Apps were created for two reasons: to entertain you and to make your life easier. There are thousands of different apps for the Droid and iPhone market to make every aspects of your life simpler like travel, shopping, eating and exercising. But there are apps out there that can not only help you but the world we live in. Downloading apps that could potentially help your quest to save the environment just got easier; here are few apps to download:

Light Bulb Finder: A huge way to help the environment (and your energy bill) is too change out your home’s light bulbs to more energy efficient bulbs. Light Bulb Finder is easy to use and helps you to find the best and most energy efficient bulb replacement for whatever type of light you own. Another feature is the ability to purchase the light bulb through the app or help you find at your local retail store! Free. Available for Droid and iPhone users.

iRecycle: Just about anything and everything can be recycled or reused. iRecycle is an easy to use recycling app that shows you how to and where to recycle an item or product. Choose from their menu and based on your location or zip code, find where to drop off your item. Also you can read eco-friendly news and articles with this app. Free. Available for Droid and iPhone users.

Locavore: An awesome app for the foodies out there. Based on your location, Locavore will point you to the nearest farm or farmers market. Also find out what foods are in season and view a delicious collection of recipes displaying different in season foods. Sounds yummy! Free. Available for Droid and iPhone users.

Treehugger: Based on the very popular and ecofriendly, the team from www.treehugger.com created an app and good one at that! Stay abreast of all things green with news stories, Twitter feeds, podcasts and special articles. Now go hug the nearest tree. Free. Available for Droid and iPhone users.

Not only are all these apps free and available for iPhones and Android users, but they are apps that actually make a difference. Download now and save the environment one app at a time. Happy green downloading!

Article by Laura Backes. Laura enjoys writing about all kinds of subjects and also topics related to internet providers in her area. You can reach her at: laurabackes8@gmail.com.

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You may not have solar photovoltaic panels on your rooftop, but you can enjoy the benefits of solar power in several other ways. One of them is the FreeLoader Pro, a solar charger that powers most electrical devices, from the comfort of your home or during a expedition in the jungles of Africa.

It uses high power solar panels or USB (cable supplied) to charge its internal Li-ion battery. A full charge takes between seven and nine hours in sunny conditions. Once fully charged, Freeloader Pro is capable of delivering enough power to give a mobile phone 70 hours of standby time, 5,000 page turns on an eBook or a 100% full charge for a digital camera battery.

At 9.5V, the Freeloader Pro’s multi-voltage switch is capable of charging power-hungry, high-voltage devices such as MP4 players, portable DVD players and SLR camera batteries. It features a metallic push button “Power Halo” that indicates how much power is in the Freeloader Pro’s battery.

Freeloader Pro also features the CamCaddy. The CamCaddy is a specially designed adapter that accepts virtually every type of camera battery whether a simple compact digital camera, professional SLR or a video camera battery. CamCaddy suits all sizes of battery (3.2v to 7.9v) using its variable slider bar and adjustable contact pins.

Overview:
• Solar charger with a built-in Li-ion rechargeable battery
• Battery can be charged using solar cells or USB connection
• Specially designed CamCaddy can charge almost all camera and camcorder batteries (about 87% of camera models are compatible)
• Compatible with iPod, iPhone, Blackberry, current Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Motorola cell phones, PSP, portable DVD and MP4 players, more
• Li-ion rechargeable battery capacity: 1600mAh
• Solar cells: 200mA premium quality crystalline
• Impact resistant, rust free aluminum body
• Weight: 6.1 oz (174g)
• Dimensions: 5.9″ x 2.5″ x .8″ (150 x 63 x 20mm)
• Includes: Freeloader charger, CamCaddy, carrying bag, 10 charging adapters, USB cable, manual
• View the User Manual or the Compatibility List

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.

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These days we are surrounded by gadgets that require an increasing supply of electricity. Therefore finding ways to charge them with as little energy as possible and avoiding energy waste are steps we can take decrease our energy consumption and carbon emissions.

A new range of products designed to eliminate “wasteful stand-by consumption, also known as vampire power”, promises to do just that. They are produced by Bracketron and feature what the company calls GreenZero Technology. Their eco selling point is that they don’t consume energy when left plugged into power outlets, like most chargers do.

The GreenZero chargers detect when the device is fully charged or unplugged, and then automatically shut off. The chargers then consume zero idle power to save energy, while also lengthening the life of the device battery by limiting top-off charging time.

