We’ve talked much the last two weeks about going green and electric cars, and now Bentley is getting in on the act with this tiny-yet-awesome Continental DC electric concept car.

Though it’s not planned for production, the 256-pound Bentley works quite well for what it is, and can reach a top speed of 40MPH.

The fact that a company like Bentley is jumping into the electric car field is exciting, and the fact that they’re doing it while making it look good is awesome.

Using excess or leftover corn as a fuel source sure sounded like a good idea, especially here in the U.S. Let’s get our farmers from, I don’t, Iowa, to set aside a certain percentage of arable land for the production of fuel corn. (The term “fuel corn” may or may not exist, but it should if it doesn’t.) This corn, rather than being used for food, would be used for the production of ethanol, an alcohol that can power combustion engines. Follow the logic: grow corn, which is fairly inexpensive to do, create ethanol, power car engines. Simple, direct and seemingly a possible solution to our reliance on foreign oil and all the bonus adventurism that comes with that. Grow corn at home, or meddle in other people’s affairs for access to oil?

Onward! to our bright, biofueled future. Wait, what?

There’s a word in that opening paragraph that suddenly no longer applies, apparently. What if all that corn (and other sources of biofuel) is no longer “leftover”? What if, you know, we should be using all that corn (etc.) to feed people? (Food used to feed people? Madness!) What if the price of food, for some reason, skyrocketed, and the poorer peoples of the world look longingly at all that “excess” corn being used to fuel your dumb automobile?

It would seem we, Westerners, are stuck between a rock and a rock. Big rocks. With sharp edges.

If you read any of the Big Papers, like the Financial Times, the Guardian or the New York Times—please don’t watch cable “news,” which has devolved into infotainment—you’ll have noticed an uptick in the number of stories covering some sort of food crisis. The Readers Digest version of the crisis is, as a result rising oil prices (increases transportation costs), poor climate (lots of droughts in food-producing regions) and—ding ding ding—the diversion of food-for-food to food-for-fuel has increased the price of food around the world. My local coffee place recently increased the price of a small cup of coffee by 25 cents. I mention that not for the “woe is me” factor (woe unto me for altogether different reasons), but to illustrate the fact that rising food costs isn’t merely a problem “over there.”

So we’re looking at quite the dicey situation. The world’s poor (40 percent of people live on less than two dollars a day) can no longer afford the most basic of foodstuffs, while the West hums along producing fuel to power its automobiles and other near-luxuries. (I say “near-luxuries” because, frankly, try living without a car in the U.S. outside of a few major cities; they’re “luxuries” compared to food. Call me crazy.) What should we do, how should the West react? Personally, I’m a cynical jerk, and I truly believe Americans are more concerned with who’s going to win American Idol or whether or not they’ll 100 percent GTA IV than whether some invisible foreigner can afford a loaf of bread or cup of rice. Not to be a whiny liberal, but you gotta figure most Americas are more concerned with their needs and wants than someone else’s; it’s only rational, I think. So when Americans pay, what, $4 per gallon of gas and they hear about some sort of weird “corn gasoline” that could be cheaper and can be grown in Our Backyard, you try convincing them to keep paying $4 just to save some poor person they’ll never see and never know, certainly never care about, to alter their lifestyle. It’ll take some sort of sticker shock at the supermarket for Americans writ large to even notice any food crisis.

Back to biofuel. There’s so many competing interests here that I’d rather hop on a message board and argue with a 13-year-old from Ohio whether or not the PS3 is “cool” or not. Are we gonna tell Iowa farmers to stop growing heavily subsidized and hugely profitable biofuel corn? Not if you’re an office-seeking politician, you’re not. Remind me again of Clinton, Obama and McCain’s views of ethanol? I have zero faith in politicians standing up to the ethanol pushers. Americans at home certainly aren’t going to support any schemes that prevent them from lowering their petrol bill. More biofuel, then, nuts to the rest of the world.

So we can “go green” (again, I think going green is a load of hogwash given China’s not-give-a-damn attitude toward pollution) and embrace biofuel, which doesn’t put filth into the atmosphere leading to a happy, Greener Earth, or we can actually grow food for food’s sake. I have no idea where I stand, which is how I am politically on most issues. I don’t like the idea of people starving, but if I have to be inconvenienced to make a difference… eh, I’d rather not be inconvenienced.

What dreams may come.

