Solar water heaters like this one are getting popular in Ho Chi Minh City.
(Credit: Dong Ngo/CBS Interactive)Editor's note: CNET editor and Crave contributor Dong Ngo is spending part of December in his homeland of Vietnam and is filing occasional dispatches chronicling his impressions of how technology has permeated the culture there. Click here for more of Dong's stories from abroad.
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam--It took me a few minutes to realize how crowded Ho Chi Minh City is, and a few hours to experience the first power outage. Welcome to the dry season of the South.
The season lasts from November until April. It's when this part of the country experiences its most severe energy shortage, with rolling blackouts taking place in HCM several times a week, if not daily.
(Unlike the four-season North of the country, the South of Vietnam has only two seasons--dry and rainy. Nonetheless, it's generally sunny all year around in Ho Chi Minh City. It's hot, too, with the exception of a few weeks around Christmas when it gets a little chilly, around 60 degrees F. However, it's always humid here and you'd probably want to shower a few times a day.)
Most businesses, and even some households here, have a backup power generator. Drive around the city at any given time, and chances are you'll see some of these in operation.
With the sharp population increase, Ho Chi Minh City, now home to about 10 million, is facing an apparent energy crisis. According to HCM City Power Company, the city's power demand is now in excess of 1,000 to 2,500 megawatts every day.
To battle this, the city has turned to a source of energy that it has a lot of: the sun. Since July, it has been developing a program to support businesses that produce and sell solar-powered appliances, including water heater and lighting systems.
... Read MoreBoo! This episode is all about the scariest of scary gadgetry. Listen, if you dare!
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EPISODE 112 |
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Look at the legs on that: Walking house looks like giant metal beetle
Netflix streaming comes to TiVo
Dubai’s newest insane skyscraper to house a restaurant in a glass pod at 2,150 feet
Scariest jack-o’-lantern of 2008 - The stock-market pumpkin
Pink Watch
These belong in Hell: Half Croc, half Ugg (thanks, phatemokid!)
Why didn’t I think of that?!
Caps Lock Key Trainer Key HAS GIGANTIC SPIKES (ow)
Gender Gap
Feel the throbbing with the shocking 'Thumbwars' game
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Tuttuki Bako
Tool Time
iPod Blazer from Park Avenue
Conmoto's Travelmate is an expensive but portable fireplace.
(Credit: Conmoto)Sometimes space heaters just don't cut it. They can't be put on flammable rugs, they aren't romantic, and they don't produce warming flames unless they catch something on fire. For consumers who want to soothe the space heater blues, Conmoto's portable fireplace could turn up the heat--for a few thousand dollars.
Retailing for $3,300, the German-made Travelmate is a flue-less, smokeless fireplace contained in what appears to be a see-through briefcase made of steel (a sentiment shared by NerdApproved).
The flames are trapped between sheets of glass held in place by magnets. To get the fire going, one must simply remove one of the glass sheets, add bio-ethanol liquid fuel to the tank, and then strike a match. Once the glass is back in place, the result is a 55-pound portable fireplace.
We're not sure if it's legal to carry a burning fire in public, even if it is trapped in glass, so maybe this glorified space heater is best used in the home.
(Credit:
Hello Kitty Hell)
The evil Sanrio empire will stop at nothing in its quest for universal domination. As it continues its relentless assault by land and water, it is also manipulating the elements with such devious schemes as seizing our air supply. And now, as winter nears, it's commandeering our heat sources as well with the "Hello Kitty Space Heater"--an obvious ratcheting up from its USB lap warmer and other guerilla tactics.
A special thanks to Hello Kitty Hell, our spiritual leader in The Resistance, for alerting us to this latest plan. We agree with one of his readers, who fears being scarred by a Hello Kitty face burned on her leg--which may well have been Sanrio's plan for this all along.
(Credit:
Newlaunches)
It's one more day closer to Feb. 14, which means another day for companies to pawn off their wares as a special Valentine's gift. The latest is the "truly romantic" Sanyo "Eneloop Kairo" (who could resist such a sexy name?), a palm-sized heater presumably meant to warm one's hands, if not the heart. It's available only in Japan--we had no idea that Valentine's Day was so big there--but fear not, Romeo. You can always spring for a pair of Brando's heated USB gloves. Classy.
(Credit:
Tubor)
We weren't terribly fond of the LED mirror we spied recently, mostly because we thought its scrolling messages might deliver insults about our lifestyle. But just to prove that we don't have anything against such objects, we wholly endorse this combination mirror, radiator and digital clock from Italy's Tubor, a heating device and technology specialist. (Who knew Italy had such stuff?)
Behind the reflective surface is a stainless steel facade that ingeniously hides an electric or water radiator. We liked this item not only for its practicality but also for the black, monolithic design that Trendir accurately states is reminiscent of the finale of 2001: Space Odyssey. Monkeys, presumably, not included.
No, you don't see news from Rheem, the vacuum and household appliance people, too much on our site. But you may in the future, as the company emerges as one of a growing number of advocates for solar water heaters.
In these systems, water is heated by solar rays directly from a tank on the roof--a common practice in Spain or Israel--or panels on the roof can conduct energy to a basement heater, as in Rheem's products. (See photo of jolly salesman.)
The basement versions are less obtrusive because the panels fit into the roofline of a house. The roof-stationed Israeli water heaters, by contrast, give the home a sort of "Petticoat Junction" meets "Mad Max" ambience. (See other grainy photo).
Solar water heaters are fairly efficient and were used in Berkeley and Florida during the 1920s. "There is a lot more thermal energy in sunlight than electricity," said Chris Beekhuis from Fat Spaniel Technologies, an energy efficiency company which is helping set up a solar laundromat in Canada. "In Los Angeles, all hot water came from (solar) thermal heaters until the 1920s" before the utility companies switched them to electric.
(Photos: Michael Kanellos/CNET Networks)
So you're tired of those wimpy space heaters from chain retaliers and want something that will really keep you warm this winter. We have just the thing: Behold, the BT400-47 Vulcan 47 Super Arctic Master from Aerotech Herman Nelson.
This puppy, which runs on 18 gallons of kerosene, is nearly 7 feet long and weighs 526 pounds without fuel. It also gives off 300,000 BTU, about 20 or 30 times more powerful than electric space heaters.
And lest you question the expertise of the Vulcan's manufacturer, consider the background of Aerotech's CEO: According to its Web site, his family is descended from "tough Icelandic immigrants who moved into the Interlake district in Manitoba, Canada." If that's not somebody who knows cold, we don't what what is.
(Photo: Aerotech Herman Nelson)
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