Even Toys Are Getting Greener

While much of the alternative energy community is hard at work concentrating their efforts at solutions for consumer and corporate use, a small subset of that same community is stashed away cooking up green ideas for the kids in our lives.

While browsing Inhabitots yesterday, I noticed their feature on the world’s tiniest solar car. At just 33×22x14mm, the Mini Solar Racer is entirely solar powered and can even utilize light emitted artificially indoors - provided its bright enough. Though the scalability of the design isn’t the most apparent from its existing state, the car does provide an interesting way to instill a sense of sustainability in tomorrow’s future. Perhaps by growing up with solar cars instead of Hotwheels, we’ll keep the green movement growing.

Also of note is a tiny adaptation of Hydrogen technology (”It’s the technology of the future - and it always will be.”) to a children’s toy to create an entirely self-sufficient vehicle for the little ones to play with. The Smart Hydrogen Car puts cutting-edge technology at the fingertips of today’s youth at a price that is surprisingly low (despite being rather high for a children’s toy). At roughly $120, the mini hydrogen car isn’t exactly going to take over the market but, for a small few, it could be the best thing to happen to toys since the Easy Bake Oven and GI-JOE.

Look for part two in our series on sustainable toys sometime in the near future.