The best of the Greener Gadgets Design Competition, so far

The Greener Gadgets Conference is coming up in a few weeks here, so we thought we'd bring you some highlights of the design competition it's sponsoring. First up, Recompute is a fully sustainable design for a desktop computer -- meaning that it makes use of low-impact manufacturing, uses fully recycled materials, and is easily dismantled at the end of its life for... you guessed it: more recycling. We don't have full specs on this puppy right now, but we know it's got 8 USB ports, and that we're getting one if it ever makes it to production. Also in the running is the RITI eco-friendly printer, which uses coffee and / or tea dregs in place of costly, old, boring and non-eco-friendly ink. The printer is also manually operated, and does not use electricity -- which may not make it the speediest device in the world -- but we don't print that much, anyway. Next up, there's Harddrive -- which is a simple USB flash drive encased in concrete to stave off harmful leaching into landfills once disposed of -- though the concrete obviously makes the drive a bit nastier to haul around town. Finally, the Inlet Outlet is a whole-home concept that combines a standard outlet -- which eats up the juice -- with an inlet right next to it, which returns some electricity to the grid. The design is for adapter kits which could easily be used to green up your home. Votes are being tabulated online for the Greener Gadgets Competition, whose winners will be announced on February 27, 2009, at the Greener Gadgets Conference in New York. Check the gallery for more photos of the submissions.