What do you get when you mix an ex-Apple iPod guy with a big, energy sucking appliance?  Yeah, you get the self learning Nest thermostat.  But can it play music?

Basically, Nest keeps you from messing with the temperature dial by learning your habits.  And once it learns your habits, it pecks at you to lower your energy bills.  Sure, it’s a nice looking green leaf.  But it can sure get your competitive energy saving streak burning.

Nest does look nice.  It’s also simple to use.  But will it get you to switch out your monstrosity of a thermostat?

Everyone is trying to do their part to lower pollution.  Can you imagine the peace and quiet of a summer without all the riding mowers?  Well, Fiskers is wooing you to consider a new push mower called the Fiskars Momentum Reel Mower.  I think most people will pass, but I’m taking note.

There are some inherent issues in reel mowers.  They tend to be very hard to push.  They are typically a pain to maintain and can also be terrible mowers.  All that usually combines to make them less than admirable.  Fiskars Momentum Reel lawn mower tries to address each of those problems.  Now, the mower has an 18 inch cut width, so if you are using a 42 inch riding mower on an acre of land, then this probably is not for you.  But, if you have a smaller yard and have long straight runs, then this may be exactly what you need.  You can get the mower for around $199-$250.  Here’s a video:

This is a very interesting idea, design, and execution.  The Yike Bike really tells your taxes, energy costs, and sweat to take a hike.  Oh, and bike thieves too.  It gives you tremendous freedom with little hassle.  And it only weighs 21 lbs.

It is an electric, foldable bike.  It will cost around $6,000.  Which gives new meaning to the yike bike.  But, considering all the costs normally associated with car ownership, this really is an option, especially for urban dwellers.  Here’s the vid:

It used to be that you were at the mercy of your power company to play along with your devious power monitoring plans.  But that’s all changed with Google’s PowerMeter system.

If you purchase the TED 5000, you can utilize it with Google’s PowerMeter program.  So, what does that give you?  Well, it will give you analytics about your power consumption.  And my guess is that it will improve over time.  This short video gives you a taste of what it can do, though it is very short:

Nissan is really trying to go full bore with its new Leaf electric car.  It will allow you to go up to 100 miles on a single charge.  But will people buy it?

Nissan will be putting a lithium ion battery into the Leaf.  Now, before you groan.  Nissan is cutting the size in half while also increasing power and range twice.  Pretty impressive.   The batteries will take around 16 hours to recharge, unless you are doing a higher power charge, like the video below demonstrates.  They are also saying that it will be competitively priced, whatever that means.

It’s staggering how little has been done in solar and wind alternative energy.  I think that shows just how apathetic we are when it comes to such ideas.  However, some folks have recently come up with a pretty neat idea.  It involves making solar cells that look like ivy, as you can see in the flash video above.  But this is also a wind generator, as you will see.

The cells look interesting climbing up the side of a building, but they also generate solar power.  The interesting twist is that each leaf also carries a piezoelectric generator on the backside.  So, when the wind is blowing the leaves, it is generating electricity as well.  SMIT_grow as the project is called, is currently producing a lower design, but is working to get this idea into production.  I would love to see the energy generation facts on this as well as cost.

Sure, the title is tongue in cheek, but the Xeros really will be a very cool washer.  Well, that’s as far as washers go.  But, if you are into saving money, cutting energy costs, cutting detergent use, and saving water, then you can get excited about this washer.

The amazing thing is that the Xeros (Greek for dry) washing machine uses 2% of the energy conventional washing machines use.  It accomplishes this by using, of all things, nylon polymer balls.  It seems that these little nylon wonders have an intrinsic charge that pull the stains away from the clothes.  The dirt is then absorbed into the nylon ball and stored.  Those stains are loosened with aid from detergents.

The Xeros doesn’t use a spin or rinse cycle, hence the energy conservation.  Oh, and you don’t have to worry about gathering all those little nylon balls at the end, the machine will do that for you.  And they can be used for up to six months before being replaced.  A tiny amount of water needs to be added to the wash.  That means that no drying is needed afterward.  Again, cost savings.

You should be on the look out for Xeros powered machines within the year.  Or at least, that’s what they say.

Having a solar cooker brings cheap, simple cooking to far away places.  Whether you are camping or without power at home, the Hot Pot Simple Solar Cooker will suffice.  It’s reiterative design has made for a surprisingly hot cooking experience.

The black, steel enameled pot (5 quarts) helps to absorb the sunlight.  And sunlight gathering is aided by the foldable, reflective surface.  And heat is kept within the cooking area by a glass enclosure.  All that adds up to 350-400 degrees of cooking power!  Not bad for $60.

Here’s a vid of Frijoles cooking:

A while ago I posted about a really interesting concept car called Loremo.  I was pretty stunned in that post to find they were purporting 150 mpg.  I think those numbers have come down a little, but still impressive to say the least.  Anyway, Loremo has demoed their prototype and will be starting production in 2010.  This thing looks sweet – I want one!

Here it is out for a drive:

I like the styling.  Yes, it’s small, but I would expect that.  In any case, price seems to be around $15,000.  Would love to see this come state side.L

Lots of people are considering a cordless electric lawn mower these days.  Personally, I love my riding lawn mower.  But the bad thing is it is really really noisy, sucks gasoline, and spews out nasty fumes.  If I had a smaller lawn, I may take a hard look at the Earthwise 60020 because it gets really high marks.

The 24 volt Earthwise 60020 with a 20 inch cut gets the job done.  It features an easy to use mulching system that can switch to bagging with little fuss.  The thing is much quieter than standard gas engine mowers.  It is, however, heavy, weighing in at 100 pounds.  This may be a little bit cumbersome for some folks with steeper grade lawns.  Keep that in mind.

Like most mowers, the cutting height can be adjusted from 1-3/4-inch to 3-3/4-inch.  It can run from 45 to 60 minutes per charge, depending on usage.  So, if you typically take longer than 45 minutes to mow your lawn, you may want to consider another solution.  The battery can last for around 500 charges.  Having said all that, people really love this mower.

If you are needing an engine driven mower assist, there are models that do that.  Just know that it eats into your battery charge.  Price tag is around $500.