There’s a new trash can in Philadelphia. Several in fact. These brand new solar trash cans are being installed on philly sidewalks and are entirely powered by the sun. The city hopes that you will use them. They can accept close to eight times as much waste as a regular trash can. They go by the name of Big Bellys and they will save the city close to 12 million dollars over 10 years!

The first Big Belly was recently inaugurated by the Mayor at 15th Street and JFK boulevard at JFK Plaza. Over 500 of the units will be installed by July. 210 of those will also feature an additional recycling bin component. Since the compacting bins only have to be emptied 5 times per week (Regular bins which must be emptied 19 times), the city will see huge savings on staff time, fuel costs, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Well here’s something you don’t see everyday. The iUnika GYY is an environmentally-friendly netbook that is powered by solar energy. This netbook is pretty light too at only 700grams. So what if it looks like a toy. Being environmentally conscious is often not pretty.

The GYY runs on a 400MHz processor and a version of Linux. Some other specs include 128MB of RAM, a 64GB solid-state drive and an 8-inch WVGA display with an 800 x 480 resolution. You can get the iUnika GYY starting in June for about 160 euros.

Solar-powered gadgets are nothing new. But a solar powered home theater system? It’s appropriately named the “Guiltless Green Home Theater” and was manufactured from scratch by Home Theater Specialists of America (HTSA). It’s the first of its kind and has some surprising specs.

For one thing it will give you up to 19 hours of video and audio playback even if the sun isn’t shining that day. They didn’t sacrifice quality either, with a Sharp projector, a 100″ Stewart Filmscreen, six SpeakerCraft in-wall speakers, an Integra AV receiver, Monster Cable wiring, Lutron lighting, and Universal Remote Control.

Scosche just launched a new solar powered gadget in the Solchat Bluetooth Speaker Phone. It’s designed to be used in your car, and features a built in lithium ion rechargeable battery and a solar panel so you can charge it up it in your car’s windshield.

In addition to being able to be charged by the suns rays, it also can be recharged via USB or via a car adaptor. It’s available now for $99.99.

In the future all beasts of burden will have solar powered backs so that they can better serve man. Look how well it’s working out for the camel. The solar cells power a small refrigerator, which allows them to deliver heat-sensitive vaccines to remote health centers in Africa.

It’s an ingenious solution to getting them from point A to point B intact. When refrigeration isn’t needed, the solar system even provides lighting at the clinic. It’s win/win. Despite being in the desert, the sun doesn’t always shine and for those times they have a foot-powered generator.

Marcelo da Luz is not an alien. He has never probed another living thing. In fact he loves his home planet so much that for the past two years he has been driving his solar powered car across the country. But when he reached the Sarah Palin/alien fearing state of Alaska earlier in the week, his UFO car was spotted by a concerned citizen who called 911 to report a UFO sighting. Nevermind that UFO’s reside in the sky and this was on the road.

Alaskan police are not the sort to let aliens roam their highways so they went into action, probably hearing 70′s theme music in their heads, and pulled over Marcelo for interrogation. Once they realized that it was yet another human on the open road, they let bygones be bygones and let him go. Marcelo has has been pulled over at least seven times thanks to his odd vehicle.

We’ve seen our share of solar powered devices, but nothing so hideous and blatantly dorky as the solar powered necktie. It will not only collect solar power, but it also singles you out as a geek. You can thank a group of braniacs at Iowa State University for creating it. It’s made from newly developed solar fabrics. The solar panels are tiny and laid out in a grid that at least makes it look somewhat like any other tacky tie.

It even sports a pocket sewn into the back so your device can suck precious juice like a parasite that no one can see. This technology can only end with a living symbiote tie that strangles you dead, thereby making it look like you’ve committed suicide. Then they’ll take over the world. No one will know. It will just seem like unusually high suicides. Let’s just stop wearing them now, can we? They’re silly.

It’s a beautiful summer day. You want nothing more then to play your Wii and enjoy the outdoors. But you can’t do both. Or can you? Now you can, thanks to this solar powered Wii station.

Whether it’s some exercise with Wii fit or a kick-ass round of Mario Kart, you’ll be having fun in the sun. It’s basically little more then a wooden case that houses the Wii, a high definition display, a solar power panel, and a battery, so I’m sure it’s entirely worth the $1,431 build cost.

The solarDAB is what I would call retro-ugly. Meaning that it reminds me of some of the uglier aspects of yesterday’s gadgets…today. Ugly it may be, but it is the world’s first solar-powered DAB radio, from Roberts. It sports a top-mounted solar panel along with an indicator on the display that shows you the strength of the solar level being absorbed.

With the rechargeable batteries fully sun kissed, you’ll have tunes for an amazing 27 hours. Looks like they have a variety of colors to choose from for $158. Ugly, yes. But 27 hours of music is pretty awesome.

As far as solar devices go, Thanko’s DAP actually looks pretty nice. I’ve seen much worse. In the front it looks like any other device with a 1.8-inch 220 x 176 resolution display, 4GB of internal storage space and a miniSD expansion slot.

But in the back is where you’ll find the solar panel that doubles as a stand for the unit. Just stand the whole thing up as shown and let it soak up the sun. It can also be charged via USB. No word on a price or release date, so who knows if we’ll ever see it in the U.S.

Here’s the latest wacky concept from Japan. A solar-powered bra that’s eco-friendly. Forget the fact that it looks like someone glued a display onto a piece of astroturf. The solar panel on the waist powers a scrolling LED display above, so you can display a message, about how dorky you look. It can also power other devices.

Here’s the really strange bit. It has reusable liquid containers in the cups, because they want to discourage the use of aluminum cans. The upshot is that you would increase your bust size…Until you get thirsty.