Got more than 2 devices that need plugging into the wall and you’ll need a power strip.  But how unsightly and perhaps even dangerous if you’ve got kids dashing through the house.

The Node 12050 Electric Outlet eliminates the need for a power strip, though it will occupy much more wall space.  However, given it’s minimalist lines it should blend into almost any setting, provided your house wasn’t built in the 17th or 18th century.

Currently the Node is in the conceptual phase, though the designer, Metaphys, does sell actual products.  So keep an eye out, because if it was up to us, these would’ve gone on sale at Home Depot yesterday.

The power strip, while functional, is unsightly.  If used in a kitchen, or a place where people are prone to spilling, it can be dangerous since liquid can seep into the outlets and cause a short circuit.  No good if you’ve got kids lurking around your kitchen.  And that’s just one of the reasons we’re in love with the Kitchen Power Grommet.

Sure, you’ll need to cut a 3-inch hole into your counter, but we think it will be well worth it, especially when you receive high marks from your loved ones for the your attention to design aesthetic and safety.  Each Kitchen Power Grommet includes 3 15A/125VAC outlets, and if you’d like you can add other data and power options.

Accessing the Kitchen Power Grommet simply requires that you pull the two metal handles.   A “click” noise indicates when it’s locked into place.  A red button located at the base unlocks it and a quick push down returns it to its home.  A clear rubber seal forms a seal so no liquid can drip in when it’s closed, though that seems to be an issue in the up position.

The only problem is that the Kitchen Power Grommet costs $127, each.  If you buy more than 11 that price drops slightly, but still it’s a difficult price to justify.

They’ve got it for $149.99 – $115 instant discount + free S&H = $34.99!

Check this out: Researchers in England have created a new type of tidal turbine, code named “Deep Green,” that’s attached to a kite-like apparatus and tethered to the floor of the ocean by 100 meters of cable. Developed by Swedish company Minesto, the turbine captures energy from tidal currents at ten times the speed of the stream velocity. It will generate 500 kilowatts of power at full operational speed. Its small size, only 12 meters in the wingspan, is also beneficial compared to other turbine designs.

Tidal power is predictable and reliable, the researchers say. Minesto expects testing to start in 2011, thanks to $2.5 million recently acquired from investors.

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The holy grail of in home power monitoring is set to be released by Intel.  Today, they showed off a small black box that plugs into a single power outlet and presumambly by watching the home’s grid for changes in energy input it is able to detect and monitor what appliances are being used and for how long.  The data is then sent wirelessly to a machine running the MeeGo operating system, a joint venture between Intel and Nokia, and can be reviewed in a variety of formats to help the home owner adjust their energy consumption.  The system can also be connected to a home’s HVAC system letting users control lighting, thermostat and other home systems.

Mary Murphy-Hoye, an Intel engineer has had the opportunity to test the system in her home and noted that she could tell when her son was playing Xbox at times when he wasn’t supposed to.

As of now the sensor system is in a prototype stage.  A future iteration of the device could possibly automatically adjust the home’s systems, although additional details about this function were not discussed during the time of release.

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Why California Edison hasn’t rolled out smart meters is beyond my understanding, but it might actually be a good thing according to Inhabitat.  In Texas numerous customers have complained about sky rocketing bills after the meters had been installed.  Insult to injury, there are all sorts of privacy concerns to tackle.  Take for instance the issue of law enforcement sanctioning customer records to sniff out marijuana growers.

If you ain’t heard, smart meters provide a detailed breakdown of a household’s energy consumption.  Furthermore, it eliminates the need for meter readers to physically visit a property, which not only makes the whole process more efficient (and hopefully energy cheaper), but reduces the power company’s carbon footprint.

Energy prices are increasing; making household powering difficult to manage without spending a large quantity of money, especially in the current state of the economy.

People are starting to try and understand how they can manage, reduce and easily control their electricity bills. Such interfaces as Google PowerMeter are being challenged by PowerHouse Dynamics’ eMonitor, which allows you to link its interface with your circuit board telling you how much each individual circuit costs. This includes live statistics about how much power you’re consuming and where it’s being spent along with customisable energy saving settings and recommended ways to reduce your carbon footprint. This lets you isolate certain appliances that are being more costly to you than others. You can control outlets and thermostats manually or from applications on the iPhone. The general idea behind the package is to manage your power expenditure wisely and reduce unnecessary power wasting. This saves your money and the environment. Packages cost from $800 onwards.

