Talking about “green-er gadgets” on Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane | WHYY.org

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 | Hour 2

What do you do with your old cell phone when you’ve bought your upgrade? Are you using your home computer in the most energy-efficient way? Technology enthusiast JOE HUTSKO explains how to use our home entertainment devices in a more environmentally-friendly way in his new book, Green Gadgets for Dummies.

Listen via Green Gadgets | Radio Times | WHYY.

Had a great time speaking with Marty Moss-Coane about greener gadgets at the WHYY studio in Philadelphia. Special thanks to Patty and Denis for the invite and proper care and feeding of this on-air guest.

Via: Green Gadgets | Radio Times | WHYY | JOEyGADGET.

From Carolyn Friedman, the below posting, which I found very interesting and worth passing on to others:

52 Ways To Lower Your Carbon Footprint In College

Because what you do now effects the future, going green in college can influence how you live the rest of your life. Everything from recycling, to using a laptop, to breaking out a caulk gun can literally save tons of carbon emissions. To do it right, check out the below 52 ways to lower your carbon footprint in college.

Read all about it at: Surgical Technician Schools » 52 Ways To Lower Your Carbon Footprint In College.

Ten Green Gadget Money Savings Tips | Green Gadgets For Dummies

From Green Gadgets For Dummies, by Joe Hutsko:

Ten Green Gadget Money Savings Tips

Here are some quick tips that can help you save money by using gadgets the green way:

1. Replace single-use disposable batteries in your gadgets with rechargeable ones – then properly dispose of all of those dead single-use cells at your local grocery, hardware or office supplies store
2. Turn down your TVs brightness and contrast settings to the lowest comfortable level; new TVs leave the factory with all of their picture-related settings cranked to the max to standout on the showroom floor, so adjust yours when you bring it home
3. Unplug cell phone, MP3 player, and other gadget chargers after the battery is charged, as well as other “energy vampire” devices that go into standby mode when they’re turned off to stop them from sipping power; or plug them all into power strips so you can instantly turn them off all at once
4. Disable your computer’s screensaver and adjust its power savings settings to turn off the display when you’re not using it for more than five minutes, then switch the computer to standby or sleep mode after ten minutes, then switch to “hibernate” mode after thirty minutes (if the feature is available)
5. Turn off any energy wasting features and settings you’re not using on cell phones, computers and other gadgets, including wireless (Wi-Fi) networking and Bluetooth, and GPS; also, reduce the screen’s brightness and activate auto-lock or screen dimming and shutoff options on gadgets that offer these options
6. Read and review documents on the screen instead of printing them on paper – if you must print, reduce your printer’s quality setting to 300 dots-per-inch, print on both sides of the page, print in color only when necessary, and refill inkjet and toner cartridges rather than buy new ones
7. Reduce fuel consumption and auto emissions by shopping and banking online, and renting or buying downloadable and streaming movies and TV shows instead of renting DVDs at the local video store, or Netflix’s rent-by-mail; instead, choose Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” movies and watch on your computer, TiVo-equipped TV, or other streaming gadget
8. If your thermostat isn’t programmable get one, then set so it’s only heating or cooling when you’re actually in the house; even inexpensive models can accommodate workweek and weekend turn ons and turn offs based on your schedule
9. When purchasing new gadgets, look the most energy efficient models by visiting mygreenelectronics.org, energystar.gov, and the green gadget-aware websites below to stay up on the latest news, reviews, trends and feature stories that can help you make the eco-friendliest choices possible – the longer term benefit can shave more than a little green off your utility bill
10. If donating your mobile phone, MP3 player, or computer isn’t an option when you need to replace it, consider selling it locally on Craigslist, or trading it in for cash or credit toward a new, more efficient model by visiting the gadget trading website EZTradein.com.

via JOEyGADGET.com.

The Fun Times Guide to Living Green reviews my new book, Green Gadgets For Dummies:

Green Gadgets For Dummies: THE Book Every Tech Geek Should Own

Wake up! Your beloved electronics are sucking the life out of your budget…not to mention the enormous environmental impact they have!

Luckily Green Gadgets for Dummies is swooping in for the rescue!

Before we get in to a quick breakdown of the awesomeness that is Green Gadgets for Dummies, check out these statistics from Planet Green that show why we need greener gadgets:

15 percent: Percentage of money spent on powering your computer dedicated to computing, worldwide; the rest of the $250 billion is spent on energy wasted in idling.

70 percent: Percentage of waste composed of discarded electronics, out of all hazardous waste.

529 pounds: Amount of fossil fuels required to manufacture a 53-pound computer system (including the monitor), along with 49 pounds of chemicals and 1.5 tons of water.

15 billion: Batteries produced annually worldwide.

40 percent: Of the energy used for electronics in your home is used while these devices are turned off.

Author Joey Hutsko does an amazing job at helping us learn how to shop for greener gadgets, avoid “greenwashed” products, and get the electronics we currently own to run more efficiently…all in a super fun and witty manner.

Read the full review: Green Gadgets For Dummies: THE Book Every Tech Geek Should Own – The Fun Times Guide to Living Green.

UPDATE: Listen to the segment here The Rude Awakening 07-01-09.

On Ocean 98.1 The Rude Awakening (98.1 FM WOCM in Ocean City, MD) at 8 AM to talk about Green Gadgets For Dummies.

