New Program Makes Your Computer Green

I have written in the past about some of the ways you can make your computer run more efficiently so it uses less electricity. This is one of the most important things we can do to reduce our energy usage. There are over a billion computers in use throughout the world and each is responsible for its own 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year. This new, small program makes is easier to manage your computer's energy usage and actually shows the financial and environmental savings.

The program is a free download called Edison by the software maker Verdiem. After downloading and installing it, you are given a set of options like setting peak computer usage times. By choosing to save more or save less, you can set your computer to go to sleep in 10 minutes or 45 minutes. All of this is done in a colorful intuitive interface that makes the whole experience simple.

The best feature of Edison is the ability to see exactly how much money and carbon emissions you will save over the course of the year by making certain adjustments. Its surprising just how significant the changes can be by just making a few tweaks in your settings.

To download Edison from Microsoft, click HERE.

A Must Read: Greenpeace Urges End to E-Waste Export

From Cnet.com:

"This week, the international environmental group Greenpeace issued a report detailing the massive flow of electronic waste, or e-waste, to the west African country of Ghana. There, much like in China and India, unprotected workers including children are exposed to hazardous chemicals like mercury and lead while burning electronics in the search for copper and aluminum to resell."

To read the full article, click HERE.

Dump Old Electronics and Make Money

What is it with old electronics? For some reason they are so difficult to let go of. Its like we are all waiting for them to gain some new use they never had before so we can extend their lives. In most cases, this will never happen. Instead of holding onto all of those unused cell phones and music players, wouldn't it be better to make a few bucks off of them?

Two websites are offering money to anyone willing to sell their old electronic gear.

The first website is called Gazelle. Gazelle allows you to search for your electronic equipment, tell them what condition it is in and sell it for the price they offer. After you agree to sell the item, Gazelle will send a shipping package. Once they receive the package, they wipe off any personal data and either send you a check or deposit money into your PayPal account.

You are already familiar with the second website offering this service. Amazon.com offers a similar service to Gazelle. Simply go to THIS site and input the description and registration number of your equipment (they are only interested in cell phones and music players). Amazon will send you a confirmation and shipping package in the mail. Once they receive your item, they will give you a store credit to spend on the site.

One of the best benefits of using these services is that you are recycling your gear, rather than throwing it in the garbage, where the toxic chemicals and metals inside of it will leak into the ground or the air. If you have stuff thats too old to sell, consider electronic recycling programs like this ONE, this ONE or this ONE.

Samsung Making Eco-Friendly Phones

If you are using a cell phone made of petroleum based plastic and containing harmful carcinogenic metals, then the 20th century called and it wants its cell phone back. The environmentally friendly cell phone has officially arrived and its manufactured by Samsung.

Last week at a trade show in South Korea, Samsung unveiled two new cell phone models that integrate eco-thinking into their design. The first, the W510, is made of corn based plastic. It is covered in a water soluble coating and no harmful metals like lead or mercury were used in the manufacturing process.

The other cell phone they released, the F268, is also made of bio-plastic but it also is free of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFR). The second phone complies with EPA "Energy Star" requirements and includes an alarm that notifies you when the battery is charged so you don't wastefully leave it plugged in after its done.

Unfortunately, neither cell phone will be available in the US anytime soon. Chine and South Korea will get their hands on these environmentally friendly phones in June. Its great that Samsung is making the effort. Plus, in our global community, environmentally friendly cell phones in Asia still have a positive impact for the rest of us.

Playstation 3 is a Power Hog

An Australian consumer magazine called Choice has investigated the Playstation 3 (PS3) to find out just how much energy the popular game console burns through. The results of their investigation will definitely surprise you.

When your PS3 is on and you are playing a game, it is burning 5 times the amount of energy your refrigerator is using. If you like to leave your PS3 on all the time, it will cost you about $250/year in additional energy costs. 

When compared with other popular game consoles, the PS3 is the worst in terms of energy use when idling coming in at 31.74 kWh, while the XBox 360 gets 23.57 kWh and the Wii gets just  2.97kWh.

You can see all the consumption data from Choice HERE

If you use a lot of these different components and you are trying to cut back on your energy use, avoid letting them idle or stay in standby mode by plugging your whole entertainment set-up into a surge protector that has a shut off switch. When you aren't using your electronics, just switch off the power and you won't have to worry about "phantom energy" sucking up power unnecessarily. 

Best Buy Expanding E-Recycling Program

Usually you go to Best Buy to pick-up some new piece of electronic equipment to replace either an outdated piece or a broken one. Inevitably, this means something is going in the garbage. But it doesn't have to be this way.

