wasting gallons of water because it's not accurately spraying the plants. With Droplet, that problem is fixed. This smart water system combines robotics, cloud computing and connected services to drop your water consumption and waste. Using a smart device, you input what plants and what kind of soil you have, and it will accurately water them. 6. AUDIOQUEST NIGHTHAWK HEADPHONES These are semi-open, over-ear headphones made from eco-friendly materials. The headphones won for best eco-design and sustainable technologies for the CES 2015 Innovation Awards. It is actually the first mass-produced headphone to include a 3D printed part in its design. 7. SOLPRO This little gadget is a portable solar charger. You can charge your smartphone and tablets from anywhere by leaving it out in the sun for 90 minutes, and you'll get a phone charge for more than four hours. They offer two models -- one is smaller, with one solar panel, and the other has three solar panels and folds up to fit in your purse or backpack. 8. EKOCYCLE 3D Systems recently unveiled the Ekocycle, made in collaboration with will.i.am and Coca Cola. This printer uses post-consumer recycled plastic made from used Coke bottles, which is then turned into filament and put in the printer. It retails for 1199. 3D Systems just gave away a lot of these printers to students on the FIRST Robotics teams for their competition this year, and so they will make their projects using these recycled materials. 9. WAKAWAKA CHARGER This company has been making solar lights and chargers for quite some time, but they showed off a new charger at CES. This one generates enough electricity to power four LED lights and has five USB ports to connect your devices. For every device WakaWaka sells, it gives one to someone in a developing country in need of power. 10. MOGOBIKE ELECTRIC SCOOTER This was another popular product at CES. The Mogobike, which can reach speeds up to 20 mph, folds up to a compact, portable size. It also has a USB charging port so that you can charge your devices on the go. Simply plug it into a household outlet to recharge it. ALSO SEE: * Tech doing good: The other side of CES 2015 * Best trend of CES 2015: Products tackling real world problems * CES 2015: The 4 trends to watch for business professionals * CES 2015: Gogoro unveils urban battery infrastructure and connected Smartscooter

Six Renewable Energy Trends To Watch In 2015

2014 was a solid twelve months, for the most part, for renewable technologies. Solar firmly solidified its role as a major source of power in the future, LED sales continued to climb and investors began to more seriously look how efficiency gains can be measured and hence monetized in large commercial buildings. Meanwhile, large utilities began to question the long-term value of coal-burning power plants, a slide in oil prices gave investors the willies and nuclear advocates saw their once-theorized Renaissance get pushed out again. Heck, even the DOE loan program that was so intently scrutinized during the Solyndra fiasco posted a profit. It was a very good year. So what's on tap for 2015? 1. FINANCE ENTERS ITS CAMBRIAN PERIOD Over the past few years, some of the big success stories in clean technology have been companies such as SunRun, Clean Power Finance and SunEdison that have developed and/or promoted innovative ways for consumers or businesses to fund efficiency or renewable projects. Renovate America went from being a company few had heard of in the beginning of 2014 to arguably the breakout success story of the year with its HERO program for improving the efficiency of homes in California. You'd think the market was saturated already, but you're going to see the launch of a whole new raft of companies next year. Jigar Shah just launched Generate Capital. Clean Fund is coming out of stealth. There are a whole bunch of others that haven't been announced yet. In a nutshell, investors have seen enough data to realize that solar and even efficiency retrofits can provide a solid, stable return on investment that will beat bond funds but with far less volatility than the stock market. Large banks will also increasingly expand their clean loan portfolio. That will be good news for consumers. A few years ago, the cost of capital for a residential solar system averaged 9.9 percent, according to NREL. Competition is driving it below 7%. Like other clean sectors, the exuberance in finance will lead to consolidation but the survivors will be well positioned. 2. IPO? NO One of the sour spots for clean in 2014 was the IPO market. Opower, which tries to use data to get people to conserve, went public at 19 on April 4 and quickly rose to 25. The stock now sells for below 15, a 21% drop. GrubHub, the Uber of Sandwiches, went public on the same day for 26. It now sells for over 35. It wasn't an isolated incident. Vivint Solar, the second largest dealer in the country, went public for 16 a share in September and has been sliding ever since. Its stock hovers around 9. Aspen Aerogels is on a similar slide. The only IPOs to do well - see number one - are the yielcos like Next Era Energy Resources and Abengoa Resources that specialize in renewable financing. Both spiked after their debut, came back down but are still above water. 2015 likely won't change that much. Bloom Energy is a perennial IPO candidate but going public would mean publicly sharing financial information. Nest is part of Google. Intematix, which makes phosphors for LEDs, has mulled an IPO for years but has yet to move. SunRun could be the only serious candidate. 3. THE ITC WILL GET EXTENDED Solar stopped being a red state/blue state issue some time ago. Solar is big in Georgia. North Carolina moved into the top ten. It's fairer to say renewables are mostly about citizen organizations versus utilities and very few people love their utility. The activity at the state level will prompt a lot of U.S. Senators and Congressional Representatives to think twice before letting the 30% investment tax credit lapse.

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Reference: renewable-energy-world.blogspot.com