Eco Products Buying Guide
Buying Environmental Products online
There are many sites on the internet selling environmental products, and we’ve put together a selection of the sort of things you could look for, along with links to places where you can get them.
Torches & lanterns
Wind up torches/lanterns let you have great visibility from your torch, but with no need for batteries. All you do is wind up the torch and you have light.
Shaker torches and lanterns are another similar idea, but instead of winding a handle, you literally shake the torch to create the power and thereby the light.
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| Sun Jar |
| From Ethical Superstore |
Radios
Wind up radios have been around for a little while now, some of them are pretty basic and therefore don’t cost too much, whereas others are DAB enabled meaning they’re suitable for listening to digital radio as well. Wind the handle to create the power.
Solar torches have little solar panels built into them letting you leave them in the sun to charge them and making them great for if you’re out in sunny climates.
Battery Chargers
Most battery chargers you just plug into the wall socket and leave to charge, and these are good as by using rechargeable batteries you won’t be throwing batteries away regularly. You can even go one step further and get a solar battery charger that you leave out in the sun to charge the batteries.
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| Solar Battery Charger |
| From Maplin |
Calculators
Solar calculators have been around for a while and charge the device by using a little solar panel on the front of the calculator. You can also get water powered calculators which contain a small cell that you fill with water every 2 or 3 months, a chemical reaction takes place inside this and creates the power for the calculator.
Eco Kettles
These kettles are designed to help you make sure you only boil the amount of water you need. They’re designed to use as little power as possible making them much more environmentally friendly than a traditional kettle.
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| Low Energy Kettle |
| From Ethical Superstore |
Solar Chargers
These now come in a wide range of sizes and styles from the Solio solar charger, to the Freeloader solar charger, but they all allow you to charge devices from mobile phones and mp3 players to laptops and hand held gaming devices, but utilising the power of the sun. Maplin Electronics –>
Solar Bags
Solar knapsacks are a really novel invention with a flexible solar panel built into the outside of the knapsack they mean you can charge up your portable devices (mp3, mobile phone, laptop etc.) whilst you are out walking.
