If achieving a natural fake tan seems like an oxymoron, you’ve yet to experience the organic goodness of plant-based self-tanners like Alba Botanicals’ Golden Tan Sunless Tanning lotion. As a redhead with milky white skin that inevitably ends up charred each summer, I’m all about “sunless.” Alba’s potion is chock full of organic plants and herbs like green tea and chamomile and delivers a natural glow without the harsh lingering scent of conventional tanners. For the pasty white and organically obsessed, this is clearly a minor victory.

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Eco Factor: Zero-emission yacht powered by hydrogen fuel cells generates renewable energy for on-board systems.

In a bid to study pollution caused by the use of fossil fuels in the Mediterranean, the Zero CO2, which is the world’s first hydrogen propelled yacht, will set sail in March 2010. The objective of the Zero CO2 project is to create a clean way to commute across the seas without emitting a single gram of carbon.

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Eco Factor: Sustainable space gets inflated with passing wind currents.

Created by Mass Studies, the Air Forest provides sustainable space for a wide range of applications. The 1,400 square-meter pavilion can be inflated with passing wind currents and once deflated can easily be transported and set up at some other location without making use of any specialized building materials.

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Eco Factor: Concept cellphone powered by alcohol.

Apart from solar and wind energy, other green energy sources are being developed to run our portable gadgets and like always designers are taking cellphones to perfect their most ingenious of technologies. Industrial designer Tryi Yeh is developing a new “high” for communication with a cellphone powered by wine.

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Eco Factor: Device captures water condensate in the AC for watering the garden.

Summer months are not just hard for you, but the same for your garden as well. Watering gardens during summers increases your utility bills and if you forget doing it, some of your plants will have to pay for it. The AIR-igator system solves both the issues by collecting condensate from air conditioners and storing it in an underground tank for watering the garden.

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Eco Factor: Hydrosense water consumption monitor tracks leaks to their source.

Tracking electricity consumption in a normal household isn’t a new concept, but tracking water usage and detecting the tap which is consuming the most with just one device installed somewhere in the plumbing system is unique, and the tech is not just ingenious but efficient as well. Shwetak Patel, a professor of computer science and electrical engineering at the University of Washington has developed a unique sensing device called Hydrosense, which can plug into water pipes in a household and detect the tap which is consuming the most water and can also detect leaks back to their source.

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Eco Factor: Energy-efficient HomePlug adapter saves up to 50% power in standby mode.

Energy-efficiency is the need of the hour, and electronic companies are quite well versed with the requirements as most products launched recently offer greater energy savings and hence a reduction in utility bills. Guillemot Corporation has unveiled the Hercules ePlug 200, their latest in networking-over-power gadgets, which the company claims saves up to 50% energy.

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Eco Factor: Limousines powered by biofuel produced from plant waste.

The world’s most important climate change conference will see the likes of Gordon Brown and Barack Obama being ferried in luxurious limousines propelled by a unique biofuel generated from plant waste. The next-gen biofuel isn’t made from crops like corn-based ethanol is, rather it uses plant waste and the rest of the crop goes for consumption as food or other much important uses.

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Eco Factor: Modular home generates solar and wind electricity, harvests rainwater.

Designed by Michael Jantzen, the Homestead House is a design for alternative housing that explores the potential use of renewable energy generating systems and recyclable materials to reduce the carbon footprint of its owners. The modular house is to be made from recyclable steel sheets, which are to be bolted together for easy disassembly. This allows the homeowner to construct it with ease and in minimum time and with minimum cost.

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Eco Factor: Algae to be used for cheap ethanol production.

In an effort to fuel the world with clean and cheap energy, Dow Chemical and Algenol Biofuels have partnered to build algae farms that can convert carbon dioxide into ethanol, which can either be used to power vehicles or can also be used to produce plastic by replacing the use of natural gas. The team has announced that they will build a demonstration plant that would effectively convert CO2 into fuel.

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Eco Factor: Digital camera made from recycled plastics comes with Smart-Eco Wheel.

The advent of digital cameras made it possible for all budding photographers to test their skills. This increase in demand made camera manufacturers debut countless products that in one way or the other were made to suit your requirements. However, most of these manufacturers don’t really consider the impact of these devices on the environment. Since these devices are made from plastic and carry hazardous batteries under their hood, once disposed of they tend to harm the delicate ecosystem of the planet.

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