This may come as shock to you, but you are wasting energy. Everyday. How about giving back, simply by plugging into your wall? It may come sooner than you think. Nearly every room in our home has an electrical outlet. What if each one had a matching electrical “inlet” so you could give some back?

The idea is that adapter kits would be made available to convert common household products into energy-generating devices. Things like exercise equipment, for instance. Maybe even the wheel in your hamster’s cage.

We hear about the saving and the wasting of energy all the time. It seems like we don’t actually pay attention until it affects us in the real world. Which is how this light switch helps. Peter Russo and Brendan Wypich of Stanford University developed the SmartSwitch, a light control with tactile feedback that helps you “see” how much energy is already being used, whenever you try to flick the switch.

If the total energy consumption in the house is low, the SmartSwitch is easy to flip. But if the consumption is higher, the SmartSwitch is physically harder to flip, thanks to a brake pad within the mechanism. The idea is that people will use this tactile feedback to decide if they really really need that light on or not. And it gives users a physical interaction with how much they are using.

So, it’s time to upgrade from the Umbuster Umbrella as it’s only appropriate for breaking jaws in the rain. But what could deliver more destruction in a more compact package? Well, the Blast Knuckles will deliver a promised stun power of 950,000 volts. That’s enough to shock a cartoon soul right out of anybody and watch it play the harp all the way up to heaven.

If you use these, I would advise running like hell and changing your name as you will probably be charged with murder soon. Seriously, this is insane. Only use this in self defense and don’t zap yourself. Appropriately, the blast knuckles aren’t legal in all fifty states in the US, though you could probably still buy it for $50.

A research team at Stanford has developed a refrigeration device the size of a thermos. What’s interesting is that it uses no electricity. Zip. Zero. Nada. Zilch. Instead, it contains some kind of coolant that becomes cold when it’s exposed to heat.

Details are scarce, but the units would be fairly cheap to produce at about $50. The price makes it an ideal way to deliver medicines and cold water to developing countries as well as having a bunch of other uses a bit more noble then your next camping trip. It’s a great breakthrough. All a user would need to cool any given thing is fire, which is readily available.

Saving electricity in the home is a good thing. We all benefit. Cutting back on the power you waste can save plenty of money on the electric bill too. But we’re only human and could use a little reminder sometimes. A reminder that isn’t some treehugger starring in a PSA on TV.

The Wilting Flower from English designer Carl Smith will remind you. It’s a little known fact that people pay more attention to a flower then they do to a preaching hippie. Plus, the flower looks like it’s bathed. This little wilting flower changes from blue, to red, to yellow, to purple, then turns off, as our power demands increase. But as it changes, the petals slowly close and the flower keels over in its vase. In other words, you are a murdering bastard and it hopes you feel bad.

The folks over at ElectraTherm have a 50-kilowatt machine that uses industrial waste heat for fuel, providing even more options for green energy. They’re calling it the ElectraTherm Green Machine, not to be confused with that Huffy Green machine you had as a kid.

Get this. With this unit, you can actually get back the money you spent within three or four years. That’s with electricity costing approximately three or four cents per kilowatt-hour. They use an organic Rankine cycle to heat liquids, then the liquids are transformed into a vapor, at which point it will move the turbine thus generating electricity. Looks like heat-to-electricity can be successful on a small scale, since this is capable of powering up to 40 homes at once.

If you are concerned about how much energy you are using, but are forgetful and need some encouragement, this little switch will give you a visual representation of how much energy you are using. The switch lights up only a little when you’re not using much energy and it shines brighter when you’re wasting too much.

What with energy being invisible, it’s easy to waste more then you intend to. So a visual reminder is just the thing. Not many other details on this one for the moment. Like how much of your house this will take care of, etc. It might be good if it were vocal though, “Turn off some lights you wasteful pig. What did you buy me for if you aren’t going to listen to me.” Nagging always gets things done after all, as any married person knows.

There certainly seems to be no shortage of power strip products lately as just about everyone seems to have found a way to build a better set of outlets. The Eject Powerstrip is designed to conserve electricity by making it easier for people to unplug their unused devices and lessen the electricity “leakage” when they are not being used.

The powerstrip has a foot pedal next to each outlet that will eject the electrical cord plug when pressed with your foot. According to the designers of the Eject Powerstrip, they’ve eliminated some of the biggest excuses why people don’t unplug their unused devices. Laziness, inconvenient access and open outlets accessible to small children topped the list. This “green” powerstrip would not only make it easy and convenient to unplug, but when the pedal is pressed it also cuts off access to the electricity through the outlet so that the little tikes can’t get hurt.