This product, made by an MD, no less, is a mini solar panel with multiple charging tips and a little leather case. It’s 19.99 British pounds sterling, which, at current exchange rates, translates to $5,432.29.

Nokia old, Nokia new/N series, Sony Ericsson, Motorola/Blackberry/mini USB and Samsung phones as well as a DC 5V tip for PSPs and many digital cameras, an Ipod tip, and one for female USB, you have plenty of connection and expansion options to keep all your products charged.

It weighs less than 80g (14 farthing) and can charge a phone twice before it needs to be officially plugged in.

When it was announced less than two years ago, many thought the Tesla Roadster was a hoax, or at best a vaporware concept that wouldn’t go anywhere. Thankfully, those skeptics have been proven wrong, with the Tesla in full production and the first lot sold out already.

But what is it about the Tesla that makes it so unusual? Not only is it fully electric, making it one of the most green cars you can drive, it’s also incredibly well made. Reviews from those who’ve driven it are almost universally positive.

Green Guts

It’s power conscious, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have power; indeed, the car goes 0 to 60 in less than four seconds, corners like a dream, and can get up to 221 miles on a charge.

It looks amazing, too. The car was designed by a group who’d previously worked on the latest generation Lotuses. This isn’t a Honda Element, this is a car you’d want to be seen in.

Making a Difference

The Tesla is being lauded as the first in what many are hoping is a long line of all-electric cars, vehicles one step beyond the hybrid concept.

There are problems with the Tesla, though. Despite its popularity, critics point out a few flaws in the auto, such as the fact that it requires a non-portable charging station. Unless a gas station-like network of them rolls out across the country, you’re looking at about a range of about 100 miles from your house. The car doesn’t have a back-up mechanism at all, so if you run out of juice away from home, you’re looking at a pricey tow.

Many find the almost $100k price tag too high as well, thinking a vehicle for only the rich won’t do enough to spark the revolution it’s expected too, which is a fair argument.

Still, personal computers were very pricey when they came out, and within two decades they’re now so common place we have debates on how to dispose of them.

Many of the designs being incorporated into the car — the one-speed transmission, carbon-fiber body, super-effecient headlights — can be reduced in cost for consumer models. Indeed, there’s rumor of a consumer version to debut sometime in 2010 that is expected to sell for half the price.

Competition from Chevy

GM has chosen 2010 as the time to debut its all-electric, the Volt. The Volt uses similar technology as the Tesla, relying on Lithium-Ion batteries for its power, and like the Tesla it’s a slick-looking, fast sportscar.

Unlike the Tesla, the Volt has a take-along power pack that plugs into any standard 110 volt wall outlet, meaning you can drive it pretty much anywhere. It doesn’t have the speed of the Tesla, but it should be far more affordable, likely coming in at between $30k and $40k.

What remains to be seen is if these are vanguards of a new generation of all electric cars or if they’re just good ideas that don’t have a market. We’re hoping for the previous, as the idea of going fast appeals to us, but not at $4 a gallon.

Aside from being expensive, gasoline is hard on the environment too. Here are a few viable alternatives (that are available now) if you decide that you’ve had enough with high gas prices and/or you’d like to go easier on the environment.

Public Transportation, Walking, Carpooling, Bicycling, Hourly Rentals

Yes, yes, these are all nice options. Look into them in your hometown. None of them are very geeky or gadgety and/or they all vary from place to place. I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least bring them up, though. I got rid of my car in October and now I walk, take the subway (Boston), or use Zipcar.com to get where I need to go. It’s easy!

Segway i2 Commuter

If you’d like to ditch your car altogether and you live in a relatively temperate climate, not too far from work, why not just bite the nerdly bullet and pick up a Segway? The i2 Commuter model starts at $5,460 and is good for almost 25 miles before it needs to be recharged.

Your friends will think you’re cool and environmentally conscious ladies will be all over you like patchouli on a Phish fan. Yum.

Segway i2 Commuter [Segway.com]

Zapino Electric Scooter

Hey there, Businesslady, I like your sassy summer ‘do and your fun Zapino electric scooter from ZAP Electric Cars.

This is one of your more expensive scooters at just under $4,000, but it’s all electric so you’ll save an ass-load on gas. Top speed is about 30MPH and the range is 30 miles so, again, make sure you live close to work.

Zapino Electric Scooter [ZapWorld.com]

Tesla Roadster

Far and away the most impressive car to date (in my opinion), the Tesla Roadster is all electric, yet sacrifices very little in the name of the environment. Well, except maybe that it costs over $100,000 and there’s a 15-month wait and $60,000 is due just to get on the list. However, if I had that kind of money, I’d definitely get one of these.

