This article is by Dan Harrison who writes about all kinds of eco gadgets for EnviroGadget.com. Dan is particularly interested in energy saving gadgets so that he can do his bit for the environment as well as saving money on increasingly expensive energy bills!

Eco gadgets are most definitely a growth market now. Sure there are lots of gadgets that are a waste of time and money, but there are also some gadgets that are genuinely useful. In this article, Dan talks about 10 of his favourite eco-friendly gadgets that are designed with the green traveler in mind.

1. Wind up Torch

If we’re going camping or anywhere else where there’s likely to be a lack of lighting when night falls, then we need a torch. Conventional torches eat through lots of batteries, so something rechargeable would be great. Rather than use standard rechargable batteries, why not have a wind up torch? I have two of these torches myself, and they’re fantastic! Just a minute or so of winding up and you get around 30 minutes of torch light. In practice, the light dims after a few minutes, so you just top it up again. You never need to worry about finding some batteries ever again!

2. Wind Up Walkie Talkies

On the theme of wind up gadgets, there’s a great way to keep in touch with your party, or kids, or anyone really, and that’s with a walkie talkie. However, we hit the same issues with batteries, so how about some wind up walkie talkies? For a minute of winding, you get 2 minutes of talking time and 10 minutes of standby time. Perfect for emergencies, and you don’t need to worry about mobile phone reception either.

3. Wind up 2-Way FM/AM Radio

If you want to go a little more advanced, then the 2-Way AM/FM/NOAA Emergency Crank Radio gives you a more bulky version of a walkie talkie, but you also get FM and AM radio. This means you can listen to local radio stations whilst you’re out traveling. Again, no need to worry about batteries, as you just crank it up for more hours of musical enjoyment.

4. Freeloader Solar Charger

f you are taking a mobile phone, games console or an MP3 player, you’ll only get a few hours use out of them on a single charge. If you’re out traveling somewhere sunny, then you can enjoy your gadgets for much longer with a Freeloader Solar Charger. In sunny conditions, the Freeloader charges up its internal battery in about 7 to 9 hours. When you want to charge up your gadget, just hook it up to the Freeloader charger.

5. 2C Solar Cap

When you’re walking about at night, you’ll need a torch to see what you’re doing, and you could use the wind up torch mentioned above. However, if you need both hands free to read maps, then the 2C Solar Cap is really useful. I’ve tried it myself and the bright white LEDs are at the perfect angle to light the path in front of you as you’re walking. You only need to charge the cap up in sunlight for a couple of hours to get a few hours of light for night hiking.

6. SteriPEN Water Sterilization Pen

Right, time for a drink, but you’ve run out of drinking water. How do you know the locally available water is safe to drink? There’s no need to worry with a SteriPEN. The SteriPEN uses ultraviolet light to sterilise clear drinking water (i.e. filtered water) to kill any nasty bacteria that remain in the water. The SteriPEN comes in a range of sizes, including a very portable traveler size. A single set of AA batteries is capable of sterilizing up to 100 litres of water, and even then you can use rechargeable batteries.

7. Solar Pocket Shower

It’s been a long days walk and you need a shower, thankfully you set up a Solar Pocket Shower in the morning and filled it up with 10 litres of cold water. Thanks to the sun’s energy, the water in the black PVC-free bag heated up, meaning you can have a nice warm shower in

8. Popup Shelter with Solar Shower

Stripping in the middle of a field may not be great for your modesty, so if you’d like to be a little more discrete, consider the popup shelter with a solar shelter. Basically its the same solar shower, but in a tall tent-like cubicle to allow you to shower and change in comfort.

9. Sh*t Box

Nature calls, so where’s the nearest bush? Well save the bush the trauma and try the cardboard toilet instead! The rather oddly name device contains disposable liners, which can be buried when you’re done. The bags are biodegradable, so they do no harm to the environment.

10. Solar-powered Backpack

Finally we need something to keep all of our gadgets in! The Blackhills Solar Backpacks are designed to top up all your mobile phone, PDA, games console, MP3 gadgets, etc. Thanks to a whole collection of charging adaptors, you’ll easily be able to charge up pretty much any gadget you can throw at it. There’s even a headphone socket so that you can keep your music gadgets dry inside the backpack.

So there you go, 10 eco gadgets for your next adventure. Got any eco gadgets you recommend for travelling?