By Andrew Liszewski
Sure, there’s the whole educational side to this Renewable Energy Racers set, teaching kids that cars don’t necessarily have to run on fossil fuels, but were I ever deemed responsible enough to be a parent I’d probably pick it up so that my kids didn’t need a constant supply of fresh batteries. The set includes 3 racers which can be powered by either a windmill, a solar panel or a hydrogren fuel cell, and while the first 2 options provide about 20 minutes of racing with a 10 to 30 minute charge (depending on the conditions like wind speed & sunlight) the fuel cell only provides about 5 minutes of fun, though with just 3 minutes of charging. Pros and cons kids… pros and cons.
Sadly it turns out you’ll still need a constant supply of AAs, 6 to be exact, which are used to power the 3 wireless remotes. I mean couldn’t they each have a built-in hand-cranked generator to demonstrate the benefits of human power? Or do they have to learn that lesson from The Flintstones or The Matrix? $89.95 available from Hammacher Schlemmer.
[ Renewable Energy Racers ] VIA [ Coolest Gadgets ]
Sounds like these toys precisely demonstrate the state of “green” energy technology. Looks pretty, costs a lot, but you've got to have a fossil-fuel generator idling behind the scenes to cover for all its flaws.