The Roadster is 100% electric, goes 0 to 60 in under four seconds, has a 13,000 rpm redline, gets the equivalent of 135 miles to the gallon, goes 220 miles on a single charge, and costs less than two cents per mile’s worth of energy.

Tesla Motors [TeslaMotors.com]

Electric Vehicles versus Regular Vehicles

I’d jump at the chance to get any all-electric vehicle, actually, since the cost of “filling” them up is so much less than conventional cars.  Steve Heckeroth of the American Solar Energy Society says that electric cars cost roughly two cents per mile versus gas, bio-diesel, ethanol vehicles, which cost 20 to 30 cents per mile. Here’s a short video with more information.

For many of us, though, buying an all-electric vehicle or riding a goofy Segway to work just isn’t practical yet. So here’s a list of the most fuel-efficient cars, trucks, and SUVs on the road today. The numbers following each vehicle represent its city and highway mileage and clicking on the vehicle’s name will take you to its website.

Two Seater: smart fortwo Convertible 33/41

Minicompact: MINI Cooper 28/37

Subcompact: Toyota Yaris 29/36

Compact: Honda Civic Hybrid 40/45

Midsize: Toyota Prius Hybrid 48/45

Large: Honda Accord 22/31

Small Station Wagon: Honda Fit 28/34

Midsize Station Wagon: Volkswagen Passat Wagon 21/29

Small Pickup: Ford Ranger 2WD 21/26

Standard Pickup: Dodge Dakota 2WD or Mitsubishi Raider 2WD 16/20

SUV: Ford Escape Hybrid FWD, Mazda Tribute Hybrid 2WD, Mercury Mariner Hybrid FWD 34/30

Data source: FuelEconomy.gov

I’m a fan of geo-thermal energy. It’s almost free, available everywhere, and doesn’t pollute in any way. France likes it too, and is taking advantage of it to power a new airport.

Geothermal power uses water and the Earth’s own internal heat to generate steam, which turns turbines and produces electricity. The only costs are those associated with pumping of the water and hardware.

The airport, the Orly, will open its doors in about three years.

Outside of the cesspool that is New York City, regular folk drive cars to and fro’. And while New Yorkers may get a bad rap for being “mean” or “high-strung” or “fancy,” by relying on public transportation (7 train~!) and our well-muscled legs to get around, we’re doing Mother Earth a big favor. As the rest of the country pumps CO2 and other fun elements into the atmosphere, we’re doing our damnedest to keep our carbon footprints as low as possible. (Never mind that China and India throw CO2 into the atmosphere like nobody’s business… yes, I think going green is 100 percent worthless when taking other, less environmentally sensitive countries into account.) But what if y’all drove a car that, instead of producing noxious, Earth-destroying fumes as waste, you produced clean water? Magic? Wizzzzardry? Only kind of!

Hydrogen-powered cars, friends. Hydrogen-powered cars. I saw a documentary on them once when I was still young and idealistic (let’s say something like 2004) and was totally blown away. By using a fuel-cell (I leave the other, combustion-type engines out of this post; the combustion engine is old hat at this point), hydrogen-powered cars mix hydrogen (of all things!) with oxygen to produce electricity (which powers the car) and water (the only exhaust). That, seemingly, would solve one of the bigger “omg we’re killing the planet with the burning of fossil fuels” problems, right?

Depends on who you talk to. Figures.

For starters, you’re still technically burning fossil fuels when you drive a hydrogen-powered car. That’s because, unlike sweet, life-giving oil, hydrogen isn’t actually a fuel, but rather a conduit for energy. That means you can’t simply burn it and go vroooom. You need to generate that hydrogen somehow, and that’s typically done by burning fossil fuels at specialized plants. Much of this hydrogen is already used to keep America Strong. Who’s gonna pay for increased hydrogen production, and in a fashionably environmentally friendly manner? Not me. I’ve got, what, 50-60 years left on this dumb planet? Not my problem. Granted, as Popular Mechanics noted some time ago, hydrogen contains more than three times as much energy as natural gas, so once you’re able to produce enough in a cost-effective manner, maybe then we’ll all get along.