Remember, electronics waste is just about the most toxic type of waste around. Embedded in those chips and bits are high quantities of dangerous metals and chemicals. Dumping televisions, computers, cell phones, batteries, etc. into the garbage results in drinking water pollution and the possible release of very dangerous compounds into the air. 

When its time to retire an old or broken piece of electronics equipment, make sure you are responsible. You can already recycle small items like cellphones, batteries, ink cartridges, etc. at Best Buy stores. Now, if you live near a Best Buy in Baltimore, San Francisco and several other cities (117 stores in all) you can also recycle large electronic equipment for free too.

The stores will accept 2 items per day, per household. They cannot take microwaves, air conditioners, or appliances. To recycle those items, contact your local garbage company. 

To get more information about the expanded Best Buy recycling program, click HERE.

New Solar Powered iPhone?

The iPhone is by far the most overhyped consumer product in a very long time. Its hard to believe it was just one year ago that Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, went on stage and introduced the little miracle to the world. Remember the long lines of people sleeping outside to get their hands on a $400 cell phone? Well get ready because it looks like iPhone 2.0 is on the horizon.

Monday, June 9th at 10 AM (PST), Jobs will take the stage in San Francisco to address the loyal Apple developers and unveil the company's newest creations. Among the array of shiny gadgets expected to show up on the Moscone West stage in San Francisco is an updated iPhone with a faster internet connection, GPS, video conferencing and the ability to charge its own battery using solar power.

Rumors about the new iPhone's solar power capability started spreading when a patent application from Apple was uncovered that showed detailed drawings and descriptions of a mobile device with a layer of solar panels underlaid beneath an iPhone-like screen. You can view the patent HERE.

Apple would not be the first company to experiment with the idea of using solar panels to charge the batteries of gadgets. There are many consumer products that integrate this idea. There is the solar powered backpack that has solar panels on the back and power adapters inside so you can utilize the sun's rays to charge your gadgets while you're walking around outside. There is also the iSun, solar powered cell phone charger that connects to your cell phone and charges its battery using solar power. 

The problem with a lot of these solar powered chargers is that they are expensive and not very convenient to carry around. If Apple could effectively integrate the solar panels directly into the iPhone's screen, they could skip the middleman and allow users to charge their phones quickly by setting it on a window sill. 

Of course, solar powered phones will still have to rely on wall outlets for most of their battery charges. But if Apple combined its gifts in simplicity and design to create an iPhone that could partially rely on both solar and traditional electricity, it would be a promising sign of things to come. 

Greener One: How Green are Your Goods?

Getting information about the eco-friendliness of different products is pretty tough. Often, you cannot rely on the information from the manufacturer because it is skewed, exaggerated or misrepresented to increase sales. Google searching is tough because there is so much information out there, spread out over so many websites.

So what is a curious consumer to do? A new website called Greener One has just opened up shop on the internet to help us all out. It is similar to Wikipedia in that it invites educated citizens to contribute information on the ingredients, toxicity and lifespan of different products ranging from electronics to cleaning agents.
The long-term goal of the site is to become a go-to resource similar to "Consumer Reports" where consumers will look for reviews and information on a product prior to making a purchase. They can find out if the product is recyclable and whether it contains harmful ingredients.

If you want to check the site out, click HERE. It is in the beginning phases of development, but already there are several categories of product reviews available.

GM's Challenge X Comes to DC

The other day, the Green Piece Blog was invited to the arrival of GM's Challenge X teams in Washington, DC. After driving from New York to DC, stopping at a few places in between, the teams were going to finally arrive at their final destination, the Department of Energy headquarters.

Challenge X is a competition hosted by GM and the US Department of Energy that is designed to encourage young engineers to think about new technologies that will reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

This is the fourth year for the competition. In the first year, university teams from the US and Canada worked in simulation environments to test different engineering choices in a way that mirrored early vehicle design. At the end of the year, 17 teams received a stock Chevrolet Equinox "crossover SUV." In years two and three, those teams moved onto the next phase in vehicle design, integrating the advanced powertrain and vehicle subsystems into the actual automobile. For this, the final year, the teams moved into the final phase of development, implementing safety, comfort and marketing plans for their finished products.

Those finished products drove from New York to DC and arrived at the ceremony we attended. Waiting for the cars was a huge crowd of students waving checkered flags and wearing their team polos. The cars on the outside lall ooked the same, with the exception of different stickers plastered all over the windows and doors. They did, however, sound a little different from each other as they drove by. This was due to the different approaches each team used in making their vehicle more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly.

