In the neverending plight to save energy in one's home, here are a few little guys to give you a helping hand:

Piranha Dynamo Shaver

All you gents out there know that, if you're using an electric shaver, you're most likely sucking power out of the grid. Wouldn't you rather get that nice clean shave carbon-free? If so, take a look at the Piranha Dynamo wind-up shaver. Every one minute of winding gets you two minutes of shaving. Sure, it's not the most convenient thing in the world. But neither is biking instead of driving, and that hasn't stopped us pedal-pushers yet. Plus, with all that winding, I have one word for you: biceps. (Or would it be delts? Or shoulders? Somebody call me an anatomist.)

EndoTherm

Since it's downright impossible to figure out a refrigerator's temperature from those clumsy dials or sliders, most people set their temperature too cold, in the hopes of extending the life of their produce and dairy as long as possible. But that, of course, means wasted energy. Some folks turn to thermometers to help them gauge the correct temperature, but most of those just measure the air, not the temperature of the food.

Enter the EndoTherm, a new thermometer from RefrigeratorSaver. Instead of taking air temperature, the EndoTherm measures the temp of silicone gel inside it, which serves as a proxy for the temperature inside your food. The company predicts that getting your fridge’s temperature right could save you 8-50% of your fridge energy costs. Incidentally, the EndoTherm’s inventor, Guy Lamstaes, was named one of the Guardian's "50 people who could save the planet," for another device he created for excessive cooling in commercial appliances.

Solar Beam I

I keep a clunky old flashlight around the house in case of power outages. Problem is, its batteries degrade over time. When I pulled the flashlight out recently, sure enough, it only gave off a weak beam. I could make a note to myself to periodically check the batteries (when I was checking the smoke detector, for example), but it'd be so much easier simply to have a flashlight I could always count on.

The Solar Beam I could be that flashlight. It's solar powered, which means, in theory, that if I simply left it on a windowsill 24/7, I could count on it always being ready in an emergency. Best part of all, it includes a jack for charging a number of cell phones (including some from Motorola, LG, Nokia, and Samsung). Because the last thing you need when the lights go out is a dead cell phone and no way to get a hold of the power company.