Another issue—how to transport hydrogen. Y’all may have heard of the Hindenburg, the lighter-than-air zeplin that exploded quite spectacularly over New Jersey. Who wants to drive around with a tank full of that stuff? Try convincing the average American to drive around in a car that’s filled with hydrogen. (Never mind that they already drive around with a tank full of petrol.)

As for the cars themselves, there’s a few reasons why we’re not driving them en masse just yet. The biggest reason right now is that they’re still to expensive for car manufactures to produce. What’s Detroit’s incentive to produce a car that only a small number of people can buy (like the Tesla)? Fuel-cell technology is quite “there” yet, so to speak, not at the scale and sophistication that we’d need it yet. While there’s plenty of researching going into fuel-cells, we’re still a few years away from being able to walk into the local car dealership and test drive a hydrogen-powered car.

Bottom line is, hydrogen-powered cars simply aren’t practical right now. Maybe it’ll take something $10/gallon gasoline before we start looking for alternative fuels.

Essentially, it’s any kind of fatty oil that’s been purified and transesterased (a chemical substitution process), at which point it can be run in pretty much any diesel engine with little or no modification. One of the ideas of the diesel engine was fuel independence. Farmers could use their own corn oil in their diesel tractors, Siberians used their extra vodka, and so on. Nowadays, the petroleum industry has had so much infrastructure that it can be difficult to run a biodiesel car regularly. But that’s changing. People want to rely on foreign oil less and recycle what we have more. Thus the movement to use biofuels was reborn.

If you have a diesel engine, chances are all you have to do is find out where to get some biodiesel locally. This is easier than it sounds – there are services online for finding a place, and I imagine if you just ask your mechanic, he or she could point you in the right direction. Most likely you’ll be running a mix of petro-diesel and biodiesel. The label B__ describes the ratio: B20 is 20% biodiesel, B40 40% and so on. Price is difficult to predict, but considering how much gas costs these days, I doubt you’d be saving a lot of money by sticking with fossil fuels exclusively.

You can try to make your own, but I wouldn’t trust myself to do it and unless you’re a chemical engineer you shouldn’t either. It’s not as simple as driving to McDonalds, hijacking their fryer, and pouring it into your gas tank. There’s a chemical process involved (check it out) to make sure the stuff works right, to say nothing of all the fry bits that would end up in your fuel filters.

So what is biodiesel?
The Good
So other than feeling good about not contributing to the oil problem, what’s good about biodiesel? As it turns out, quite a lot:

• Biodiesel has far lower harmful emissions than petroleum-based fuels
• The fuel itself is nontoxic; a leak or tanker tipping over won’t hurt a fly (unless it drowns)
• It’s sustainable; there’s no biodiesel reservoir we’re emptying out
• It runs cleaner, smoother, and quieter thanks to biodiesel being a natural lubricant

The Bad
Nice, right? Of course, there’s a flip side. Pure biodiesel has poor performance in cold weather; below freezing it becomes slushy. This usually isn’t a problem as the biodiesel will be cut with regular diesel and you can go safely down to -15F. Because biodiesel is a solvent, it will corrode rubber hosing and seals; ask your mechanic if you don’t know whether you have these. Most cars have synthetics instead of rubber and have for decades, but you never know. However, biodiesel’s solvent nature also means it will clear out a lot of the junk that’s been clogging your engine, so replace your filters after a tank or two.

The Nasty
One thing biodiesel proponents tend to gloss over is the fact that we’d need a huge amount of crops to fuel ourselves. Even as it is, half the world’s soy crop goes into fuel, and ethanol faces a similar problem. So we grow more, right? Wrong. Fuel crops are leaders in deforestation due to the huge amount needed, and it may be that the carbon footprint of destroying millions of acres of the Amazon (where soy is the biggest crop) far outweighs the benefits of reduced emissions. That’s a difficult question and one that is by no means settled, so it’s worth considering.

Other sources for biodiesel are being researched, such as algae that produce it naturally, but these have nowhere near the capacity to fill demand at this time. Ideally there would be a clean and harmless way to produce the fuel as well as the fuel itself being relatively harmless, but that’s not the case. If it matters to you, you can find out where your biodiesel is coming from or start making your own from waste vegetable oil or some such.

It’s worth mentioning that there are also conversion kits available, like the “Frybrid,” which allow your car to run on pure vegetable oil that has been heated up to reduce viscosity. These are not biodiesel per se, but are close enough that you might consider one instead. The only trouble is acquiring enough vegetable oil to run it, but you probably get pretty good at that after a while.

