Check out this cool Lego wind turbine, for your budding bright green boy or girl!

via

I like how it requires batteries. ;-)

Posted by: Tom on July 22, 2008 10:25 AM

Tom...that's funny stuff and all too true of most things so-called sustainable in today's world!

Posted by: JoshS on July 22, 2008 11:09 AM

Oh that's really great. As for the battery thing, I'm sure it can be hacked without too much difficulty and combined with this:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/31/loopwing-toy-car-runs-on-wind-power/

Posted by: Scatter on July 22, 2008 1:37 PM

Isn't that 'green' Lego wind turbine built from plastic that is made from oil? Nice work Lego. ;)

Posted by: Muck on July 22, 2008 3:11 PM

I'd be more impressed by Lego toys made out of hemp oil. There is educational value in this: You can teach kids how greenwashing works!

Posted by: Lee on July 22, 2008 3:50 PM

It's easy to accuse Lego of greenwashing here, but let's assume that (a) Lego will continue to make sets as it always has and (b) kids will play with them as they always have. In that case, it doesn't strike me as a bad thing at all that Lego's giving kids an opportunity to get excited about windmills instead of, say, Hummers.

Sure, there's a lot they could be doing better, but there's a lot basically everybody could be doing better. There are certainly companies out there doing a whole lot less.

Posted by: Jon on July 22, 2008 4:23 PM

Yeah, that's too bad about it using batteries instead of charging them; I'd probably just encourage whoever built it to leave those out.

I think it's great, though, how it celebrates wind-power and puts that image in kids' minds as something exciting.

Posted by: TRBeck on July 22, 2008 5:15 PM

Maybe the batteries are solar powered.

(Wellington the womble once invented a solar powered windmill)

...but wait, the sign on the side of the pack clearly states 'batteries not included'. Yes, definitely scope for innovation here.

Posted by: Tony Fisk on July 22, 2008 10:43 PM

On the plus side, Lego lasts forever and can stay something your child will play with for a very long time. Heck, I still play with lego, and I have lego that's more than 40 years old that I've _inherited_.

Now that's some sequestered carbon.

Posted by: Crosius on July 25, 2008 5:14 AM

I think it is funny that LEGO puts out a product that resembles something positive and people bash it because it isn't good enough or not innovative enough or not quite up to their expectations. Unfortunately, the same people who complain probably don't do much of anything, shuffle through their mediocre lives, and let everyone else know what they are doing wrong. Perhaps we should invest more money in new technology and less money in stupid people...

Posted by: Billy on August 7, 2008 11:03 AM