Time to Have Complete Power Over Your Energy Use

Powerhouse Dynamics eMonitor is the world’s first comprehensive, affordable, per circuit home energy monitoring and energy management system

03.05.2010 – Do you know how much your refrigerator is costing you? Or that space heater in the home office? Or the entertainment center that seems to produce offspring in the night?

Nobody has, until March, when the PowerHouse Dynamics eMonitor will begin shipping exclusively from Freeport, Maine based EnergyCircle.com. It is the world’s first affordable, whole house, circuit by circuit energy monitoring and management system.

What does this mean?

The eMonitor’s unique combination of hardware, software, and services let you view your home’s 24×7, minute-by-minute electricity use, electricity cost, and carbon footprint, as well as historical information by day, month, or year, all in a personalized and intuitive graphical interface from anywhere you can access the internet. It also provides cost estimates based on current and past usage.

“Circuit by circuit energy monitoring is a significant breakthrough in the category,” said Peter Troast, Energy Circle’s founder and CEO. “Seeing your energy use by appliance and by room is extraordinarily powerful. This simple act of knowing your usage in real time drives better awareness, engages families and produces real savings.”

The cutting-edge feature of the eMonitor is its capability to display electricity use by individual circuit so you can see real-time and historical information on major appliances, entertainment centers, and specific rooms. The service keeps you continuously up to speed on your home’s energy usage by providing you with alerts if circuits are overloaded, if there are problems with appliances or your renewable sources, if your electricity usage is unusual, or if your energy bills are approaching a threshold (set by you).

The eMonitor dashboard is viewable on the web from any local or remote location, and provides customized energy saving recommendations based on your home’s energy usage.

The single-unit eMonitor configuration comes with enough hardware to monitor 24 circuits (2 mains and 22 addition circuits) and is compatible with both 120v and 240v electrical systems. Most American homes will work with the single unit eMonitor. For homes with more than one panel, or more than 22 circuits, purchase the 2 eMonitor configuration. The 2 eMonitor configuration is $1,498.

eMonitor integrates with renewable energy systems (for solar PV, solar thermal, or wind installations), monitoring energy production, savings, and efficiency, and also reports on any problems with those installations.

The eMonitor is also equipped for future capability to remotely control individual outlets and thermostats, and will integrate with many existing home control systems. Planned future enhancements also include the ability to monitor other energy sources such as natural gas and home heating oil.

After a month in the Energy Circle home, some interesting results:

Energy Circle founders Peter Troast and Lisa Fahay have been using the eMonitor on their own home since early January 2010 and along with the above mentioned features, have had some unexpected benefits:

“Since we began testing eMonitor in our home, we’ve seen big changes in our families behavior,” said Lisa Fahay, Energy Circle’s Director of eCommerce. “The kids are actively competing for whose room uses the least energy, we uncovered the fact that the dryer heat settings are broken, and we’ve found new sources of vampire power that we’re knifing in the heart.”

“I’m very impressed with and excited about eMonitor,” said Troast. “It is an extensible system that will grow over time to include smart outlets and controllable thermostats, displays and other add-on devices. It is an extremely powerful tool.”

Although it’s not enough to power to supply an average American’s home, the Backpack Power Plant from Bourne Energy of Malibu, CA might be the off the grid power answer to rurally located villages.

The portable device, which weighs 30lbs and measure about 4 feet long (based on the pic), generates clean and quiet power by utilizing the kinetic energy found in streams that are deeper than 4 feet.

Setting up the Backpack Power Plant requires two trenches to be dug on either side of the stream and an anchor placed in either one.  A synthetic rope is then ran between each anchor, which presumambly has a turbine attached to it to harness the kinetic energy located in the flowing stream.  In order to yield a reasonable amount of power, or up to 500 watts, the stream must be moving about 7.5 feet per second.

When and if the civilian version of the The Backpack Power Plant comes to market expect it to cost about $3,000.

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Traveling with a bunch of computer gear can be a pain.  Surfacing as one of the only travel surge protectors I’ve seen, the ezSpace Surge2Go Portable Power Strip From ezGear could be just what the gear head on the go is looking for.

