Green Tech
We love gadgets. We love our planet. Green technology combines the two for you, offering high-tech, ménage à trois solutions for eco-friendly lovers.
Solar Chargers
Harness the energy from our closest star to charge your phone, tablet, or laptop. Portable, relatively inexpensive, and available in a wide variety of sizes, many solar chargers are water resistant and can fully charge a dead smartphone in as little as an hour. These devices save energy and cut greenhouse gas emissions, but think of how cool it is to charge your phone with a giant ball of plasma floating 93,000,000 miles away from Earth!
Kinetic Chargers
You can also charge your electronic devices just by going for a run. Kinetic chargers harvest and store the energy from your body’s movements. Depending on the model, the device can be attached to your arm, ankle or shoe, and a 45-minute jog can store enough power to charge a typical smartphone for about 8 hours of use. Now you can dance at the club, drink heavily, stumble home — all while saving the planet!
iOS/Android Apps
Now that your phone is fully charged, here are some green apps to help you become even more environmentally friendly:
Light Bulb Finder: This free app helps you find the right compact fluorescent bulb, outlining how much money you save and the amount of reduced CO2 emissions compared to using conventional bulbs. It’s … dare I say it … a bright idea! (iOS/Andriod)
Skeptical Science: This free educational app was developed to provide concrete data at your fingertips behind the science of climate change. Perfect for when you want to do some research or rebuttal those who argue that global warming is a hoax. (BREAKING NEWS: It’s not a hoax.) (iOS/Android)
Insteon Hub: One of several WiFi home hubs, Insteon allows you to control your home’s lighting system, switches, and thermostats from your phone, giving you the power to regulate the temperature of your house from across the street or from across the world when you’re on those yearly “business” trips to Amsterdam. (iOS/Android)
Hot-water Systems
Solar Panels: Energy from the sun is not just for your phone (or that perfect tan and/or sunburn). Solar panels can heat the water in your house or business, taking it off the grid.
Recirculating Pumps: The typical shower dumps 2.5 gallons of water every minute down the drain, which adds up quickly if it takes a while for the water to heat up. Recirculating systems provide hot water anywhere in the home, instantly. There are even software programs that “learn” your shower routine and provide instant hot-water at those specific times — just be sure you avoid purchasing any of these “learning” hot-water technologies from Cyberdyne Systems. (Non-nerds: Google it.)
Occupancy Sensors
Occupancy sensors regulate the lights throughout the house as occupants enter and leave each room, saving energy and cutting long-term energy consumption. An occupancy sensor can cost as little as $15.00 and is fairly easy to install. This is perfect for those family members, friends, roommates, or significant others who — for some unknown medical reason — are physically incapable of turning off a light switch after leaving a room. (Talking to you, Sam!)
Green 3D Printer
Wear your trash! The Ekocycle 3D printer takes plastic bottles and uses them a base material to print out bracelets, rings, phone cases, or your own creative 3D objects. Each cartridge for the printer contains about 25 percent of post-consumer plastics (or about 3 plastic bottles), and is being marketed by will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas. So the next time someone tells you your clothing accessories look like trash, reply with: “Thank you! I’m just doing my part to save the planet.” (Or just play the song, “Shut up.”)
Check out our other green articles from this year’s environmental issue:
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