Green Living Tips 09.14.09
How to Get Renewable Energy For Dorm Rooms
Ten to fifteen years ago, using renewable energy in dorm rooms was not really on most cultural radars, but today is far different. Renewable energy and reducing carbon emissions are talked about all the time; and while you may not be able to install solar panels or sign up for green power at college, you can still make a difference. You pretty much have two (and a half) options though: Portable solar power chargers for your laptop and electronic gadgets, and buying carbon offsets.
Solar Power For Your Gadgets Even though there are some portable wind power generators out there, skip them and concentrate on portable solar power chargers for your electronics.
TreeHugger as covered a number of these before a number of times and is a good place to start to get a handle on what's out there: Solar Rolls from Brunton, portable solar power briefcases and backpacks from Voltaic, and the new, stylish Eneloop solar power charger from Sanyo are all worth investigating.
Human-Powered Gadget Chargers Personally, I’d stick with solar power for my gadgets, but should you want to think outside the renewable energy box a little, there are some human-powered options out there — the Yo-Yo power charger is designed for your iPhone or iPod specifically. If you don’t mind using a little (a lot…) of elbow grease, there are hand-cranked chargers out there that will do the job. No word on if this concept has actually gone into production, but if you fancy working on strengthening while charging up your phone.
Buy Carbon Offsets For Your Electricity Use You’re probably familiar with carbon offsets for your flights, but most of the same people from whom you’d purchase these also sell offsets for your personal electricity use — Sometimes these are for renewable energy projects, other times they are for other carbon sequestering projects. In any case, they're a good way to reduce the impact of your electricity use.
CarbonFund.org is one service which I reference a lot. They have offsets for your home either by preset amounts or by entering in your exact electric usage.
Source: www.treehugger.com
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