Buying a powermonkey is one step towards a green home, allowing mobile phones to be recharged on the move up to three times and removing the need for interchangeable and potentially harmful replacement batteries to be carried around.

However, the company has now noted one innovative idea of how to make a green home even greener for tech-savvy shoppers who have invested in the iPad from Apple.

Blogger Lucky Joe explains that the plastic insert from inside the powermonkey's packaging is the perfect shape to hold an iPad upright.

His instructions claim that adapting the insert is "a doddle" - and simply requires a little padding to be added to the places where the iPad contacts the stand.

Lucky Joe also suggests that the home-made stand could be even better than the commercially available equivalent, as it can hold the iPad horizontally, rather than only in a portrait position.

"We applaud the designer's ingenuity and, frankly, the sheer wizardry with which it's put together," manufacturer Powertraveller adds.