Winners of Greener Gadgets 2009 Announced

At the close of last Friday’s Greener Gadgets Conference in New York City, the jury announced the winners of the Live Greener Gadgets Design Competition. After narrowing the wide field of submissions down to 13 finalists, the judges awarded following three designs as the winners:

1st Place Winner: Tweet-a-Watt, A twittering power meter
Designed by Limor Fried, Adafruit Industries & Phillip Torrone, MAKE magazine (Limor and Phillip have chosen to donate their prize to Engineers Without Borders.)

Description Tweet-a-Watt: Using “off-the-shelf hardware”, we have modified a Kill-a-Watt(TM) power meter to “tweet” (publish wirelessly) the daily KWH consumed to the user’s Twitter account (Cumulative Killowatt-hours). We are releasing this project as an “Open source hardware” project - in other words, anyone can make these, modify them and make a commercial product from the ideas and methods.

Here’s how it works: The modified Kill-a-Watt uses a “super-cap” to slowly recharge itself. Once there is enough power it turns on the Xbee wireless module which transmits the data to a nearby computer (or internet connected microcontroller, like an Arduino). Once the power usage for the day is recorded it uses a predefined Twitter account (it can be your own) to publish your daily KWH consumption for the day. Multiple units can be used for an entire household.

We’re publishing the source, schematics and the idea for others to run with. Energy change and consumption can happen many ways; we feel there is a social imperative and joy in publishing one’s own daily KWH. By sharing these numbers on a service like Twitter users can compete for the lowest numbers and also see how they’re doing compared to their friends and followers.

*Note: We are in testing now, we’ll run it at Green Gadgets if requested (http://twitter.com/tweetawatt)

2nd Place Winner: Power-Hog
Designed by Mathieu Zastawny, Mansour Ourasanah, Tom Dooley, Peter Byar, Elysa Soffer, Mathieu Turpault

Description Power-Hog: Power-Hog is a power consumption metering piggy bank designed to sensitize kids to energy cost associated with running electronics devices. Plug the tail into the outlet and the device into the snout; feed a coin to meter 30 minutes of use.

It’s designed to capture the interest of parents and kids alike and serve the wider environmental cause. Power-Hog visually and symbolically associates power conservation with savings by using the iconic piggy bank as a visual reference. Kids can use their allowance to turn on the TV or video game by feeding the Power-Hog with loose change. The Power-Hog meters consumption and blinks red when time is running out. It also helps parents meter the amount of time spent watching the tube.

The Power-Hog is made out of Xenoy iQ1103-U grade resin from Sabic. Their upcycling process using recycled PET allows good performance at a cost similar to less friendly materials. It is 100% recyclable and its packaging has been developed following the sustainable coalition packaging guidelines.

3rd Place Winner: Indoor Drying Rack
Design by Rob Podell

Description Indoor Drying Rack: This is a sustainable, indoor drying rack for clothing. 96 million people in the United States live in apartments, most without access to a clothesline. 45 million of them do not have dryers in their apartment buildings. The typical clothes dryer is the 2nd largest energy consuming appliance in the home, costing an average of $85 a year to operate. Clotheslines are great, but many suburbs do not allow them, and they are only useful in warmer climates. Also, most females cannot dry their undergarments in a dryer, nor do they want to hang them outside for everyone to see.

Constructed of bamboo laminate and recycled aluminum, it can be recycled easily, and is constructed from sustainable materials. Bamboo is also naturally hypoallergenic and resists mold and mildew. Predrilled holes allow the user tweak the mounting location side to side while still hitting studs, and it ships flat for maximum energy savings. This indoor drying rack gives millions of people the choice to conserve energy while drying their clothes naturally and privately in their home. When not in use it folds out of the way and adds a modern touch to any interior.

Among the 13 finalist projects were also:

See all submitted designs on Core77’s Greener Gadgets Design Competition gallery.

Images: Greener Gadgets Design Competition/Core77