4 Eco Inventions Designed to Make Life Easier

Every day people come up with what they hope will be the next great invention. While it is often said that “Necessity is the mother of invention“, people can design things for any number of reasons: to improve an existing condition, help make an existing design even better, create something nobody else ever thought of or just invent something fun. Here are 4 cool eco-inventions that are designed to help make life easier:

1) Brake Light Detector: This one comes from the Create the Future Design Contest that I wrote about earlier. It is a submission from Alon Cohen from New Jersey, who has come up with an innovative brake light detector mechanism that would essentially “connect” cars.

Each individual driver would no longer be solely relying on the driver in front of them to apply their brakes in time. This mechanism would automatically link up vehicles through an infrared system that illuminates the brake lights of a certain number of vehicles behind the initial braking car.

It’s a creative way to reduce traffic jams, improve fuel economy, cut down on accidents, improve driving time, reduce fuel consumption and more.

You can get more information on and vote for Alan’s design here.

2) POLLI-Brick™: This one is a creative recycled invention that comes from the green minds at MINIWIZ. The POLLI-Brick is a one of a kind brick made from recycled PET bottles.

Image by theqspeaks

But what makes the POLLI-Brick even better is its extreme versatility. The bricks are designed to be self-interlocking, so assembly is relatively simple. The material is sturdy, natural and not flimsy at all. Its honeycomb design makes a POLLI-Brick ideal to provide not only insulation for energy, but for sound as well. You can build anything from a garden light or skylight to an entire fireproof wall or building.

The POLLI-Brick’s architectural application was truly showcased as part of the Taipei International Expo 2010 when 1.5 million Polli-Bricks were used to build their fashion pavilion.

3) Aura Organic Air Filtration: This stylish invention combines the beauty of house plants with the functionality of an air filtration system.

One of the coolest features of this particular air filter is that you don’t need to worry about plugging it in.

Unlike conventional air filtration systems, the Aura Organic doesn’t waste energy and you won’t need to spend money or worry about cleaning filters.

The Aura Organic Air Filtration just takes a good plant and some sunlight to “power” the air filter. And since plants can remove up to 90% of the toxins commonly found in homes, it’s a very eco solution.

My only big question is….do I need to have a green thumb in order to make the Aura Organic Air Filtration system work? I sure hope not as mine needs a little work.

Image from coroflot.com

4) Zero Pollution Aircraft Engine©: This fourth one is another entry in the Create the Future Design Contest. It comes from Jeremiah Haler of Kingstown, Indiana on behalf of Massive Nibble.

They hope their invention will be the first solar powered aircraft engine (for both commercial and private aircrafts). But there is an added bonus to the ZPAE©, it will also be “clean, quiet, compact and nearly vibration-free“.

So if you happen to live in the flight path of your local airport you could be looking at a sound sleep in the future!

It won’t be limited to sunny day flights either. With a backup fuel system on board capable of generating power from a battery, compressed air, biomass or essentially any renewable fuel, flights will be able to run rain or shine.

So what do you think of those 4 eco inventions? Pretty cool in my book. But, before you decide which ones you are “sold” on, please remember that many of the inventions from the past were considered unrealistic or far-fetched. Take for example Jack Nicholson’s 1978 Hydrogen Car. Whatever became of that?

There are so many creative inventions constantly coming to light, eco and otherwise, that it’s always nice to check out a few that could make your life easier.