Green Gadgets For Dummies

Joe Hutsko is a technology enthusiast, a journalist, an author, and a consultant. He contributes to the New York Times blog Green Inc., and has covered the latest tech trends for Fortune, MSNBC.com, Wired, the Washington Post, Newsweek, Time, Macworld, PC World, TV Guide, and others. He runs the green gadget blog gGadget.org and his personal Web site, JOEyGADGET.com.

Foreword xix

Introduction 1

About Green Gadgets For Dummies 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Conventions Used in This Book 3

What You Don’t Have to Read 3

How This Book Is Organized 4

Part I: Settling into a Green Gadget Mindset 4

Part II: Getting Green with Gadgets You Own 4

Part III: Minimizing Your Computer’s Carbon Footprint 4

Part IV: Acquiring Green Gadgets and Gear 5

Part V: Ridding Yourself of Gadgets the Green Way 5

Part VI: The Part of Tens 5

The companion Web site 5

Icons Used in This Book 6

Where to Go from Here 6

Part I: Settling into a Green Gadget Mindset 7

Chapter 1: Mother Nature’s Green-Eyed View of Gadgets 9

Hey, Joe, Where You Goin’ with That Green Gadget in Your Hand? 10

Assessing “green” companies 12

Defining gadgets 14

Defining green gadgets 15

Relating the Four Rs to Green Gadgets 16

Following a Green Gadget’s Carbon Footprint 17

Thoughtful manufacturing 18

Ecofriendly features 19

Other green electronics 20

Understanding Energy Star and EPEAT Green Gadget Labels 22

Implementing Green Living Habits with Gadgets You Already Own 24

Taking a bite out of “energy vampires” 24

Calculating your gadgets’ carbon footprints 25

Taking other simple green gadget steps 26

Staying Informed about Green Gadget Developments 27

Chapter 2: Practicing Green Gadget Living 29

Evaluating Your Energy Waste, er, Usage 30

Reducing Your Gadgets’ Carbon Footprints and E-Waste 33

Reusing Your Gadgets and Electronics Gear 34

Recycling Gadgets the Green Way 35

Rethinking Your Gadget Purchases 36

Sharing Your Gadget Greenness with Others 38

Part II: Getting Green with Gadgets You Own 41

Chapter 3: Saving Money (and the Planet) with Rechargeable Batteries 43

Understanding Basic Battery Pluses and Minuses 44

Hunting and Gathering Battery-Powered Gadgets in Your House 44

Sorting Out and Choosing Rechargeable Batteries and Chargers 46

Gauging matters of size, type, power, and price 47

Picturing how long battery types last 50

Getting a charge out of chargers 50

Choosing rechargeable batteries and chargers 53

Finding Rechargeable Battery Packs 55

Buying rechargeable batteries for less 56

Replacing rechargeable batteries in iPods, iPhones, and other sealed gadgets 56

Properly Disposing of Dead Batteries 57

Disposable batteries 57

Rechargeable batteries 59

Chapter 4: Maximizing Energy Savings for Your Portable Gadgets 61

Getting a Grip on a Gadget’s Energy-Saving Settings 61

Battery-draining items 63

Cellphones and smartphones 65

MP3 and media players 69

Digital cameras and camcorders 71

Running Mobile Applications to Monitor and Adjust Power 72

Chapter 5: Energy Savings All Around the House 75

Practicing Green Living in Your House 75

Reviewing Energy-Saving Opportunities in Your House 77

Televisions 78

Computers and peripheral devices 79

Mobile phones, MP3 players, GPS trackers, and other personal gadgets 79

Adjusting Power-Saving Options on TVs and Entertainment Gear 80

Taming TV power 80

Reducing power consumption in DVD, video game, and other types of players 82

Part III: Minimizing Your Computer’s Carbon Footprint 87

Chapter 6: Your Computer’s Energy Use 89

Quashing Computer Power Myths 89

Evaluating Your Everyday Computer Needs 93

Understanding Computer Energy-Saving Settings 94

Changing your computer’s energy settings the easy way 97

Taking greater control of your computer’s energy settings 98

iPods, Printers, Hard Drives, and Other Connected Devices 101

Chapter 7: Reducing Energy Consumption in Windows 103