Bracketron’s GreenZero product lineup includes the Mushroom GreenZero and Stone GreenZero wall chargers for mobile devices, and the Stone Battery, a mini portable power supply that is available for both iPhone and microUSB-connected mobile devices.

The GreenZero chargers and battery were unveiled at the International CES 2012 in Las Vegas on January 12 and 13. The line will be available at retailers across the U.S. in March 2012.

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.

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There are many solar energy gadgets out there, but some of them seem to stand out. Take the LightShip, for example. It is a practical, portable solar light that could be the clean energy answer to campers, boats, cabins and emergency use. I particularly like the fact that it features three suction cups so that you can attach it to any smooth surface!

• Eight hours of light on a full charge of sunshine
• Daylight sensor that automatically turns it off during the day
• 3-way switch – white light, red light, off
• Long-lasting 900mA NmH battery for quick charges
• Weather-proof
• Tough polycarbonate plastic housing
• 5″ Diameter x 2″ High

It weights only 227g and the bulb features white and red LEDs.

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.

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There was a time when you could spot a greenie in the crowd. They were the Birkenstock-wearing, self-described environmentalists . These days, to rephrase an oft-used saying, “we’ve seen the future and it is us.”

No longer tethered to trees, people who care about the environment are no on-the-go, smartphone in hand. That’s why eco apps for smartphones are becoming the fun, on-demand way for consumers to find the facts about and options for a green lifestyle. Best of all, they are very low cost applications and often free!

It’s no surprise that Earth 17’s Bill Roth called these apps the “revolutionary gun” for consumer sustainability. Since consumers customize which apps they want on their smartphones, they, it can be said, co-create their own unique approach to saving the planet. They own it. Likely then, they will protect and nurture it.

In the supermarket, using apps from startups Goodguide and Barco, consumers can scan barcodes to connect the dots on which products have the fewest negative impacts on the environment – and making choices accordingly. With AUG Living Goods, products can be scanned to determine if they are local or shipped in, consuming energy and increasing the CO-2 level. Eventually, experts anticipate, there will be real-time links on those barcodes to third parties responding live to more detailed green questions. That takes sustainability even beyond iPhone’s innovative Siri. Research shows consumers are balking at all the meaningless-to-them information on packaging. They want to be able to zero in on the data important to them.

With app Green Outlet, consumers discover which appliances are draining the most energy as well as costing the most. With Solar PV Installer they can do those pre-smartphone calculations that were done on the back of an envelope about what it would cost to install solar and how much that would save in energy bills.

Green app developers have found a friend in Tokyo-based Fullcircle Innovations. The Japanese firm has created EcoAppsFree. Through that, users can download green apps and road-test them for 24 hours without cost. After the trial they can decide whether to keep them and pay a fee. The founder of iSleep Space reports that thanks to EcoAppsFree, within 24 hours, 15,000 in about 15 countries accepted the invitation to sample the app.

This is just the start. The statistics are eye-opening. According to Gartner, smartphones will become the highest selling consumer electronic device in the world. Around the world, predicts the IDC, that will total 982 million sold by 2015. That’s about one-seventh the world’s population, penetrating developing economies. That means government, the private sector, and activists can provide green education directly, one-on-one, in emerging economies for little or no cost. There need be no sustainability gap between richer nations and poorer nations.

Given the dog-fight of competition between the iPhone platform from Apple and the Android from Google, it’s in the commercial self-interest of both to develop as many eco apps as possible, fast. The competitive tension exists for Apple to outdo Android on the unexpected.

Already, in terms of just being green companies, all the smartphone producers are pitted against each other. According to Newsweek’s recent Green Rankings, Apple is number two in the green world ranking for smartphones, just behind Nokia and Samsung, which tie for first place. Apple, however, is number one in smartphone market share.

Of course, each individual on Planet Earth must do his or her part. With smartphone in hand, environmental information is available – literally – on-demand.

These apps put the power into your employees hands – allowing them to get smart about sustainability, Now it’s time to focus on your company’s bottom line. And, as they say, there’s an app for that.

Building EKG,™ an energy and water saving application from Noveda Technologies of Branchburg, N.J., is the first in a series of mobile-based applications developed for business enterprises to better manage renewable energy production, energy consumption and water usage in real-time and will initially be available on Apple devices.