The different factors each team could tweak in their vehicle included: HEV architecture, engine, fuel, transmission, energy storage, and motor. The teams chose to use a range of fuel options including reformulated gasoline, bio diesel, hydrogen and ethanol.

The first place winning team for the competition was Mississippi State University with their Equinox that contained a "through the road" parallel hybrid electric system with a 1.9L GM direct injection turbo diesel engine utilizing bio diesel fuel. Their car increased fuel economy of the Equinox by 38%. Second place went to the University of Wisconsin and third place went to Ohio State University.

Some other accomplishments of the teams included a vehicle from Virginia Tech that reduced its wheel-to-wheel petroleum use by 77%. Fourteen of the 17 teams successfully reduced the green house gas impact of their vehicles, including the University of Wisconsin's vehicle which reduced its impact by 52% compared to the stock Equinox.

Overall, this looks like it is a great project. Hopefully GM is serious about implementing some of the teams' great achievements into their line of vehicles soon.

Honda Preparing New Hybrid Models for '09

Honda is preparing to introduce several new hybrid models into their fleet of automobiles. Currently, Honda has the highest fleet fuel efficiency of any other carmaker in the United States. The new hybrid models will be sold in the US, Japan and Europe.

The new models Honda plans to release include a hyrid-only model that will compete directly with Toyota's Prius and a hybrid version of the Honda Fit. In addition, Honda is planning to release a re-vamped hybrid Civic and a "sportier" hybrid CR-V.

If you are thinking of buying a hybrid, it might be worth it to you to wait for these new models. The federal hybrid tax credit can be as high as $3,000 for a new hybrid. Unfortunately, the tax credit is phased out when a particular hybrid model sells 60,000 vehicles. As time passes, the tax credit drops until the IRS ends it completely. Already, all of the Toyota hybrid models have passed the 60,000 vehicle threshold and no longer qualify for the federal hybrid tax credit.

In other words, get your name on the waiting list at your local Honda dealership so you can get the highest level of the tax credit. Honda claims the mark-up for the new hybrids will be about $1,900.

If you want to compute the difference in cost between a hybrid and a non-hybrid over the course of a year or 10 years, THIS website has a great hybrid calculator. From my calculations, without the federal tax credit, you will begin saving money on gasoline for the hybrid after about 3 years.

And if you want to learn more about the federal hybrid tax credit, go to the IRS site HERE.

Study: Wind Energy Could Equal Nuclear

A report published by the Energy Department and energy industry members claims that in the not so distant future, America could generate wind energy equivalent to our current nuclear energy supply. In fact, the report says that 20% of our nation's energy could be generated by windmills by 2030.

The best news to come out of the report is that this growth is achievable without major new technological breakthroughs. I know this doesn't sound like good news, but given the political and scientific difficulties incumbent in reforming our energy infrastructure, anything easy is good.

The report does caution that it would be costly, in terms of money and land, to expand our wind turbine energy production from the current level of 16,000 to 300,000 megawatts. But once the equipment is in place, turbines could generate electricity for less than half a cent per kilowatt hour.

This is the direction our federal funding should be taking. Funding fossil fuel sources of energy like coal is investing in last century's solutions.

To read more, click HERE.

Apple a Failure on Climate Change Plan

An organization called Climate Counts released a report this week that ranked corporations by their commitment to confronting global climate change and mitigating their greenhouse gas contributions.

Of all the industries studied by Climate Counts, the Information Technology and Electronics industry showed the strongest efforts in slowing climate change. The top performing companies in the industry were IBM and Canon. The average score on the rankings list was 56, those two companies earned a 77 and 74, respectively.

Unfortunately, the worst performing company on the rankings list was Apple. Despite recent claims by Apple CEO Steve Jobs and the company's growing attention to their environmental impact, their overall score was a measly 11. According to Climate Counts, the reason for the low score was incomplete reporting by Apple and the failure by Apple to set goals for itself or its partners to reduce contributions to global warming.

If you want to learn more about Climate Counts and the results of their research go HERE.

Google Maps Hates Plastic Bags Too

Plastic bags are mischievous little creatures. They are manufactured using petroleum. They are more expensive to recycle than to create. They clog drainage systems, choke sea life and cause unsightly tangled plastic webs in tree limbs.

Add a new annoyance to the list of problems caused by plastic bags; Google Maps interference.

Googlesightseeing.com has found a Google Maps Street View section of Fairbanks, Alaska where a plastic bag blew up off the street and covered the lens of the camera mounted on top of the Google Maps car that is used to photograph street views for the website.

