Recharging your gadgets

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="yes" overflow="visible"][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="no" center_content="no" min_height="none"]Did you know that it is quite possible by 2010 that the biggest users of electricity in our homes will be the gadget (see www.tinyurl.com/2010gadgets ) and everything from mobile phones to lap tops to MP3 players do, of course, need energy. Now somethings, like wind up radios and torches are pretty energy efficient, just neededing  a tiny bit of human effort.  But every thing else either needs mains poweer or a battery. We throw 600 million batteries away every year - nasty toxic things - so rechargable reusable AA batteries are a simple and far eco-friendlier solution. You can even get rechargable bateries which plug into your USB port on a laptop - very funky. But even these batteries still need energy and in gadget land everything else needs power - and massive amounts of it when its ball added together. So, what is the greenest way to recharge gadgets? Well firstly try and get a gadget with low energy use - they vary dramatically - and you can compare mobile phone charger efficiency for example at www.tinyurl.com/mobchargers. There are 'eco friendly' chargers too for mobiles  - wind powered and solar powered (Solio, Freeloader, Solar Monkey)  so have a look at them too - at the Glastonbury Fetsival last year a number of living pods came with a built in eco-mobile charger. With laptops make sure you look for a lap top with a long lasting battery - and even when it is finished - try and recycle the battery - rechargable batteries in Nokias and Macbooks can be recycled. New fuel cells might be the future and the recently developed new generfation of silver zinc latop batteries might be a green solution - but in tne meantime that old mantra - reduce - reuse - recycle - still holds true in gadget land. Switch of a gadget or charger when not in use - reuse batteries - and recycle what you cant reuse.

See the article by Adam Vaughan in the Observer Magazine (Ethical Living) 26th April 2009[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]