Test Your Green Gadget IQ

Each year, the average American household spends $1,200 on new electronics, from phones and cameras to computers and gaming systems. Rather than making a device last as long as possible, most people tend to replace them before they're truly outdated or at the end of their lifespan. Knowing some simple repair tips would make devices last far longer and keep e-waste out of landfills.

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Fix It Tips for Common Gadgets

How to Repair a Laptop and Other Gadgets

7 Ways to Make Your Gadgets Last

An astounding 700 million used cell phones are in the US today. This is primarily because most major manufacturers put out new models at least twice a year, and the average cell phone user replaces their phone every 14 to 18 months. By taking advantage of this overstock, and buying used, or keeping your current cell phone for as long as possible, you'll help green up the mobile phone industry.

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Did you do a double-take on this one? Televisions, computers, electric toothbrushes, phones, radios... We leave dozens of devices plugged in during the day, all using up energy and money when they aren?t even in use. While it seems like a small step, unplugging anything that's not in use, or at least plugging them into a smart strip, goes a long way to curb vampire power and cut wasted energy.

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Switch Off These 8 Commonly Left-On Appliances

We did some general comparisons and found that by cutting out everything from the standard entertainment system to the big desktop computer and excess gadgets and consolidating your techy needs down to a laptop and cell phone, you could cut down your power intake by as much as 700 watts. While most people won't ditch every last device, it goes to show what a difference using just a handful of gadgets to their fullest can make.

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Unplugged Couple Green and Happy

Each American throws away an average of 15 pounds of electronics a year. By repairing devices and reusing parts, a massive amount of e-waste can be diverted from the waste stream, helping to keep toxins out of landfills and reduce the amount of water and energy that goes into recycling them.

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myGreenElectronics: A New Resources for Greening Your Gadgets

While it'd be great to be able to read the box, and trust things like eco-labels and the knowledge of store attendants, the truth is all those things mean relatively little without extra research. Your best bet to learn if a gadget is green is to do your homework and check with resources like EPEAT, Energy Star, Consumer Reports, Greenpeace and others who have done lots of research for you.

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5 Green Questions to Ask When Buying Gadgets

It's true using a gadget sparingly or attaching a solar cell to it might green up the devices you already own. But these aren't practical solutions for everyone. And selling what you have just to buy another device, no matter how "green" is definitely not more eco-friendly. Like cars, maintaining the devices you have and repairing them yourself when it breaks in order to make it last as long as possible is the best way to green what you already have.

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Fix It Tips for Common Gadgets

How to Repair a Laptop and Other Gadgets

7 Ways to Make Your Gadgets Last

True. Thanks to the growing number of quality solar chargers on the market, everything from handheld devices to laptops can be charged right now via solar power. Plus, there's always the option of installing your own solar panels on your roof to really charge things up!

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It's important we see gadgets that are energy efficient, recyclable, repairable and upgradable. But none of that means a hill of beans if it doesn't have a green-thinking owner who is willing to be conscious of how the gadget is charged, fixing it when it breaks, keeping it until it finally ticks its last tock and then recycles it. YOU are the greenest feature of your gadgets.

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How to Go Green: Gadgets

How to Go Green: Home Electronics

Gadgets on Planet Green

Gadgets are getting greener thanks to new features like embedded solar panels, higher levels of recyclability, and a great market for buying used. But the greenest gadgets are the ones you already own by the simple fact that you already own it and can therefore make it greener by maintaining it, charging it with renewable energy sources, keeping it out of the waste stream, and therefore keeping from buying any more gadgets. Now that's green!

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