There apparently is some debate over whether the bag actually landed on the camera's lens accidentally or if it was placed there to sabotage the camera's ability to capture that portion of the city. Regardless, the bag remained on the lens for several blocks.

If you want to check out the little jerk causing havoc with Google Maps, go type in "College Road and Old Steese Highway, Fairbanks, Alaska." Click on the street view and there it is!

If you want to avoid contributing to our nation's plastic bag problems, bring your own cloth bags to the store. Keep a few in the car, at the office and on you. We will end the plastic bag mischief once and for all!

Energy Saving HDTVs

The most popular posts on the Green Piece Blog are the ones addressing HDTV's and energy usage.

HDTV's are tremendously popular as people make the switch from traditional tube televisions to the flat, high-definition versions. Unfortunately, as electronics companies improved the visual performance of their TV's, they did not improve their environmental impact. In fact, an LCD or Plasma TV burns through 4 times as much energy as a traditional tube TV.

The technology companies are currently playing catch-up by introducing more energy efficient flat-panel HDTV's. The first company to build a more energy efficient HDTV is Philips. Their Eco TV provides owners with options like dimming the back light or capping peak light output to reduce energy consumption by as much as 30 watts compared to traditional Philips HDTV's.

CNET has also ranked HDTV's based on several categories of energy usage, such as watts per square inch and watts overall. Here are the best of each category...

• Watts per square inch of screen overall: Samsung HL-T5687S (0.12)
• Watts per sq. inch LCD: Philips 42PFL7432D (0.22)
• Watts per sq. inch plasma: Insignia NS-PDP42 (0.29)
• Watts per sq. inch after calibration: Samsung LN-T4665F (0.09)
• Watts overall, regardless of screen size: Sharp LC-32D44U (126.25)
• Watts overall, 40- to 50-inch screen size: Philips 42PFL7432D (134.04)
• Watts overall, larger than 50-inch screen size, flat panel: Olevia 252T FHD (257.29)

In addition to buying a more energy efficient HDTV, there are other ways to reduce the environmental impact of your new toy.

First, make sure that your HDTV is plugged into a power strip or wall outlet that you can turn off whenever you are not using the television. HDTV's uselessly burn energy while in "standby" mode.

Second, make sure you recycle your unused tube television. Don't just toss that antique in the garbage. Inside the tube TV is a lot of toxic metals and substances that can get into the water supply or spread in other ways to negatively impact people and animals. To find a nearby television recycling center, go HERE.

Reducing Your HDTV's Carbon Footprint

Its nearly impossible to navigate all the conflicting information about which type of TV is better for the environment. Traditional tube televisions contain a vast array of toxic materials, the worst of which is lead. LCD & plasma TV's may also contain lead, but in far smaller quantities. Of course, LCD and plasma TV's burn about four times the amount of electricity that traditional tube TV's do. This back and forth could go on all day.

So what is a TV buyer to do?

First, do your research. Make sure you are buying the best television for your needs; nothing less, nothing more. If you choose a high-quality television of the most appropriate size, you will keep it longer and that means less consumption down the road. Many new plasma TV's can have a 30-year lifespan.

Second, make sure you dispose of your old TV properly. As I said earlier, televisions contain toxic materials. If you just dump your old TV in the garbage, it will leak that stuff into the air and into the groundwater supply. This site will help you find a local e-waste recycling center based on your zip code where you can drop your old TV set.

Third, attach all of your entertainment gear to a power strip (AKA surge protector) that has an off switch. ALWAYS turn off the strip when you aren't using your equipment. Sometimes an outlet in your wall is controlled by a light switch. You can always plug your stuff into that outlet to make turning your power strip off easier. This will greatly reduce your electricity usage, utility bill and carbon footprint.

The thing is, if you do nothing, and just buy a new LCD or plasma TV, you are actually increasing the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere rather than reducing it. During times like these, its imperative we find every way possible to use less energy, not more. Go buy the TV of your dreams, just take a few steps to offset the energy it is using.

Apple a Little Greener This Year

Greenpeace produces a guide every year that ranks and scores the major electronics manufacturing companies based upon their commitment to a healthier environment. You can read the full Greenpeace Guide HERE.

In the beginning years of Greenpiece's guide, the computer/iPod maker Apple scored a pathetic 2.5/10. Within a year Apple improved its score to 5.5. A few months later, that score went up to 6.7. This month, Apple tied with Sony, Ericsson, LGE, FSC, and HP with a score of 6.7. The highest scoring companies were Toshiba and Samsung.

