Swedish designer Peter Thuvander has come up with the iYo YoYo, a nifty green alternative way to charge your iPhone or iPod.

“To celebrate my new Iphone and the fact that darkness is looming over me. I´ve done this: An induction powered yoyocharger for Apple.

And since solarchargers don’t work at night or in Sweden half the year, this should be a smash hit.”

Thanks to a small Li-ion battery inside the yo-yo you build up a charge while you play with the iYo YoYo. Afterwards you can just plug in your iPod or iPhone and it will be charged.

Watch the video:

The Australian Consumer Association recently published a list on Computer Energy Costs for various home gadgets such as your computer screen, DVD player, cordless telephone, gaming console, laptop etc.

Interesting with this list is that it shows how much energy these gadgets consume weekly, monthly as well as yearly, even when they are supposed to be off.

According to the study, the Sony PlayStation 3 consumes 33.34 kWh (weekly consumption) when on and playing a game. That is more than a Plasma TV who uses 29.68 kWh when on and playing a DVD.

When the same game console is off (back switch on) it still consumes 0.30 kWh. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 consumes 0.40 kWh when off and 26.00 kWh when on and playing. The Nintendo Wii is a bit better, it consumes 3.14 kWh when on and playing a game. But it consumes 0.32 kWh when off (WiiConnect24 is off). That is more than PlayStation 3.

“Our tests also found that leaving a PlayStation 3 on while not in use would cost almost $250 a year in electricity bills (charged at 15c per kWh). This alone is around five times more than it would take to run a refrigerator for the same yearly period.

The Xbox 360 was not far behind the PlayStation 3 in energy usage costs per year, serving as an important reminder to turn off videogame systems after use.”

The only way to be sure these energy hungry gadgets don’t consume energy (and your money) is to make sure they are switched off and unplugged when you are not using them.