Power your flashlight and your handheld devices the green way
You've been driving a hybrid car (good for you, by the way!) and eating veggie burgers, and yet still don't feel environmentally conscious enough? Well, you are probably not alone. And now there's a way for your life style to get even greener: the Medis 24/7 fuel cell powered flashlight/charger.
Your flashlight could be greener than you think.
The lengthy name says it all, this is a flashlight and a charger kit that's powered by one Medis fuel cell. The cell can provide enough power for the flashlight to be used, on a "real world" basis, for up to six weeks and hours of charge time for your handheld devices including, but not limited to, cell phones, smart phones, and GPS receivers. When the fuel cell is depleted, you just need to recycle and replace it with another, much like a regular battery.
You can get the Flashlight Charger Kit as soon as next week at this web site or at retail stores. The charger itself is slated to cost $29.99 and comes with one fuel cell, a power cable, and a selection of handheld device tips. The complete 24/7 Kit that also includes the flashlight will go for $39.99.
It looks like this is a great device for home and office emergency preparedness, as well as other applicable applications where regular battery-operated devices are used. On a large scale, this new environmentally friendly, lightweight, cost-effective lighting and charging solution can help reduce your total environmental impact. Of course, this depends a lot on how cheaply and conveniently the fuel cells are produced and distributed, which is, for now, still unclear. What is clear, however, is the fact the kit is considered airplane-friendly by the Department of Transportation and it is RoHS-compliant.
Now, if you are one of us, who can't afford to replace our current vehicle with the Toyota Camry Hybird or even the ever-popular Prius, this might just be the next best thing to contribute to the green movement and feel better about ourselves.
Dong Ngo is a CNET editor who covers networking and network storage, and writes about anything else he finds interesting. You can also listen to his podcast at insidecnetlabs.cnet.com. E-mail Dong. 
(Note to Dong - the link underlying the words "Web site" is broken. It currently points to http://crave.cnet.com/www.poweritanywhere.com instead of http://www.poweritanywhere.com)