How did Apple improve its numbers? It started by promising to eliminate the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated fire retardants (BFR) from the materials in its computers by 2008. These two toxic ingredients are hard on the environment in production and disposal. So far, Apple has nearly cut out usage of PVC and BFR, they haven't reached their goal of total elimination quite yet.

In addition, the introduction of the MacBook Air in January took Apple in a new ecological direction by completely eliminating mercury and arsenic from the laptop's parts.

Apple has also greatly expanded its recycling program and now accepts cell phones and iPods for free recycling.

Obviously there are several things Apple can do to improve its score even more on the Greenpeace Guide. In the meantime, at least they are showing a genuine interest in making positive changes.

Flourescent CFL's Explained

The Feds Want Your Junk

I'm sure by now you know the danger of throwing your used electronics into the garbage. You know about the toxic materials and how they will seep into our ground water and pollute our air as they slowly disintegrate. Apparently, the United States Postal Service also knows about this danger.

The USPS is rolling out a new initiative that will allow you to mail in old cell phones and small electronics to be recycled for FREE. Thats right, free.

Ten cities and 1,500 post offices will participate in the pilot program. At these locations, you will be able to pick-up special envelopes that will hold printer cartridges, MP3 players, cell phones and other smaller products. Then, just drop the filled envelope in any mailbox anywhere in the country and they'll take it from there. If the program is successful, it will be expanded nationally later this year.

The company who receives your outdated junk is Clover, an electronics recycler. Clover recycles every part of these old electronic products for use in new products. Their goal is zero waste.

For more information, read the USPS press release HERE

Recycling the Apple Way

Its old news by now that Apple has transformed its brand over the past decade and is regarded as a realistic alternative to PC's by mainstream consumers. This is partly due to the huge popularity of iPods and to the ever-growing discontent with Windows. Throughout its transition from cult icon to pop icon, Apple has struggled to avoid being portrayed as an anti-environment company. Year-after-year environmental organizations like Greenpeace give Apple a thrashing for its use of toxic components. Finally, Apple is getting ahead of the game with its newer products like the Macbook Air. But...what is the most eco-friendly way to make the switch from PC to Mac?

If you are someone who wants to trade up from a PC to a Mac, Apple offers an incredible offer. Buy a Mac, recycle your PC for free!

• First, at the point you purchase the new Mac, you will be given the opportunity to choose to recycle your old PC (ignore the impulse to keep it, its just going to collect dust).
• Second, print out the email from Apple that contains shipping instructions for your old PC.
• Third, box up your old PC in an appropriate way so that it doesn't break in transportation.
• Fourth, take it to FedEx with your printed email. They'll handle it from there!

What if you have an old iPod or cell phone that you'd like to recycle? Apple will take care of that for free too!

• First, go HERE and fill out the form.
  
• Second, print out the mailing label.
• Third, package your items and bring them, with the mailing label, to your post office.

This is a great service for Apple to provide. You can also bring cell phones, batteries, and more to stores like Staples or OfficeMax to have them properly recycled. You can check with your local waste disposal company to find out if they have an electronics recycling program so you can just drop off an old computer or monitor there instead.

The most important thing to remember, NEVER throw electronics or batteries into the garbage. They contain toxic chemicals and metals that will endanger your health and the health of the planet.

Investing in Green Energy Stocks

Almost every single blog entry on Green Piece Blog talks about how you can save money while working to reduce your impact on the environment. Now that its clear our energy future will be clean, renewable energy sources, you might be able to MAKE money saving the environment too.

In 2004, investments in renewable energy development reached $30 billion according to the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century. That investment went to the creation of 4% of the world's energy, all from wind, solar, geothermal and biomass. The world's fastest growing source of energy is grid-connected solar photovoltaic which grew by 60% between 2000 and 2004. Wind energy is the second fastest growing source of the world's energy, growing by 40% in 2004.

With all of this expansion of renewable energy, how do you get a piece of the action? Use Jackson Robinson as your investment model. In 1983, Robinson created an investment company that offered its clients a portfolio of environmentally friendly investments. Over the past 3 years, his fund has earned a 9.91% annualized return, beating its benchmark, the Russell 2000 Growth Index, by over 4%.

In a March 3rd interview with Forbes, Robinson said that his first step was to strip away stocks that were detrimental to people's lives like weapons and tobacco. He divided everything else into dirty, clean and green companies. Clean companies weren't having a positive or negative impact on the environment and green companies were specifically focused on enhancing the planet's health. The clean and green companies were the ones he invested in.

At a time when the market seems to be swinging back and forth on a daily basis, Robinson says that green investments make sense. The market in general is currently stagnant. There is continued growth, however, in the areas of solar & wind energy as well as in organic & healthy food.
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