Essentially, biodiesel is still a mixed bag. It’s got its own set of pros and cons, but none of the benefits is a knockout punch when you consider the drawbacks. At this point its a matter of whether you want to do it, not whether you should.

Anyway, this being Green Week for us, I thought I’d share the Primus AW with you all. It’s Lowepro’s most eco-friendly pack and is geared towards the outdoor photog. It’s made from 51 percent post consumer recycled materials. It’s mostly made from a 100 percent post consumer recycled fabric called Cyclpet. Each of the Primus AW’s contain the equivalent of 22.6 pop bottles, which keeps .0034 cubic yards of landfill empty with each pack. With each bag being made from 51 percent recycled materials, Lowepro conserves 15,109 BTU’s of energy, .002 barrels of crude oil and .12 gallons of refined oil during the production process.

It’s rigged out for pro DSLRs, 1-2 extra flashes or lenses and a seam-sealed All-Weather Cover among other things. A portion of revenue from the Primus AW goes to support Polar Bears International and their continuing effort to save those cute and cuddly bears.

Anyway, to fulfill my green duties for the day we’re going to chat about how to print in an eco-friendly manner. That encompasses using recycled paper and/or using alternative inks. It’s pretty easy, actually. Using recycled paper seems like a no-brainer so I won’t delve into that one too much. A lot of the waste comes from ink cartridges so I’m going to focus on that for now.

For starters, if you are going to print something try and condense what you need down to the lowest number of pages possible. I’m guilty of printing off random e-mails and what not that include a single URL on the last page. It’s a waste and I feel bad about it, but I throw it into the scrap paper box or use it for doodling at my desk. Or print on both sides of the page. So, yeah, use recycled paper and figure out how many pages are going to be printed and find a way to reduce that number if possible. Here’s another simple solution or shortcut if you’re printing directions, for example. I actually do this all the time. Just text or e-mail yourself. That’s it. Easy, right?

Using recycled paper reduces the use of toxic chemicals, uses less energy and produces fewer emissions than normal paper. Alternative paper products are available as well that are made from a variety of materials such as soybeans, wheat, cotton, or hemp. But there’s a downside to all this and it comes down to money. Time jumps into the equation as well since you’ll more than likely have to import the paper. 100 percent-recycled paper is cheap these days and can be found just about anywhere. You’re better off going down that route.

I haven’t owned a printer since college and even then I rarely used it. Ink cartridges are crazy expensive and don’t seem to last very long. And then when you’re done with it, you throw it out and who knows what’s still in there. Anything petroleum-based is bad news bears and switching to soy ink is a great alternative. You can recycle your ink cartridges and or try refilling cartridges yourself, which can be painstaking at times and you get, maybe, an average of four refills. But you spend about half the amount. Another option is to take your cartridges into one of the recycling/refilling shops, but you’re not saving much money there.

There are many benefits to using soy-based ink. For one thing it’s non-toxic and it’s priced comparably to normal ink. For more info on soy ink check out a Q&A here.

This is a fairly genuine overview of the easy and simple ways to reduce waste when printing. If you have other suggestions then please feel free to include them in comments. The more the merrier.

It’s a rather long video, but the University of Warwick’s Warwick Manufacturing Group is working with PVAXX Research & Development Ltd to make cell phones with biodegradable parts. It’s a pretty neat idea. Check it out. What are you doing with your old cell phones?

With so many portable devices in our homes, we use a lot more batteries than people think about. After many uses, though, many rechargeable batteries can suddenly fail, rendering the device useless if they’re non-swappable. If the device has a removable battery, you can of course buy a new one, but that means throwing the toxic and useless old one out. Why not trade it in to a refurb station to save money and save the precious, fragile environment?

How batteries work

Batteries produce an electric current from the chemical reaction between two electrodes and an electrolyte.

Portable devices are powered by a rechargeable NiCad or newer Lithium-Ion battery or battery pack consisting of as many as 20 cells. Each cell has a current at about 1.2 volts.

Most batteries are good for about 1000 full charges, though sometimes they can fail after far less.

Is my battery fixable?

Your device might start lasting shorter and shorter times between charges. This is a sign that the NiCad batteries are worn out. You should try charging your battery with another charger to see if it may be the culprit. Most batteries aren’t fixable, but depending on your device, you can try to “reset” the battery.