Featuring 3 appropriately spaced outlets and a shielded 8-inch power cord that wraps around the base of the surge protector, the ezSpace uses a LED to denote actual surge protection from other forms of electrical interference.

If interested you can get the Surge2Go PowerStrip right now for $18.

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This nifty gadget design will keep all your organs in transplant as cold as they need to be as long as it’s charged.  The cooler uses wall and cigarette adapter charging in addition to solar charging to keep your beers or whatever else chilled and ready for refreshing consumption.  The solar charging blocks can be reversed and used as lights which is a great design concept. Designed by Ruben Iglesias, I hope this Eco-Cooler soon finds production.

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Lexon’s line of aesthetically pleasing bamboo and bio-plastic gadgets is easy on the environment and cool on the eyes.  These solar powered and renewable energy mini-appliances will look positively earth awesome in your place.  No word on pricing or availability.  The LED solar flashlight is pictured above.

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This thing is just plain whack looking.  With its giant punching bag base and its overall odd aesthetic I just want to kick it over.  What makes it “somewhat” desirable is the fact that it packs two power ports and two ethernet inputs to keep you charged and connected.

I dunno, maybe if this thing was hanging from the ceiling and I could head butt it, I would think it’d be cooler.  I could see some type of cyber cafe buying up a bunch of these but that’s about it.  No info on pricing or availability.

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The future is here, at least according to Haier.  Although we didn’t have time to stop by their booth at CES, the folks from TechOn did, and they got the run down on the company’s latest technology.

This LCD TV, which has no name, uses WiTricity Corp’s wireless power technology.  And unlike Powermat‘s offering, the TV doesn’t require a mat or inductive surface to receiver power.   In fact, it can receive up to 100w of power at a range of 1 meter completely wire free.

I’m still a little aw shocked that this has finally come to fruition, but does this finally mean we can ditch the cord?  The TV is probably the last gadget that I’d want wireless technology implemented in, but I’ll take anything that will blaze a trail for wireless power.

[via Crunchgear]

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It’s not too often that the power pack comes unplugged from the outlet, but when it does it probably couldn’t happen at a worse time.  Like when you’re in the heat of the FPS battle or hammering home the closing statements of that research paper.  Although it doesn’t contain a UPS backup battery (that would really seal the deal) the PFPower Pluglock power strip features 5 outlets each with their very own clamp to insure that the plug stays in place and that the juice is always delivered, pending any power outages or other acts of God.  It’s rated for 15 amps and includes a 5ft extension cord.  You can grab on now for about $45.

It’s too bad Rackspace couldn’t invest in an enterprise version of this.  If they did, maybe this site and many others wouldn’t have had any down time a few weeks ago.  ZING!

[via RFJ]

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This alien like probe is in fact a light that runs on soil.  The same stuff you put your feet on everyday (unless your in NYC or don’t leave your apartment) contains ‘energy conducive metals like zinc, copper and iron, and microbial fuel cells [that] are capable of converting electrolytes in soil into usable energy’.  Inside the device are conductive copper and zinc plates that draw energy from the soil and in theory can eternally power an LED light.  To add more power, or at least replenish the soil’s powers, just add a dash of water.

[Inhabitat]

Using magnetic attraction and repulsion, two Australian men have claimed to produce a perpetual motion machine that will produce infinite electricity.  The concept has long been disputed in scientific communities due to laws of nature – it’s incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to produce more energy then what you’re initially putting in.  They hope to sell the machines for $5,000 each, and liberate homes and businesses from the money sucking power companies some time next year.  Sounds like someone watched a shit load of Lost?

Does anyone know why everyone in Australia looks like they’re from the 80s?

[Crunchgear]

Ha! You thought the ‘wave’ and ‘floating’ were tech speak. Wrong! Although the patent was filed back in February of this year, it was just recently spotted by a Slashdotter. So what is it? A data center that’s powered and cooled by the ‘motion of the ocean’ and resides 7 miles from the coast. In some case, wind turbines could be added for extra energy. Another company, IDS, plans to launch a similar project, although there idea calls for using ‘discarded cargo ships’.

[Cnet]

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Features:

• Converts AC power to DC (car charger)
• Cool touch thermo plastic case

Buy it: PowerLine 12-Volt DC-AC / 1000 mA Power Socket – $10