CiNii Books - Green gadgets for dummies

Save some green by going green with these environmentally friendly gadgets! With concern for the future of our environment growing stronger and more serious every day, there has never been a better time to take a new approach to some of the most popular gizmos and gadgets on the market and learn how you can convernt to electronics that have minimal environmental impact. Green gadgets encompass everything from iPods to energy-efficient home entertainment devices to solar laptop chargers and crank-powered gizmos. This helpful resource explains how to research green gadgets, make a smart purchasing decision, use products you already own in a more environmentally friendly way, and say goodbye to electronics that zap both energy and money. Explore the environmental and financial benefits of green gadgets with this friendly reference Discusses which gadgets save energy-and which ones create energy Learn ways to offset your carbon footprint when you can't reduce consumption Get tips for understanding products labels and avoiding "greenwash" Discover how to calculate the energy and money your gadgets consume Get moving and start living green with this informative guide to environmentally and wallet-friendly gadgets! Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Table of Contents

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

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