Minimizing Windows Energy Use On-the-Fly 106

Adjusting the Windows Automatic Power Options Settings 107

Choosing and customizing Windows Vista’s power plans 109

Customizing Windows Vista’s advanced power settings 112

Choosing and Customizing Windows XP Power Schemes 113

Power Schemes 114

Alarms 115

Power Meter 116

Advanced 116

Hibernate 117

UPS 117

Making Additional Windows Vista and XP

Power Options Adjustments 117

Windows Mobility Center (Vista only) 118

Brightness 118

Screen saver 120

Keyboard brightness 121

Wireless networking 121

Bluetooth 122

Sound 123

Indexing options (Vista only) 124

Chapter 8: Conserving Power with Your Mac’s Energy-Saver Settings 127

Minimizing Your Mac’s Energy Use On-the-Fly 128

Adjusting Your Mac’s Automatic Energy- Saver Settings 129

Making Additional Mac Energy-Saving Adjustments 132

Brightness 133

Screen saver 134

Keyboard brightness 135

AirPort 136

Bluetooth 136

Sound 138

Spotlight 138

Part IV: Acquiring Green Gadgets and Gear 141

Chapter 9: Knowing the Difference Between Truly Green and Greenwash Hype 143

Paying to Be (Seen As) Green Is Big Business 143

Reviewing the Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics 145

Tapping In to the Greenpeace Electronics Survey 147

Considering Another Take on Green Gadgets: The Consumer Electronics Association 149

Taking Companies at Their Own Green Word, Sort Of 151

Browsing gadget-makers’ ecocentric Web sites 151

Seeking a second, third, or tenth opinion 154

Chapter 10: Choosing Green Mac and Windows Computers 155

Considering Upgrades to Make Your Computer Feel New Again 156

Upgrading hardware 156

Upgrading operating systems and applications 158

Choosing and installing upgrades 158

Getting Up-to-Speed on Computer Energy Standards and Ratings 159

Evaluating Computer Manufacturers’ Levels of Greenness 160

Getting a Handle on Green Computers 161

Picking Green Macs 163

Breaking down the MacBook, piece by piece 164

Considering other Macs and products 165

Looking at Green Windows Computers 166

Two green Windows desktops 167

A pair of green Windows notebooks 169

Chapter 11: Buying Green Mobile Phones and Handheld Gadgets 173

Getting Up to Speed on Green Gadget Matters 173

Dialing in to Green Mobile Phones 175

Motorola MOTO W233 Renew 177

Samsung SGH-W510, SGH-F268, and E200 Eco 178

Nokia 3110 Evolve and N79 eco 179

Looking at Green MP3 and Video Players, and Other Entertaining Gadgets 181

iPod nano 181

Shiro SQ-S solar-powered media player 182

Baylis Eco Media Player 182

eMotion Solar Portable media player 183

Saving Trees by Reading E-Books 184

Mobile phone and computer e-book readers 184

Dedicated e-book readers 187

Electronic bookstores 190

Getting Wound Up Over Green Windup Gadgets 191

Chapter 12: Getting Green Gadgets for on the Go 195

Driving Your Car More Efficiently 195

Tricking Out Your Car with Efficiency Gizmos 197

Tapping into GPS and Mobile Phone Applications for Green Getting-around 199

Talking mobile phone GPS navigator apps 201

Portable GPS navigators 202

GPS and green mobile phone apps 203

Tracking Green Gadgets for Fitness and Outdoor Activities 206

Staying in Charge with Portable Power Chargers and Extenders 208

Leafing Through Green Garments, Bags, and Cases 211

Chapter 13: Adding Green Gadgets around the House 215

Considering Green Gadgets for Every Room in the House 215

Monitoring and Controlling Household Energy Usage 217

Turning Things On and Off Automatically 219

Controlling Your Entire House with Home Automation Systems 221

Looking at Green HDTV, Music, Movie-Watching, and Audio Products 225

Fiddling with Other Ecofriendly Home Gadgets 229

Part V: Ridding Yourself of Gadgets the Green Way 233

Chapter 14: Donating, Gifting, and Selling Unwanted Gadgets 235

Determining whether an Unwanted Gadget Is of Use to Anyone 236

Weighing the Risks and Rewards of Donating, Gifting, and Selling Unwanted Gadgets 238

