“Eco-bling.”
These would be “green” gadgets and gizmos that seem really cool and fun, but maybe aren’t entirely useful when it comes to the whole “saving the planet” thing (like, perhaps, the Dragonfly farm towers proposed for Roosevelt Island).
To bring a little common sense to green gadget reporting, David Mackay of the Guardian suggests a one percent rule for reporting on green tech: if it’s not offsetting more than one percent of the energy expended by conventional machinery, it’s not worth the valuable media coverage that could be focusing on real impact.
For example, wind turbines are definitely worthwhile, while “kinetic road plates,” which harness a superfluous amount of the energy cars expend when entering a parking lot, aren’t.
Topping the list of awesomely ridiculous is a proposed sports bra designed to harness the energy of bouncing boobs to power an iPod. Adrienne So, the brainpower behind this innovative undergarment, feels that three years of lactation is not enough practical application for bouncy breasts. Fancy energy bra or not, at least fifty percent of the population (straight men and lesbians, I’m looking at you) can cite as many alternate uses for them as there are letters in this sentence.
OK the recharging bra is ridiculous but it might be worth a look!