This Japanese cooking pot converts the heat from a boiling pot of water to electricity that can charge your smartphone at the same time it cooks a delicious meal. The invention, inspired by footage of Japan’s earthquake victims building fires to keep warm, could prove a boon after a natural disaster, when all you’d have to do to keep communication open would be to light a campfire.

The Hatsuden-Nabe thermo-electric cookpot contains strips of thermoelectric ceramics that use the difference in temperature between the bottom of the pot and the water boiling inside it to generate electricity. Using this method, the device takes between three and five hours to charge an iPhone–not much longer than using a crazy space-age AC charger.

In addition to helping victims of natural disasters and being useful for camping trips, the cookpot could provide citizens of developing countries with a method of charging mobile phones, even if electricity is spotty. The device went on sale this month in Japan for $300.

Developed for MIT’s Festival of Art Science Technology, the SOFT Rockers use enhanced fabrication techniques to curve flat wooden panels, and have solar panels installed to charge the gadgets of those who relax within

There’s nothing quite like an old rocking chair for finding your center and chilling out. Originally thought to have been developed as garden furniture, the rocker has now come full circle with the development of the SOFT Rocker by Professor Sheila Kennedy and architecture students from MIT. Installed at the Institute’s Killian Court for the Festival of Art+Science+Technology (FAST), the teardrop-shaped outdoor rocking lounge chairs have solar panels over the top to provide power for up to three USB devices, and some after-dark lighting to allow the party to go on after the sun goes down.

The SOFT Rockers are made from flat MDF panels which have undergone an advanced digital curving process based on the zipshape process that was originally developed in Switzerland by Christoph Schindler. A lightweight Kuka robotic arm was used to remove portions of the structurally unsound wood to form an inside surface resembling a row of teeth.

"Zipshape can, in theory, be cut from any flat-packed material, but there are reasons to cut it out of MDF and then post-veneer the surfaces, as we did", the team’s Phil Seaton told Gizmag. "Basically, the ‘teeth’ that we cut work best when they’re cut out of some grain-free and laminate-free material: cutting out of solid or plywood can cause the teeth to chip out during the cutting process. On the other hand, cutting out of MDF alone (and not veneering afterwards) risks the material not being able to handle the tension loads, and breaking in the backing (which is generally only about 2mm thick or so). We experienced many such breakages; the veneer, in our case, serves both a structural and an aesthetic purpose."

Two such panels were then interlocked and glued together to form a curved structure, and then vacuum-sealed in plastic bags. When the glue had dried, they were removed from the bags, veneer applied to both sides and then placed back in the bags. Seaton said that the team "did try veneering first, in the flat, but found the panels lost some flexibility when done in this order."

While the robot arm probably could have taken care of the intricate pattern work too, this was done using a laser cutter or 3-axis CNC router. The wooden structure was then varnished to afford it some protection from the elements, although longer term installations will probably require something a bit more robust.

Gen II flexible solar panels from Global Solar were installed over the surface of the roof to feed a 12 amp-hour battery, which in turn provides power to devices such as laptops, smartphones and even chilled drinks dispensers connected via USB.

The 35W solar tracking system is "entirely human-powered – the idea has its roots in trying to invent a kind of culture surrounding power generation," says Seaton. "Rather than envisioning electricity generation as something centralized and off-site that embodies hidden processes and hidden social and environmental costs, we’re imagining a future where ‘soft’ and decentralized generation of small amounts of power can actually become a hub for social and cultural activity."

"The SOFT Rockers, then, are intended to employ as much human intervention in the generation of electricity as possible: the rockers are free to rotate on their bases, and are positioned horizontally using the handle on the front. When the angle is correct, the rockers provide full shade for the person sitting inside. Then, once inside, the position of one’s body to higher and lower seating positions causes the solar panel to face higher or lower positions in the sky. Here, the human power of balance is used as the ‘second axis’ of the solar tracker. An LCD panel inside the rocker tells you how well you’re doing in terms of optimizing energy production from the available solar energy."

At the end of the FAST festival, the SOFT Rockers were sent to Kennedy and Violich Architecture for "cleaning and rehabilitation." Other projects created for the festival have now been dismantled and disposed of, but such has been the interest in the SOFT Rockers that the team is now working on the next stage in development.

