The Best Eco-Gadgets

Get back in the black by going green with your tech toys.

Solio Magnesium Edition $199.99 

Set in a compact, sturdy magnesium-alloy casing, solar panels soak up the sun’s energy and pump it back out into your phone, MP3 player, camera, or other gadget. You can also charge it up via AC power, and you can get extra tips for just about any device — even that finicky iPhone. (www.solio.com)

CEXchange – You make money!

Recycle your old gadgets — everything from iPods and phones to game consoles and car stereos — for the best reward of all: cold, hard cash. Print out their prepaid shipping labels and receive your dough via PayPal or check, or have it sent to a charity. (www.cexchange.com)

Husqvarna Solar Hybrid Automower $4000

Lazy homeowners will rejoice in this robotic lawnmower’s ability to cut your grass on its own as it draws power via solar panels (or AC power) instead of gas. It avoids your lawn furniture thanks to on-board sensors and returns to the shed or garage by itself when the job’s done. (www.husqvarna.com)

V-Dimension Helius Solar Backpack$129.95

This solar-panel-wielding backpack has an on-board battery pack that stores enough sun energy to charge your portable device (iPod, cell phone, or anything that charges via mini-USB) twice. It can hold (but not charge) a 15.4-inch laptop, and it’s fairly light on its own at 3.5 lbs. (www.v-dimension.com)

Kill A Watt PS $99.99

Building on the success of the single-outlet Kill A Watt, this model sports 8 outlets and a blue LCD. It tells you exactly how much power your electronics waste, even when they’re turned off — giving you an idea of which items you can unplug to save money. (http://www.p3international.com)

Isolé IDP-3050 Plug Load Control $90

This power strip isn’t just smart — it’s observant. A mouse-size sensor detects when you leave the room and tells the strip to turn off the six controlled outlets, leaving the remaining two always on and keeping your electric bill manageable. (www.wattstopper.com)

Dell Latitude D630c – Starts at $1248

EnergyStar 4.0 compliance and a Gold rating from US gov’t-sponsorerd EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool), this laptop can help you minimize your impact on our planet. With a minimum 2GHz Intel Core Duo chip and up to 4GB RAM, you won’t feel like you’re doing the computing equivalent of driving one of those embarrassingly slow electric cars. (www.dell.com)

Lenovo ThinkCentre M57/M57p Eco – Starts at $884

This is the most energy efficient model in Lenovo’s ThinkCentre desktop lineup, but it still packs an Intel Core 2 Duo processer (2.2 to 2.66GHz) and up to 2GB of RAM. It got a Gold rating from EPEAT, making this black box look even greener. (www.lenovo.com)