| Show T I Twenty tips for greener living with gadgets Andrew Andre Eisner Used with Permission f from om com 1 Measure Your Energy Use Use a watt meter like Internationals International's Kill A Watt to identify what devices in your home are using the most power Note how much any device uses when its it's supposedly turned off to identify sources of heavy standby power users 2 Trade in Your Old TV Trade in older power hungry devices for newer more energy efficient ones For example CRT TV TVs s use more power than ai an equivalent sized flat panel TV You can use the transition as ai asan asan an excuse to move up to a digital TV Some of the newest TVs like the LG feature a in built-in light meter to measure ambient room light and adjust the TVs TV's brightness accordingly Sony's BRA VIA LCD TV not only measures ambient light but senses the presence of people and turns the TV off when no one is watching 3 Use the Low Power Mode on Your TV Make sure your new flat panel TV is not in demo or retail mode that turns the brightness up Many TVs have a home mode that uses less power 4 Buy a New Greener LCD TV Older Plasma TVs may use useless useless useless less power than older LCD TVs when displaying dark scenes but that has changed New equivalent sized LCD TVs with now use less power The newest LCD TVs TV s with LED TVs like the LCD TV or orthe orthe orthe the top-of-the-line top Sony Inch 55 LED LCD HDTV use even less power 5 Repair Before Replacing Service companies like can replace the battery or repair your or for a lot less money that it would cost to replace the device Sites like Inside My Laptop can help you repair your laptop yourself 6 Sell Your Used Gadgets Dont Don't throw your old gadgets away You can recycle them donate them or sell them Of course there is always ebay and but you might want Tips Continued on 20 Tips Continued from A Al to check out They tell you how much they will pay for your gadget and provide you with a pre paid shipping container 7 Reduce Phantom Power with a Power Strip Power modules bricks wall warts or whatever you want to call them are notorious users of power even when the device they power is not attached If your charger is warm wann to the touch when no device is attached chances are its it's using power unnecessarily The cheapest solution is to use a power strip with an on off switch There are also smarter devices that can help eliminate these phantom power users 8 Use a Smart Power The Smart Strip offers surge protection noise filtering and a in built-in microprocessor that turns off peripheral devices like speakers and printer when the main device like a computer is tu turned ned off 9 Eliminate Standby Power Many older products like old CRTs with instant on and old laser printers that keep the fuser warm wann are notorious for using alot a alot alot lot of power in standby mode The cheapest way to eliminate standby n. n h. h L J 1 1 is LU w tutu LULU iut II t C completely off or use a power strip to cutoff power to the device Belkin and Bye Bye Standby offer power strips that turnoff turnoff turn turnoff off power to anything connected to its remote controlled outlets 10 Look for Green Ratings Refer to Energy Star and ratings for energy saving and greener products The Energy Star 3 rating was recently released and defines some aggressive power saving specs The certification from the LCD TV Association also requires products to conform to an aggressive set of green rules 11 Recycle Gadgets and Gear Before you toss that broken player or old monitor in the garbage look for a local recycling facility Mother Earth will thank you Sites like and com corn can help you find a recycling facility in your area 12 Charge Your Gadgets With Renewable Energy Devices like the Hymini wind turbine Solio's Hybrid 1000 or Kinesis Industries combo charger charger- will charge your cell phone or using renewable energy 13 Save Trees Use the Internet Next time you buy software download it At tax time why not file your taxes electronically Paying bills your online can save trees and save you money Go online and signup to get your bank and utility statements state emailed to you 14 Turn Off Your Computer When Not Using It The old myth that leaving a computer on is better than turning it on and andoff andoff andoff off doesn't stand anymore Yes booting up Windows machines can be tedious but you can contemplate the environment while waiting 15 Use Computer Power Management Go to the control panel on your laptop or desktop click on the power management button and set the options for maximum newer Dower savin saving saVIn n p. p n 16 Disconnect External Disconnect External Drives Many external hard drives get their power from the connection If you use the hard drive for backup or use it infrequently you may want to disconnect the cable or turn it off to save 17 Save More lore Trees Read E-Books E They're not cheap to buy and the books cost a lot of money too but book lovers rave about them The new Kindle from Amazon can I 1 J 1 J rn A a un ov seconds The Sony reader unlike the Kindle requires a computer connection but gets good reviews for style 19 Recycle CDs and Optical discs dont don't do dowell well in landfills They arent aren't very biodegradable If youre you're not going to make coasters or a sculpture out of them consider recycling them Special recycling centers like the CD Recycling Center can handle your old CDs For more information on recycling CDs and check out this article on 20 Avoid Overnight Shipping When it absolutely positively doesn't have to be there there- tomorrow consider having your brand new gadget shipped via ground In general ground shipping can be six times more energy efficient than air shipment Dont Don't forget to use for all your gadget needs has reviews and manuals for all popular gadgets and gear like Digital Cameras HDTV HOT GPS and even Telephones and Monitors |