If it’s for a mobile phone, many stores have a swapping option that’s relatively cheap. Most mobile phone manufacturers have a system to refurbish used batteries, that they then resell at a cheaper price. You can usually get a new battery for about $20 and they take your old one in for service.

You get a new battery and your old one stays out of a landfill.

Laptops as well have a similar system for dealing with old batteries. Calling your vendor will get you hooked up with someone who can help.

What about regular rechargeable batteries?

You can get more power for longer out of your alkaline replacement batteries by getting rid of the cheap-ass charger they come with and picking up something more awesome like the La Crosse BC-900 AlphaPower charger. It uses the same AA or AAA style batteries you’re already using but really maximizes their charge, as well as manages the “memory effect” that most batteries will have.

It even has a cool LED display to give you status. If you use rechargeables, which you should, this is a great thing to have around.

If you’re on the go, another great resource are the USB-charging batteries we’ve seen before. They’re simply a fantastic idea executed very well. Keep a pair in your laptop bag, you never know when they’ll come in handy.

What are some other tips?

One of the worst things you can do for a battery is leave it in its charger after its primed. Leaving your cellphone plugged in all night while you sleep seems like a good idea, but you’re killing it’s life. Find out how long it takes for a full charge, add about 1/5 of that time for safe measure, and that’s how long you should charge it up, no longer.

Some chargers have a smart chip system that won’t allow your device to over charge. If your device doesn’t have one of these chargers, look into replacing it with one that does.

Also, try not to charge it up until the battery is almost empty. Sure, it takes longer to charge, but this helps mitigate the “memory effect” and gives you a more stable battery as well.

If you decide you do have to dump your battery, don’t just throw it away. There are many ways to recycle that battery that helps charity. Some places even pay you for your old power packs.

Go downstairs and check out your power meter. It’s probably spinning frantically. Why? Because you’re blowing electricity out of your home theatre set-up and home office like a fiend. Don’t worry: I’m doing it to. We all are. It’s the cost of staying online and entertained these days and, sometimes when I’m in the basement, I kind of get a twinge of embarrassment that the woman who lived here before me, a woman who died at 92, used so little electricity that ConEd called me after we moved in asking me if there was anything wrong.

As a homeowner, I’m acutely aware of wasted energy. I feel it in my utility bills, mostly, and that’s one great way to gauge your usage. Another way is to go around the house with the P3 P4400 Kill A Watt electricity meter. I just ordered one in hopes of assessing what mess of electronics is causing my bills to be so high.

But we all know what it is, right? It’s all of the junk that leeches phantom power while we sleep. The TiVo, the XBox, the Blu-Ray player, the Fleshlight charger. That’s why my next purchase is the Belkin Conserve power supply with remote control. To shut down all the junk you don’t use, simply press the little magnetic button. Another tip? Unplug your junk when it’s done charging. Seriously. Your PSP doesn’t need any more juice.

Going further afield, I’ve done some research into getting solar panels on my roof. While Brooklyn isn’t known as the sun capital of the world, many solar panel experts believe that almost any home can benefit from a little sky juice. I checked out Sharp’s solar calculator and found that installing panels on my home would cost about $15,000 and net 73% savings. While this is a little expensive, it could potentially save me quite a bit in the summer months when our roof gets lots of direct sunshine. I found a $9,999 solution as well, but your best bet is to find an installer. Solar Home offers a free assessment, which I’ve just signed up for.

Finally, we can talk about food. We ‘merican’s eat crap and we geeks eat even worse crap. I’ll admit it: if I had my druthers I’d eat Doritos and drink Rolling Rock all day long. But this stuff requires gasoline and packaging and makes a huge mess. How about fairly farm fresh produce and a nice homebrew?

I currently make my own wine and beer with kits from Northern Brewer and Mr. Beer, respectively. Why? Because it makes great booze, you recycle your bottles, and you don’t have to buy Fraunch Wine (c) from Francia and have it shipped over in a messy plane or boat.

We also try to hit the farmer’s market as much as we can and buy lots of vegetables. Clearly you’re not going to pull me away from my bacon, but I got some ramps and baby potatoes today that are going to taste great and won’t have been shipped from California by truck. We’re efficient infrastructure hackers, aren’t we? Why can’t we treat this like a programming problem?

This advice is mainly home-based, clearly, but we all gotta sleep somewhere and by making things a bit more efficient we can keep from burning up the planet that holds most of our data centers.

