Looking at the Solar Powered Laptop Bag

Mark: Hey, I'm Mark Licea and this week we explore solar powered fashion on the streets of New York. We’ll tell you about smart and dumb appliances. And there’s a new bulb to help you practice safe lighting. The Green Show starts now. For all you solar fashionistas looking to accessories your purse or man bag, consider one of this. Conark Technologies announced their power plastic flexible solar panels for bags. They're working with German manufacturer Neuber to create bags that can both carry and charge your gadgets. They are 118 Euros or $175 US. From the pictures, they don’t look too bad. But who would really use something like this? We don’t have one of these particular bags, but we do have a solar panel bag from Voltaic. We’re going to take it to the streets of New York to see what people have to say. Let's go. First off, what is your impression of this bag? Male: I don’t really like the design so much, but I think its use to charge your laptop. Mark: So what do you think of the design, just by looking at it? You can hold it if you want. Female: Oh, it’s kind of heavy. Male2: It’s a little heavier than normal. Male3: Looks solar powered. Mark: So it’s a solar powered bag that collects energy, it charges your gadgets or your laptop. Female: Oh, so this is the solar panels. Mark: Yeah. Female: Only the bag is just heavy to me. For girls. I don’t think girls, especially girls, will like it. Mark: What kind of person do you think would buy something like this? Female: People who, like uses computer a lot. Or like travel a lot. Male: Businessmen who are always busy that only has time to charge their laptop. Mark: What do you think would be a price that you would pay for a bag like this? Male: Probably 150-200. If it’s really working, then good. Female: 100-150. Male3: 200 maybe. Male2: I think I would buy one for 100, depending on what gadget I needed. Mark: So this particular bag cost $500. So what do you think of that price? Male: Yeah, I think it’s too much for me. Male: You think something like this is practical in New York City. Because you're walking along at the same time there's a lot of tall buildings? Female: Yeah, but I think it’s the weight that concerns me. Male2: I think the majority of New Yorkers ride trains and cabs and everything. So they're out of direct sunlight, but people in office buildings I guess. Tall office buildings could leave it up against their window and charge it or if you're on school even. You leave it up against the window, but kids the status symbol who can afford to spend $500-$600 probably would. Male3: If I have 500 bucks to drop on this, I probably would. Because it’s a cool gadget. Who doesn’t like cool gadgets? Mark: In other solar news, last week we brought you the winners from iStage. Regen One first place for their renew solar panel. And this week, we’re showing you their Reverb iPod dock. It is pretty slick looking. It blasts 60 watts of sound from the speaker and of course it’s solar powered. It will be out next April and it looks pricey. Because it is. How does $2229 sound? Solar powered are not this, this is not a piece that you purchase to save on energy cost. Now speaking of energy costs, Whirlpool wants to help. Last week the Obama administration announced that billions of dollars of stimulus money would get funneled into different projects, Whirlpool is one of them. The company received a near $20 million from the department of energy. Whirlpool plans to build smart appliances to communicate with smart grids to let users know when and how they should use their equipment for maximum efficiency. Whirlpool hopes to have dryers like this out by 2011. The company is saying out with the old by pledging to discontinue the manufacturing of products that are not smart grid compatible. Or what they're calling dumb appliances. It sounds kind of harsh. Whirlpool says the switch is contingent upon consumer and manufacturer acceptance. A few weeks back we read emails on our show and one of our viewers mentioned our failure to bring attention to the dangers of mercury in CFL light bulbs. Well maybe they would be interested in a new product from Clear Lite. It’s a CFL bulb called Armorlite. The bulb comes in an unbreakable safety shell that prevents mercury from escaping. Clear Lite says it should be out in December or January for $8 apiece. But if mercury is that big of a concern, you could also upgrade to LEDs. You pay more upfront, but they're more efficient and no mercury. That’s it for this week, greenshow@cnet.com for all your questions and feedback. I'm Mark Licea, thanks for watching.