Here at SPOnG we like to consider ourselves to be at the frontline of the current 'war on carbon' - rest assured that we are white hot on reducing our carbon-footprints, so we welcome today’s news that some inspired environmentalists have developed solar-powered, carbon-neutral batteries for Nintendo’s Wii and DS.
As you can see from the pictures (right and below), this really is not a late April Fool’s gag. Read on.
Ecogeek – SPOnG’s favourite new eco-friendly geeksite - reports that, as the Wii is a very low powered system, “it's won over a lot of folks…[and] one of the great things about a 40 watt gaming system is that it's possible to set up a solar-powered gaming station on Venice beach! The whole setup with big LCD screen and speakers draws less than 200 watts, while the solar panel has a maximum output of 20 watts. So, yes, the panel has to charge the battery for a few hours before you can start playing. But once the battery is fully charged and with the constant trickle charging of the photovoltaic panel, the system can stay up and running for about 8 hours.”
The eco-madness doesn’t even end there. Ecogeek reports, “From the same people who brought you the carbon-neutral, solar Wii, we now have a solar Nintendo DS. Because portable devices are designed to consume so little power, this guy can actually run indefinitely on a sunny day! While the 30 watt Wii had to charge it's battery with a big panel for a few hours, this DS's tiny panels can keep it running as long as the sun shines bright.”
Now, we’re not sure how expensive these types of solar-panels are (we imagine, very) or how difficult they are to build into a portable DS power-unit (we imagine again, very), but what a superb idea!
Come on Nintendo, make us some eco-friendly DS solar power panels to save us all a bit of money (not to mention burnt fingers from messing around with the soldering iron again…).
(Pics courtesy of Ecogeek.com)
As you can see from the pictures (right and below), this really is not a late April Fool’s gag. Read on.
Ecogeek – SPOnG’s favourite new eco-friendly geeksite - reports that, as the Wii is a very low powered system, “it's won over a lot of folks…[and] one of the great things about a 40 watt gaming system is that it's possible to set up a solar-powered gaming station on Venice beach! The whole setup with big LCD screen and speakers draws less than 200 watts, while the solar panel has a maximum output of 20 watts. So, yes, the panel has to charge the battery for a few hours before you can start playing. But once the battery is fully charged and with the constant trickle charging of the photovoltaic panel, the system can stay up and running for about 8 hours.”
The eco-madness doesn’t even end there. Ecogeek reports, “From the same people who brought you the carbon-neutral, solar Wii, we now have a solar Nintendo DS. Because portable devices are designed to consume so little power, this guy can actually run indefinitely on a sunny day! While the 30 watt Wii had to charge it's battery with a big panel for a few hours, this DS's tiny panels can keep it running as long as the sun shines bright.”
Now, we’re not sure how expensive these types of solar-panels are (we imagine, very) or how difficult they are to build into a portable DS power-unit (we imagine again, very), but what a superb idea!
Come on Nintendo, make us some eco-friendly DS solar power panels to save us all a bit of money (not to mention burnt fingers from messing around with the soldering iron again…).
(Pics courtesy of Ecogeek.com)
Companies:
Nintendo
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Comments
OptimusP 3 Apr 2007 13:41
1/1
I want one of those solar powered Wii-sets...holidays on the beach will never be the same again.
