This comes from the, “well duh!” file. A UK firm is developing a canopy designed to be mounted over a parking spot with solar cells, so people driving all-electric vehicles can charge while parked. This sounds like a really great idea. Imagine being able to charge up your car while you’re at work.

If all the paper shredders in the world were hand operated like this Eco-Friendly Hand Crank Paper Shredder, it’d save enough electricity to power every building on all seven continents until the year 2096. That statement may or may not be true, but why take any chances?

I think I can safely say that we all wouldn’t mind getting a little greener in our everyday lives, but one of the most obvious steps — going solar — is simply impractical for people of limited means like myself. By making a solar easier and, if not cheap, then at least cheaper, Veranda Solar is surely only one of many companies that will grow on this new wave of green. These little panel arrays are simple, lightweight, and can be installed in an hour or two. That’s more than can be said about practically any solar solution today.

What’s that dumb joke, something about “why do you park on a driveway and drive on a parkway”? That logic doesn’t really hold up when you’re looking at something like these solar-powered garden lights. They’re IKEA’s first such “solar” products, which means we’re in for a treat in the upcoming months as more and more goodies trickle out.

Trying to improve on their existing hybrid tech, Toyota is looking at what materials actually go into that hybrid you’ve been looking at. One of the more esoteric materials that they are considering is bioplastics.

It was reasonable to guess that change like this would find its start in that heaven for both car lovers and hippies, California. Specifically San Francisco, because I don’t think LA has any plans to go electric any time soon. SF mayor Gavin Newsom wrote a blog post at Gas 2.0 describing the first (hopefully of many) electric vehicle charge points, which seem to be called both ChargePoints (naturally) and Smartlets.

Recently, many companies have announced green initiatives and recycling programs. LG is following suit and has announced its own green products and initiatives under its a new slogan: “Life’s Good When It’s Green.” We saw the beginnings of this with their big solar and wind charger at CES.

If you’re looking for a greener solution for washing your clothes, or you want to be able to wash them in your home but don’t have a ton of space, there might be a solution out there after all. Enter the Wonder Wash, a portable, inexpensive, and fairly green alternative to the coin fed beasts at the corner laundromat.

One of the major issues with solar panels is the cost. Since they require some pretty advanced technology to manufacture, it’s not so easy to make them cost-effective. So when you consider that in some cases it can take literally years to pay back the investment, justifying the purchase can be a bit problematic.

Perfect! Now you can go camping and not worry about recharging your notebook in the great outdoors. The YoGen MaxT produces enough juice when in use to power produce 50-60 Watts which is enough to keep your notebook running. All you need to do is push on the self-returning foot pedal to generate the power. Plus, an internal bank of AA keeps the power flowing while you give your leg a rest. The whole device folds up for easy traveling too. Hippies and treehuggers must check out the video of it in action after the break.

The Hornblower Hybrid, as it is called, is a one-off ferry made to service the Alcatraz route. Normally when companies want to “go green,” they stick a solar panel on top, add a recycle bin and they’re done. It looks like these guys have gone the whole hog, however, an d have not only retrofitted the engines but redone the interior and replaced, they say, 90% of the thing.

Make’s Phil Torrone entered this odd gadget, the Tweet-a-Watt, in the Green Gadgets design competition. It’s essentially a Kill-a-Watt with a capacitor and transmitter added that will Tweet your current power usage using a nearby computer or wireless Arduino mini PC.

This unique-looking laptop bag/backpack from Leeds is not only cool, but made of 100% recycled materials. That’s always good news, and we’re seeing more bag makers go that way, notably Targus and Lowepro. And why not?

Ha! The green-crazy European Union is looking to ban energy inefficient TVs, including large plasmas, in the interest of saving Mother Earth. Nope, not joking.

Environmental magazine Plenty got a doozie of a pickle of a question concerning the upcoming switch to digital TV. The gist of the question is: Which would use less energy: an old, analogue tube TV plus a converter, or a brand new digital set?

Although it’s pretty certain that every major car manufacturer has “plans” to develop a solar-powered vehicle, Toyota appears to be actually putting out PR about it. According to the Nikkei, they’ve got plans for what is likely a Prius augmented by solar panels on it and elsewhere, and later for a solar-only vehicle as well.

Just 8 months after Virgin Atlantic flew a 747 from London to Amsterdam on coconut and babassu nut biofuel, Air New Zealand has done it also.

Dell has announced a new approach to computer packaging that will save the company an estimated $8 million or more while eliminating around 20 million pounds of packaging materials over the next four years. And this isn’t the first green move we’ve seen from the PC giant.

The little lady ordered up a pair of running shoes from FinishLine.com recently and, wouldn’t you know it, the tiny 12” x 7” x 4” shoebox was shipped in a gigantic 19” x 19” x 19” box devoid of padding, air bubbles, or any other type of filler.