Of course it’s been in development for years. A 2007 version was able to produce 5 tons of cooling using 1200 watts of power. Today’s version can create 5 tons of cooling using only 600 watts, quite a big leap forward, making it closer to within the reach of some ordinary folk and small businesses. Have patience and remember that Orville’s first flight only lasted 12 seconds.

So how does this wonder appliance work?  A fan draws into the air conditioner the outside air. Then a filtering system cleans the air. A new, patented technology called “Heat and Mass Exchange” or HMX treats the air. Half the air is saturated with water and is returned to the atmosphere. The other half of the air is now “conditioned” or cooled, with no added moisture. The cooled, conditioned air is then returned into the structure via a duct system.

Because the solar panels, interestingly, work less efficiently when they get too hot, like on the very hottest days of the year, the device could actually work less well the more it is needed. Luckily for us the designers use the cooled but highly humid air discarded from the device to cool down the solar panels, helping keep the Coolerado functioning at its best and keeping us cool and comfortable more efficiently.

Well, sorry to disappoint, but a solar-powered cockroach is not much better than a natural cockroach, accept in this case you can command your personal roach to scare anyone you like at your leisure, while natural roaches take years, even decades to learn the simplest commands. According to some people who have tried this toy, it is basically a small piece of plastic shaped to resemble a big black bug, with a solar panel integrated into its body. When light shines on it, and I hear it take quite a bit of light, the thing begins to vibrate like a cell phone getting a call in “vibrate” mode. And the shaking is what causes the motion. It is nothing more than a cute way to demonstrate the transformation of solar energy into kinetic energy, which is certainly an interesting thing, but can lose its charm quite quickly.  Especially if one of your not-pleased friends decides to swat the thing with a newspaper, or crush it under his shoe. Luckily they only cost about $15, or $2.54 from dealextreme. At that price why not get a few dozen, scatter them on your bathroom floor, and pretend you are back in New York City. Well worth the effort considering how much rent you save by not really living there.

I took the liberty of investigating some intriguing energy-saving gadgets that can bring us hi-tech nerdy types a little bit closer to hugging our mother earth.

1.    Lenova ThinkCentre A61e: This innovative computer is quiet and can be powered by an optional solar panel instead of using electricity from an outlet. It is manufactured using 90% reusable/recyclable materials, including the packaging it comes boxed in. Lenovo says that the average user can save about $20 each year in energy costs, and will save about as much carbon dioxide emissions as two round-trip plane rides from New York to Boston. I’d certainly rather be on my computer than go to Boston, especially not TWICE!

2.    IntelliPanel:  Standby mode is a thing of the past, and with it the wasted energy stand-by uses, with this accessory, which will automatically switch on power to your peripherals like printers, monitors and routers, only when the computer is turned on; and will likewise switch off the peripherals when the computer is turned off. Cool! Now I really never have to remember ANYTHING!

3.    USB Cell Batteries: Get this for smart. You do love rechargeable batteries, but hate their companion rechargers, right? Well USB Cell Batteries are recharged by plugging into the USB port of any computer. Where ever you take your laptop you will have a place to charge up these clever batteries.

4.    Solar Powered Backpack: What will they think of next? Get some charging done while hiking through the woods. The backpack’s solar panel faces the sun and takes those powerful rays and transforms them into electricity for your iPod and cell phones.

5.    Nintendo Wii: What’s this doing on my list exactly? I know it seems a bit out of place on a blog dedicated to Earth Day, which brings to mind hugging trees and walking around barefoot and eating sprouts- but even nerds care about the earth (we think)- and what better way to love the earth than to sit in your living room “virtually” doing just about anything, and only using 10% of the electricity that other gaming consoles (which will remain nameless) use. And think about how much fuel for your car you save by never going anywhere.  And less wear and tear on your clothes, less consumption or air, and just about everything else.  Yes a Wii can really save a lot of energy, and help to save the earth too.

Electronics and electricity are born with the work of several prominent physicists such as Coulomb, Ampere, Gauss, Faraday, Henry, and Maxwell. Such works were collected in 1865 in the formal framework of the theory of electromagnetism, by Maxwell (deduced from the equations that bear his name). That theory, however, had to wait until 1888 for his demonstration. The demonstration referred to the Hertz realize with generation in the laboratory from electromagnetic waves. Later, in 1896, Marconi achieved transmission and detection of these waves (called terrestrial) and opened the way for future developments as important as television and telecommunications.

More specifically, the rise of electronics, as a branch of science was in 1895, the year in which Lorentz postulated the existence of charged particles called electrons, which was demonstrated experimentally by Thompson two years later. Braun, in 1897 published his invention of the first electronic tube, rudimentary ancestor of cathode ray tubes that are part of the TV valve transistor.

Electronics did not assume the connotations that characterize modern technology until the early twentieth century with the invention of the first components and in particular in 1904, with the creation of the vacuum tube or diode, by the British physicist John Ambrose Fleming. The diode, then, consisted essentially of two metal electrodes contained in a vacuum tube, one of which (the cathode) is heated by a filament.

Because of this warming, the cathode emits electrons (thermo-ionic effect) that are accelerated toward the other electrode (the anode) when the latter is maintained positive with respect to the cathode. Inserted in a circuit, the diode shows the important property of only conducting current when voltage is applied to it a certain direction. In this way, it allows the conduction of an alternating current.

The current that is obtained by connecting an appliance to one of the jacks on the walls of the houses (mains). From these early beginnings to today’s iPods and cell phones, electronics has taken a real leap.