The Solar Handbag has solar cells on the outside and a battery and optical fiber lighting on the inside

With a mobile phone now an essential item in any ladies’ handbag, it’s surprising that most of the solar powered bags we’ve seen up until now have been either backpacks or messenger bags. That’s fine for men who generally see bags as a purely functional piece of equipment designed to make it easier to carry things like beer, guns and pornography around. But from what I understand, it’s much different for women, for whom the handbag is an extension of their personality and needs to be fashionable as well as practical – and the practicality is probably optional. Danish design studio DIFFUS has done its best to combine the two with its Solar Handbag.

Instead of placing a single flexible thin film solar module onto the side of a bag, the designers of the DIFFUS Solar Handbag have distributed 100 smaller monocrystalline silicon solar cells over the surface of the bag to resemble oversized sequins. The surface of the bag is also embroidered with a combination of normal embroidery and conductive embroidery that transfers the energy harvested by the "solar sequins" to a lithium-ion battery hidden away within a small compartment.

With a nine percent conversion efficiency and the ability to generate two Watts, DIFFUS says the Solar Handbag’s solar elements are able to charge "a mobile device" as well as the bag’s battery even with low daily exposure to sunlight. The battery is not only used to recharge mobile devices, but also powers optical fibers attached to the inside of the bag that are activated when the bag is opened to make it easier to find things.

DIFFUS hasn’t announced pricing or availability details for its Solar Handbag as yet, but since they refer to it as a "luxury handbag," it probably won’t be cheap.

Wind Turbine Viaduct

A new bridge concept incorporates wind and solar energy into its design, generating 40 million kilowatt-hours per year — and looking pretty slick to boot.

The Solar Wind concept would use the space between an existing viaduct in southern Italy to install 26 wind turbines, which designers Francesco Colarossi, Giovanna Saracino and Luisa Saracino say could provide 36 million kilowatt hours of electricity every year.

The design team conceived the Solar Wind project for a contest that aims to repurpose some old, unused viaducts near Calabria, a region in the toe of Italy. It would cost about $55 million to demolish the viaducts, so town officials held a contest for proposals that would re-use them in an environmentally friendly way. The wind turbine bridge took second place.

The proposal also includes a solar-paneled roadway to provide another 11.2 million kilowatt hours, Colarossi and colleagues say. It turns the entire viaduct into a park, with spaces to pull over and take in the view off the Italian coast. Travelers could stop and buy fresh produce grown in solar-powered greenhouses located along the bridge. The whole roadway would be covered in a dense grid of solar cells coated in a thin, transparent plastic, the designers say.

All in all, the system would be capable of generating 40 million kWh each year, enough to power 15,000 homes.

Viaduct Top View

Though, designers all around the world are making efforts to turn our commuting mode as environment friendly as possible, but they end up landing in huge expenses. Designer Ivan Vela has put in a small attempt to turn the vehicles green that you already own. “Green Spinners” is a system that lets your car contribute towards environment. The system utilizes the kinetic energy produced by wheels to run your electrical appliance at home. The spinners are placed over the rim of the car, and the magnets on it keep it steady when the wheels move. The spinner gathers the energy produced by the spinning wheels and stores it in the battery located in the car´s trunk. The energy from the battery can then be used to power any electrical appliances in the car or at home, saving upon your bucks.

The E-Fuel MicroFueler, used in conjunction with the MicroFusion Reactor

A lot of people try to lessen the load on the local landfill by putting their organic waste in a compost heap, but soon there may be something else they can do with it – feed it to an E-Fuel MicroFusion Reactor. The new device, so we’re told, takes cellulosic waste material and breaks it down to nothing but sugar water and lignin powder within two minutes. The lignin powder can be used by pharmaceutical manufacturers (although it’s not clear how you’d get it to them), while the sugar water can be distilled into ethanol fuel. That’s where one of E-Fuel’s other products, the MicroFueler, comes in.

Aimed at both home users and businesses, the MicroFueler has been around since 2009. It distills sugar water obtained from organic waste into ready-to-use E-Fuel100 ethanol, which it can pump right into your car. You could also use the fuel in a generator, to provide household electricity. Unlike other ethanol production processes, the MicroFueler does not involve combustion, so is reportedly safe. While it can directly process sugar-rich liquids such as waste alcohol, it needs help breaking down cellulosic materials such as vegetable matter and wood… hence the need for prior processing by the MicroFusion Reactor.

E-Fuel appears to be holding off on releasing more information on the Reactor (including photos) until the product financing is in place.

In the meantime, should you be interested in the MicroFueler, you can purchase one from the company for US$9,995, plus at least $1,995 for a fuel tank. A $9.95 monthly network subscription fee is also required.