[ Music ]
>> Michael Kanellos: Shanghai's Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies has come out with a hydrogen-powered sports car. Unfortunately it's only about 9 inches long and wouldn't even hold a hamster. Hi, I am Michael Kanellos at CNET's News.com. And the H2-racer at a $115 is one of the best green gifts you can give a kid this holiday season. The hydrogen to run the car comes from a mini power plant that runs on batteries or on a solar panel. You put the water in the holding tank and nature does the rest. Kids learn about alternative energy and they can annoy the cat too.
Driving can be a painful experience for the eco minded, so why not grease up your fuel economy. Greasecar Vegetable Oil conversion systems are available for a wide variety of diesel cars and trucks. The kits come with everything. You can either run a vehicle on only vegetable oil, and it could become that holiday vacation project for that special someone.
[ background noise ] And for the speed demon in your house get this lithium-ion powered motorcycle from Zero Motorcycles at Scotts Valley. The $6900 motorcycle costs about as much as a 250cc bike but they are completely silent, none of that veeeee ... and it's quite fast too. I almost ran over founder Neal Saiki in a test drive earlier this year. But after that 10 minutes I got the handle of it and I was hooked.
Of course, if you want to go bonkers this holiday season, try the Nissan Altima Hybrid. It's a new hybrid from Nissan. It's peppy and it's got some integrated technology options that are pretty interesting, including a great stereo and traffic enabled navigation. Nissan hopes to have fully electric cars in mass production in about 5 years.
The Voltaic Solar Backpack doubles as a tiny waterproof mobile generator that controls just about any device. An MP3 player, a cell phone, but one thing it can't do is a laptop. It's got a built in battery pack that store's its solar energy and it costs about 229. It's great for individualists and rugged hikers. Solar Style and other companies also offer portable chargers.
Compact fluorescent bulbs are all the rage these days but they contain mercury and other noxious chemicals, so you just can't throw them away. Several companies including Sylvania and Bulbs.com now offer CFL recycling kits. So you can send those dead bulbs to a better after life. Granted, Tiny Tim won't get teary eyed and shout, "God blesses everyone!" when he unwraps his CFL recycling kit on Christmas morning. But it's certainly a unique present for any real greenie on your list.
And for the home garden on your list pick up a bottle of Serenade from AgraQuest. It's a bio- pesticide. It's not made out of chemicals instead it's made out of microbes from places like Honduras to kill mould, yeast and mildew on contact. It's safe for humans and pets. In fact, it's the same stuff organic farmers use on their crops. Price? About $15 a bottle and it's available at most upscale gardening stores. Nothing after all says Happy Holidays like a big jug of insecticide.
I am Michael Kanellos at CNET's News.com and I have got to go put a 20 pound turkey in the oven.
[ Music ]
