Eco-Gifts for High-Tech Women: Energy Products Articles: Eco20/20

Eco-Gifts for High-Tech Women

Picking a gift for an eco-friendly tech-loving woman might seem like a doomed contradiction. But, just to get you thinking, here are some eco-friendly suggestions ranging from tech to shiny-sparkly, which may just catch her fancy.

What do Girls Want?

According to surveys, travel is the gift most ladies love best. Fashion accessories, especially jewelry, came second. Technology took third. But just as important, the surveys say women don't want a generic gift for their house, for their car, or for sports. Unless a woman specifically asks for something she picked out, skip those; it's pampering for herself that will count the most.

* Travel:

Exotic or local either will do; what matters is the thrill of something new. As long as it's new to her, different may be as easy as an afternoon at a spa or a trip to a scenic site.

o There are online guides to eco-friendly day-spas and stay-spas, check out the ones in your area.

o If you're looking for something extreme, that combines tech and travel, take her on a mad dash to Wisconsin to visit Dr. Evermor's Art Park, the technophile's ultimate recycling extravaganza, where you'll find the "Forevertron", the world's largest Steampunk sculpture, and more than seventy other amazing scrape-iron creations.

* Fashion Accessories

o Solar purses are chic power units designed to charge assorted handheld electronics. As sleek as any designer handbag, they're studded with solar cells hooked to a storage battery tucked in the lining; and they can charge a cell phone in about two hours.

o If anyone doesn't know tech-junk is being recycled into jewelry, you should drag yourself out of the root cellar to go shopping more often. At first, it was only a girly-teen thing. Then along came a few intricate Steampunk pieces. Now, designers are bringing tech jewelry to a higher level of sophistication.

* Green -Tech Gadgets

o LG has developed two green-tech e-reader options. One is outfitted with its own integrated solar panel. It needs 4.5 hours of sunlight to juice the device for an entire day. The other has a display that can be illuminated by sunlight instead of the backlight when used outdoors, increasing visibility and cutting energy use by 75 percent.

o LED light therapy is touted as good for skin and health; there are options for pain relief and healing, for killing acne-causing bacteria, and for smoothing wrinkles.

o Nokia has four green tech phones (N8, E7, C7, & C6-01). All are energy efficient, free of hazardous chemicals and contain bio plastics. In addition, the Nokia C6-01 contains recycled metals and the Nokia C7 contains bio-based paints.

o Samsung offers the Reclaim, a phone made with post-consumer plastics that's free of hazardous chemical, is made with water-based paint, and has an energy saving charger.

When it comes to choosing what will appeal to your particular lady, you're on your own; but remember what humorist Marcelene Cox once said, "The quickest way to know a woman is to go shopping with her."