Giving the Gift of Unwanted Gadgets 240

Doing Good by Donating Computers and Other Gadgets 240

Trading In or Selling Gadgets for Greenbacks 243

The basics of the trade-in process 244

Finding a trade-in site for you 246

Selling Your Old Electronics on Craigslist 249

Auctioning Unwanted Gadgets on eBay and Other Auction Web Sites 251

Chapter 15: Erasing Your Personal Information before Getting Rid of Gadgets 255

Deleting Your Personal Stuff — The Short Way and the Long Way 256

Considering Trust to Decide How to Erase Personal Information 258

To know you is to trust you 258

I want to trust you, but I’m just not sure 259

Deauthorizing Computer Programs before Giving Away Your PC 260

Deleting Your User Account Files before Getting Rid of a Computer 264

Deleting your Windows XP user account and creating a new one 265

Deleting your Windows Vista user account and creating a new one 267

Deleting your Mac user account and creating a new one 270

Restoring Computers to Factory-Fresh Condition 273

Formatting and restoring a Windows hard drive 273

Formatting and restoring a Mac hard drive 277

Completely Erasing Deleted Files and Hard Drives 279

Wiping Windows hard drives 279

Wiping Mac hard drives 280

Chapter 16: Recycling and Properly Disposing of Hopelessly Useless Gadgets 283

Understanding E-Waste and E-Cycling 284

Finding E-Cyclers 286

Reputable or not? 286

Local or from a distance? 286

Finding a local e-cycler 288

National and corporate e-cycling programs 290

Erasing Personal Information 296

Deciding Whether to Break Down E-Waste or Leave It Whole 297

Keeping useful parts 297

Peripherals and other parts and pieces 298

Part VI: The Part of Tens 301

Chapter 17: Ten Cool Green PC Peripherals and Accessories 303

PC TrickleSaver 303

Ecobutton 303

Bamboo Laptop Stand Workstation 304

SimpleTech [re]drive R500U 500 GB Turbo 304

Lenovo ThinkVision L197 Wide 19-inch LCD Display 304

Apple 24-inch LED Cinema Display 305

Ink2image Bulk Ink System 305

Canon Generation Green Printers 305

D-Link DGL-4500 Xtreme N Gaming Router 306

Netgear 3G Broadband Wireless Router 306

Chapter 18: Ten Green Gadget Designs 307

Bware Water Meter 307

Laundry Pod 307

Social-Environmental Station: The Environmental Traffic Light 308

Indoor Drying Rack 308

Thermal Touch 308

Fastronauts 308

Tweet-a-Watt 309

Standby Monsters 309

Power-Hog 309

WattBlocks 309

And the Winners Are 310

Chapter 19: Ten Green Gadget Buying Tips 313

Don’t Buy! 313

Do Your Homework 313

Buy Recycled and Highly Recyclable 314

Buy Reconditioned or Preowned 315

Buy Small, Think Big Picture 315

Take a Bite Out of Energy Vampires 316

Make the Most of Multifunction Gadgets 316

Charge Your Gadgets the Green Way 317

Get Rid of Gadgets the Green Way 317

Buy Carbon Offsets to Minimize Your Carbon Footprint 318

Chapter 20: Ten Frequently Asked Questions about Green Gadgets 319

What Is a Green Gadget? 319

Why Should I Care about Buying Green Gadgets? 320

What Is EPEAT? 321

Which Electronic Products Does EPEAT Cover? 321

What Is Energy Star? 321

How Does a Product Earn the Energy Star Seal of Approval? 322

What Is the “Change the World, Start with Energy Star” Campaign? 322

Should I Donate or Recycle My Old Computer? 323

Should I Donate or Recycle My Old Cellphone? 323

Should I Recycle My Old Rechargeable Batteries? 324

Index 325