The Building EKG application is designed to help businesses access information anywhere and at any time, enabling key decision makers to make on-demand changes across multiple platforms and at multiple facilities, irrespective of location. This application combines the capabilities of Noveda’s suite of monitoring solutions (EnergyFlow Monitor, SunFlow Monitor®, and Carbon Footprint Monitor), giving an
integrated view of all critical energy cost drivers, including electric, gas, steam, and oil, among others.

“With the launch of the Building EKG application, Noveda can deliver actionable intelligence on energy and water use not only instantaneously, but via multiple channels to our customers wherever they are located. This helps our customers to take immediate action to reduce their energy and water consumption and maximize renewable energy production,” said Joe Jacob, chief technology officer at Noveda.

Article by Bari Faye Siegel, a technology writer and marketing consultant at Noveda Technologies, an innovative leader in real-time, web-based energy management, solar PV monitoring and water management. Noveda also offers real-time collaboration tools that leverage social media to educate and empower stakeholder communities and make the smart grid a reality today. For more information, visit www.noveda.com.

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Last September we ran a blog post about Nokia’s adventure with solar power for cell phones. The Finnish giant sent some testers out into the big wide world to see how solar power would fare when it came to charging mobile phones with sunlight. The conclusion: it depends on lifestyle, baby.

The testers went to the Baltic Sea, camping in a Swedish forest and were in Kenya in Africa to test the technology in wildly different setting. The technology was named Lokki, especially developed small solar charging panels that were integrated to Nokia C1-02 devices.

Later on Nokia wrote a blog post saying that performance really depends on lifestyle. For instance, the security guard in Kenya collected more solar energy than anybody else because of the stationary nature of his work. He placed his phone on a pillar next to the gate where he was working and the Kenyan sun did the rest.

Elsewhere, Aino, a scout in Sweden, gained 15 percent battery life during the ten-day camp. Because she was on the move all the time, exposing the device to the sun was more complicated.

The Baltic sea tester, Pettery, had little time to use his phone and so he could fully power it from the sun during his expedition. He could even top up his battery. Also the phone was always facing the sun from the deck of the boat.

Nokia’s conclusion: “Our test users proved beyond doubt that a low power mobile phone can stay functioning for long periods of time on solar energy. However, they also proved that your lifestyle and how you use a solar powered phone is as important as the environment, the weather and the time of year.”

The question is: when will we see commercial mobile phones that are powered with solar energy, if ever? Well, for now it seems solar power is only feasible for basic mobile phones whose power consumption is low and after an extended period of exposure to the sun – so power-hungry smartphone users will have to wait longer. You’ll need a good harvesting day to get an hour of talk (which is not bad, really). On cloudy days, the phone may need to be shut down in order to maintain some charge. Therefore, solar mobile phones may be better suited for regions in the world where sunshine is constant and where the grid is not available. It may not provide a 24-hour connection but it could provide a communication solution for those living in remote regions.

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.

photo: Nokia Solar Charging Blog

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One of the key drivers for community and residential energy storage is distributed solar photovoltaics (PV). This is because distributed PV causes fluctuations on low-voltage networks (the end of the line of the grid, essentially). In order for the residential side of the market to take off, customers need an incentive to prioritize either onsite consumption of renewable energy or dynamic pricing for residential electricity rates. Either will work, but both will require customers to have better information about energy and how they are using it.

To that end, California-based solar PV developer and manufacturer SunPower has introduced a smartphone application for Android that delivers information to customers on the energy performance of their residential solar system, their home’s energy usage, and environmental savings on an hourly, monthly and annual basis. The app also gives users access to historical data and the option to share data. This mirrors the tracking data available on the firm’s website, but delivers the information more conveniently and without the need to log into a website.

Although this doesn’t present a financial incentive for residential energy storage, apps like these improve the energy awareness of homeowners much in the way that smart meters do. Presenting residential PV owners with more information about their energy generation and use is the first step in helping customers understand whether or not they would benefit from optimizing distributed renewables by using storage.

Other apps in a similar vein include Radio Thermostat, which lets users who have installed physical radio thermostats in their homes to remotely manage the temperature from a smartphone. Many more applications are educational, teaching users how to improve energy efficiency and perform energy audits. These apps are just scratching the surface in terms of home energy management, but are nonetheless important because they are making information accessible, easy to understand, and most importantly, easy to use.