I’d be willing to bet that there are very few people out there who don’t have an old Motorola StarTac in a kitchen drawer or a pale, yellowish 14-inch CRT monitor in the basement or a sticky, dusty keyboard under the bed. I’m just like you — probably worse. I have gadgets from the Reagan administration that are serving no good purpose other than to take up space in my already sorta-small apartment.

Time for some spring cleaning, no? The focus of this post will be to spotlight various ways to get rid of three types of gadgets; broken ones, working but worthless ones, and working but valuable ones. I’ll focus on programs that are available nationwide (or mostly nationwide) and aren’t brand- or product-specific.

Broken Gadgets

The temptation may be to either throw your broken doodads right into the trash or, if you’re like me, hold on to them forever while you wait for the day that you’re finally able to solder. I constantly find myself saying “Oh, that just needs to be re-soldered.” But do I even own a soldering gun? Absolutely not. And throwing electronics in the garbage is just poor form, like smoking at a day care center; some people still do it, but everyone knows it’s bad. Gadgets contain harmful chemicals like mercury and kryptonite, which wreak havoc on the environment.

E-cycling Central: www.eiae.org

Check out the E-cycling Central website for the location of your nearest electronics recycling center. Many are located near your city dump. Some take electronics for free, while others charge a small fee for certain items. I know that when I moved from Minneapolis to Boston, the recycling center in Bloomington, MN took five of each kind of item for free over a twelve month period, so I dropped off a bunch of CRT monitors, printers, and old computers.

1-800-Got-Junk: www.1800gotjunk.com

1-800-Got-Junk is, by far, the easiest and best way I’ve found to get rid of a LOT of crap quickly and without lifting a finger. It’s not cheap — a full truck can cost over $500 — but it’s a really great service. You basically call the number or go online and make an appointment, then two guys show up and you point at what you want thrown away. They do all the rest. Pricing is by the load, ranging from around $150 for 1/8 of a truck on up to maybe $700 or $800 depending upon where you live. In Minneapolis, a full truck was about $500 but here in Boston, it tops out at $628. There’s also a $15 surcharge for tube-based televisions and monitors, so keep that in mind.

Still, they take just about anything and if you have the money, it’s well worth it.

The Post Office: www.USPS.com

For smaller, broken electronics like cell phones and PDAs, try your local post office. The USPS announced a program back in March called “Mail Back,” which lets you drop off small electronic items at 1,500 participating branches for free.

Be sure to check out your local electronics stores, too, as most of them have drop buckets for old, broken cell phones and other various in-store recycling programs.

Working But Worthless Gadgets

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. For every busted, broken, cracked-screen gadget you own, there are probably hundreds of eager tinkerers out there willing to try to fix whatever needs fixing. Here are some good ways to unload this stuff.

The Freecycle Network: www.freecycle.org

It’s pretty much like it sounds. The Freecycle Network is made up of almost five million worldwide members with groups in just about every area. It’s free and non-profit, too. You basically sign up, post something you want to get rid of, and someone else in the group can come and pick it up. You can also post things that you want and if someone else in the group has what you’re looking for, they can contact you to come and get it.

Local factions use Yahoo! Groups and, again, sign-up is free. Might as well join, huh?

Craigslist “Free Stuff” Section: www.craigslist.org

Similar to Freecycle, but maybe even easier. Anything goes, too. You’ll see postings (and you can leave your own postings) saying stuff like “Free Canon Bubble Jet Printer: It’s on the curb outside my house. Come and get it any time. Don’t come anywhere near my house, though. Don’t knock. I don’t have any more stuff for you.”

Basically, you have to consider whether or not you want strangers to know where you live and that you have a bunch of electronics in your house. This is where a members-only group like Freecycle seems a little less dicey.

Working Gadgets

I think that one of the best aspects of being a gadget freak is that, often times, you can sell your used items and use the money you make to buy newer ones. It’s the circle of life — the wheel of for-tune, if you will. Here are a few places to make a buck.

eBay: www.eBay.com

If you haven’t heard of eBay, then you probably aren’t reading this post either so what the hell do I care what you think? Go back to your cave or under your rock or inside your cave made of what basically amounts to a large, overhanging rock.

eBay’s gotten a recent makeover and selling stuff has gotten a bit easier with its much more streamlined interface. You have a bit of control over when you’ll get your cash but not as much control over how much cash you’ll get, since you’re selling stuff at auction. There’s also a Buy-It-Now setting that allows you to sell stuff at a fixed rate, but I’ve found that if you set up a 5- to 7-day auction that ends on a Sunday night and has a starting price of 99 cents and no reserve price, you’ll get the best return on your stuff. I’ve sold a lot of stuff on eBay and this tactic seems to work best for me.

