Greener Living with Electronics

In honor of Earth Day, Retrevo, a site specializing in consumer electronics info, put together a PDF guide with a lot of good info about the environment and electronics. Here are some tips from Retrevo's guide on how to be greener when using your electronics:

1. Turn off devices when you’re not using them – especially game consoles and TVs.Large plasma TVs" are the biggest hogs but game machines are a close second. Shutting down game players in the U.S. for just 24 hours would save enough energy to power the city of San Diego for a day.

2. Make sure they’re really off – use a power strip and flip the switch.Many products draw power after they’re turned off. If the charger in the wall socket is warm it's likely sucking power. Use a power strip and shut it down to insure gadgets are really off.

3. If you’re going to leave your computer on, at least set them to Hibernate or Standby.Energy Star says the PC’s Hibernate or Standby mode can save up to $75 a year in electricity. And, don’t be fooled by screen savers – they’re no help at all.

4. Unplug the gadgets you only use occasionally.If you only use them once in a while – fax machines, or peripherals attached to your computer such as USB hard drives for backup – unplugging guarantees they’re off. 

5. Use renewable energy to recharge small devices like iPods, cell phones and GPS.Inexpensive devices like the Hymini wind turbine, Solio's Hybrid 1000, Freeplay Freecharge, or Kinesis Industries combo are easy to use and get your gadgets going in minutes.

Here's a list of some things you may not have known about gadgets and the environment.

1. A stand-alone Sony Blu-ray DVD player" uses a fraction of the energy of a Sony PlayStation 3 with built-in Blu-ray player.
2. According to a study by NRDC most game consoles are left powered on when the TV is turned off and continue to use more than 100 watts.
3. The Nintendo Wii uses a fraction of the power of other game consoles but the company comes in near last place on Greenpeace's list of green electronics companies.
4. According to Energy Star, residential electricity use by consumer electronic products is responsible for approximately 15% of household electricity use.
5. LCD TVs" and laptops that use LED backlights use less energy and don't have mercury in their displays.

These hints are all apart of Retrevo's Survival Guide to Greener Living with Electronics.  In this guide, there are more helpful hints, suggestions, and more information about how to live greener when using and buying electronics.