Article by Anissa Dehamna, appearing courtesy the Matter Network.

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We all remember sights of people lined up for clean water in Haiti after the devastating earthquake in 2010, or in Japan last year after the great tsunami hit with horrific consequences. Large scale natural disasters will unfortunately continue to be a global threat. Beyond the initial loss of life and home, they also wreak havoc on basic infrastructures putting food, clean water, and electricity out of reach, for as long as months in their aftermath.

While preventing natural disasters is next to impossible, providing for populations in need following such disasters is most definitely not, and can mean the difference between a few casualties and thousands. One Israeli company, in particular, has developed a unique product ideal for such situations.

EZPack, formed in 2010 by Danny Cohen, Alex Harel and Ohad Zecharia, has created a unique way to transfer clean, drinkable water to disaster areas and other emergency zones, while still maintaining its quality and purity. The start-up makes use of innovative pillow bladder tanks which consist of a PVC outer layer, and “food-graded” material within. This dual-layer system creates a highly durable transportation apparatus while allowing the transferred water to remain clean, drinkable and uncontaminated for extensive periods of time.

While EZPack has not yet had the opportunity to put their product into action in disaster areas, it has already been deployed with great success for homes and remote locations (pillow bladder tanks serve as ideal low-space water storage for both homes and off-site projects such as oil rigs) and has been approved by the Israeli Water Authority for water distribution in emergency situations.

EZPack’s unique solution represents what is hopefully a growing trend in cleantech, an effort to use “green technology” to provide relief in emergency situations. As the world grows ever more connected, international crises, whether in Haiti, Japan, China, Chile, or elsewhere, must be responded to by global, technologically advanced solutions, and cleantech might be just the industry to create them.

Article appearing courtesy Israel NewTech.

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Did you find a lot of neat little gadgets underneath the Christmas tree this week? While they present exciting new ways to stay connected, the need to keep these devices charged can create special challenges for their owners and a big drain on the energy grid.

Rather than wait until the local energy company decides to switch to solar, wind, or geothermal power, a Berlin-based company has created the opportunity for everyone to become a power plant unto themselves.

Changers recently introduced a portable solar charging system for everyone that aims to reduce global warming by shifting society to the use of a currency backed by the sun. The Changers System gives electronics users (so pretty much everyone!) a way to harness the sun’s energy, liberate ourselves from the grid, recharge our devices, socialize our energy production, and compete with each other to earn credits that can be spent in an online marketplace.

The Changers Starter Kit includes the Kalhuohfummi solar battery and the Maroshi solar module. The Changers Kalhuohfummi is a simple, one-button device that communicates with Changers.com. It can accurately measure how much energy it captures and stores in the built-in battery, ready to charge any smartphone or tablet. The Changers Kalhuohfummi solar battery is powered by the Changers Maroshi flexible solar module, which generates up to four Watts per hour — enough to charge the Kalhuohfummi battery in four hours. The Changers Maroshi solar panel, which is produced in Colorado, USA, can be attached to any window or sunny surface.

Basically, Changers allows people to generate their own energy, eliminate the fear of dead mobile devices, and then make the C02 savings visible to their friends in the same way they would share a new coffee shop or must-listen band.

“Each of us takes it for granted that we have limitless energy on tap, and as a result we have become completely disconnected from how our actual energy usage impacts the planet,” said Markus Schulz, co-founder and CEO of Changers. “The Changers System aims to shift our attitudes and behavior by enabling each of us to produce our own energy, measure and visualize the real effect of this simple act, and then share our contributions with others. We think that if you can unite people in the pursuit of renewable energy — even small amounts of energy — it will lead to a dramatic transformation in how we source and consume energy.”

Heads up: We were so intrigued by the Changers effort to combine the addictive nature of social media with the need to generate more renewable energy, we asked them if we could give the solar charging kit a test drive in 2012…and they agreed! So be on the lookout for a detailed review of the charging kit to be published in the new year.

Article by Beth Buczynski, appearing courtesy Crisp Green.

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Use recycled materials to create a musical keepsake for your loved one. It’s an old timey gift with a 21st century sound track!

Looking for a DIY gift for your daughter or niece? This is the perfect project for an experienced tinkerer–all you need is a cigar box, an old MP3 player, and a few hours of time. The great thing about this idea is that you can customize the music box to play more than one song!

Article by Beth Buczynski, appearing courtesy Crisp Green.

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