At Home With the Energy Detective

I used the Energy Detective, left, to monitor the energy-consumption profile of my various appliances.

Although home energy tracking devices like the single-outlet Kill A Watt or the whole-house Power2Save unit are gaining popularity in this energy-conscious age, I hadn’t tried one out until my electric bill topped out at $150 in January. That prompted me to invest in anEnergy Detective, a device that retails for $145 and promises to give homeowners a telling glimpse into their personal energy.

Writer Joe Hutsko talks about his upcoming book, ‘Green Gadgets for Dummies’

By Karl Burkart

Mon, Mar 02 2009 at 11:47 AM EST

At the recent Greener Gadgets summit in New York City, I met with tech writer Joe Hutsko on his upcoming book Green Gadgets for Dummies. After years of covering consumer electronics products for the New York Times and others, Joe has become an expert in the greening of the consumer electronics industry.

His book Green Gadgets … will cover the importance of greening your electronics (both for the planet and your budget) and how you can quickly save 15 percent or more on your monthly electricity bill through the “7 behaviors of highly effective greener gadget people.”

He delves into the booming world of green electronics, providing a buying guide for your next consumer electronics purchase and the very important (and often overlooked) task of properly recycling your old devices.

Coming this summer.

Link to: Green Gadgets for Dummies … and smart people, too | MNN – Mother Nature Network

No 3G where you are? Turn it off to extend battery life.

While it’s my job to know every in and out of gadgets I own or test, I’m rarely surprised when I point out to friends or family members several cellphone battery zapping features they didn’t know they could turn off (or know they existed in the first place). If the only setting you’ve change is your cell phone’s ringtone, getting to know your device’s other settings may reward you with longer talk times and less recharging. Since settings vary widely depending on brand an model, you may need to poke around a little to find your own cell phone’s settings. Here are the top battery draining features you’ll want to tweak or turn off completely if you aren’t using them.

Brightness and Sleep: Sometimes the brightness setting is referred to as display. Often the sleep setting is called auto-lock or auto-timeout or power saver. Whatever the nomenclature, this pair of settings goes a long way to longer battery life. Set the dim brightness as low it goes without being impossible to see. If your cellphone has an auto-dim feature – which senses ambient light and dims or brightens the display accordingly – use it. The sleep or auto-lock setting determines how long the screen (or screens) stay lit before dimming or going completely dark when it senses no activity. My iPhone is set for one minute because it takes can take me that to read an ebook page in bed at night before I tap the screen to flip to the next page. The iPhone also has a sensor to automatically blacken the screen when I raise it to my ear to answer a call, and certain other phones like Palm’s Treo line offers a similar feature.

Ringer and Vibrate: The louder your ringtone, the more battery juice it drinks. Notching down the ringer – and the speaker volume while in a call – will extend battery life. Ditto for the vibrate feature. The first generation iPhone’s maximum ringer volume was so low and the vibration effect so weak that I frequently missed calls even when both were set to alert me of an incoming calls. The new iPhone 3G is louder and buzzier so now I’m fine with one or the other: Ringing for most occasions, and vibrate-only during movies other situations in which cellphones should be seen at best but most certainly not heard.

3G/Edge and other Carrier Network Settings: The new iPhone 3G receives three kinds of signals from the AT&T network: Standard, Edge, and 3G. In remote locations where the iPhone’s display shows only signal strength bars but not Edge or 3G indicator (which offer fast and faster web browsing and email checking, respectively), I turn off both to extend battery life. Other handsets on AT&T or other carriers offer similar settings. If you’re using a voice-only plan but not data (which is to say, you don’t pay extra on your plan for the ability to use your phone to browse the web or check e-mail), turn off your cell phone’s data network setting if it has one.

Bluetooth: My sister had no idea that icon that looks like an abstract pretzel was actually the Bluetooth indicator – which means it was turned on and using battery juice, even though she wasn’t using it. Rather than turn it off I gave her Bluetooth wireless headset so she can make and receive calls with her hands free. I also showed her how Bluetooth allows her to wirelessly transfer snapshots she takes with the phone to her notebook computer. If your cellphone has Bluetooth yet you don’t use a wireless headset or transfer pictures or other files between it and your computer (assuming your computer has Bluetooth; many notebooks do, so check your Control Panel settings to find out), it’s falling upon deaf ears, so to speak. Shut it off and you’ll squeak out longer battery life.

WiFi and GPS: My iPhone 3G’s WiFi receiver lets me tap into my wireless router or café hotspots for a faster web browsing, and sending and receiving emails. A feature to ask me if I want to join a WiFi network whenever it finds one is a drain on the battery, so I shut it off and connect only to WiFi networks when I want to, depending on where I am. When I’m on mobile – be it walking, cycling or driving – I turn off WiFi to achieve longer battery life. Do the same if your cell phone has built-in WiFi and you’re not using it. Ditto for GPS, which I generally leave on all of the time to pinpoint my location with the iPhone’s map application to locate nearby businesses then guide me there with on-screen directions. At times when I know I won’t be able to plug in until the end of the day I turn GPS off and then on again if I need it, because it – like WiFi and Bluetooth and the higher-speed network settings – just loves to suck the life out of the battery even when it’s not actively in use.