There are other auction sites out there and you can sell your stuff on sites like Amazon.com similar to how eBay works. Try eBay first, though.

Second Rotation: www.secondrotation.com

Second Rotation is a fairly popular site that allows you to look up gadgets you already own, and then rate them based on condition and whether or not you have all the included accessories and manuals. You’ll then get an estimated price and, if you accept, you’ll print out a free UPS shipping label, put your stuff in a box, and ship it off to Second Rotation. When your package is received, Second Rotation will review your items to make sure they’re in the same condition you said they were and then, once approved, they’ll drop some money in your Paypal account or cut you a check.

You won’t get quite as much for your stuff as you would on, say, eBay, but the process is a lot easier. You can ship all of your crap to the same place for free and you won’t have to chase buyers around for payments or worry about your seller rating. Downsides include that Second Rotation’s rating of your items’ condition is a bit subjective. What you may think is in mint condition, they might think is in fair condition.

Dealtree and EZTradein.com: www.eztradein.com

Speaking of which, there’s also EZTradein.com — which uses the Dealtree system. Many manufacturers and retailers use Dealtree, allowing you to trade in an old gadget for credit towards something from their store. Best Buy uses it, Sony uses it, Gateway uses it, etc. Here’s a complete list.

But EZTradein.com uses Dealtree and offers cash instead of store cr
edit. I recently tested out the service by sending in an old video camera (a Canon GL-1) and, although I thought was in excellent condition, EZTradein.com said it had small scratches on the LCD screen and docked me over $100 from my take. Payment was a bit slow, too. I shipped the camera out on March 22, the company acknowledged receiving it on March 27, and I didn’t get paid until April 10. It was an okay experience but I don’t know if I’d use it again. However, there are a LOT of items that you can sell, which is a nice touch.

BuyMyTronics.com: www.buymytronics.com

For those of you who like to use truncated versions of longer words, there’s BuyMyTronics.com, which is very similar to Second Rotation. If I’m not mistaken, the site was initially started as BuyMyBrokeniPod.com and would accept used iPods — whether working or not — and then resell them. The site accepts a limited selection of cell phones, game consoles, and iPhone/iPod products and promises two-day payment once your product is received.

Other Ways

These are just a few methods you can use to get rid of your stuff for free or low cost (or high cost, in the case of 1-800 Got Junk) and even a few ways to make some money back on your old gadgets. There are undoubtedly hundreds of other ways to recycle your electronics responsibly so if you know of a good one, leave a comment!

Geeks are a selfish lot. Our obsessions are resource intensive and damaging to the environment. Every gadget we buy, ever minute we spend charging our iPhones, every laptop we send into oblivion in the IT shop is a testament to the unbeatable juggernaut of technological advancement and resource use. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We can rethink our strategies, be more careful with energy, and generally be better tech consumers. The question is this: Are we ready?

I think we are. These are grave, scary times and the rise in popularity of “green” seems a bit disingenuous at times, especially when reduced to a change in logo for a few weeks to pay lip service to “Earth Day.” But we can make a difference and all of us at CG have been researching the small things we can do to try to fix the damage we’ve caused. For the next week we’ll post a few features on the things we’ve discovered and hope we can, in some way, change our own selfish ways to reduce energy costs and consumption and move away from the endless cycle of buy, use, trash. Together we can stay geeky and green at the same time.

Now the environmentally conscious can continue their quest to clean up this dump we call Earth by requesting to be buried near Lismore Memorial Park Cemetery in the Northern Rivers region of Australia.

“The deceased will be buried in biodegradable coffins between gum trees in a protected koala sanctuary,” according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Headstones must be made from natural rock and the Lismore Council of cemeteries prefer that coffins be made from “woven wicker, plantation pine, or recycled cardboard.”

Since the burial land isn’t laid out like a traditional cemetery, grave sites can be placed just about anywhere and, once placed, graves are marked with GPS coordinates. Friends and family who wish to visit their deceased loved ones can use handheld GPS devices provided by the cemetery to find their way back to the graves.

Burial sites in Lismore cost about $2000 versus the $3000 price tag for a more traditional burial. Similar “natural” burial sites exist in a few other areas of Australia and in about 228 places in Britain.