Apple has launched a new campaign, self-proclaiming themselves as producers of the greenest notebooks ever. The ad is mainly about their new unibody aluminum construction and glass displays that were one of the highlights at the most recent Macworld event.

Among other changes from standard notebooks, the new Macbooks have eliminated the use of toxins such as mercury that are found in other notebooks computers.

Apple also brags about the energy efficiency of their notebooks, claiming that they run on 25% power of a single lightbulb now that the LCDs are backlit by the use of LEDs.

Steve Jobs promised to eliminate all toxic materials from Apple hardware by the end of 2008.

Black and Decker will be releasing the LightsOut, an IR gadget that turns out lights when it stops detecting movement in front of it’s sensor. The device is fairly straightforward and mounts directly on to a light switch, as shown in the photo above. It’s battery powered and instantly turns the lights back on once motion is again detected. The unit also offers the ability to set the time for shut-off, so you can have lights go out thirty minutes after it stops detecting motion instead of just one or two. This could be useful for those that move very, very slowly. The company has yet to issue word on pricing. Click here for more information.

Never mind SUVs, everybody knows the real energy hogs of our modern culture. Street lamps. Those insipid gas guzzlers may look inconspicuous, but they are standing there all night every night. Ruining the world one flicker at a time. Philips Simplicity has had enough of that. They’ve unveiled their Light Blossom, a self-sustainable street lamp that is filled with energy-efficient LEDs. It powers itself via solar panels located on top of the lamp. You may have noticed it also looks like a surreal blossoming flower. Once they get enough of these on the streets the world will finally look like a Willy Wonka wonderland. Thank goodness for that.

iKey has come up with LED backlit keyboards that are compatible with night vision goggles. They do stuff like this for the military, but it is also applicable in law enforcement and emergency medical operations that need and use night-vision.