Samsung’s newest eco-friendly phone, the Restore (SPH-m570), went on sale at Sprint yesterday.  The phone falls into the lower-cost ‘texting’ feature phone category, has a slide-out keyboard and is available for $50 on a new two-year contract. The Restore follows on the heels of the apparently successful Samsung Reclaim, which was also on Sprint.  So what gives Samsung and Sprint the right to call the Restore an eco-phone? From information gathered on Sprint’s and Samsung’s websites we present the following bullet points:

• The phone is made of 77% recycled materials with an outer casing made of 27% post-consumer recycled plastic
• Paints that are used are water-based
• The phone is ‘free of hazardous chemicals’ (aka mostly free).  Specific reference is made to the fact that it has low levels of PVCs, PFRs, Phthalates and Beryllium
• The included wall charger is Energy Star® 2.0 qualified, meaning the phone won’t continuously drain power when plugged in and fully charged
• The device is 84% recyclable
• The phone comes in 100% recyclable packing including a box made from 70% post-consumer materials and printed with soy-ink
• There is no printed user manual included in the box.  It’s only available online.
• Meets Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS)
• The Restore is on Sprint and Sprint is the only national U.S. wireless carrier to be ranked in Newsweek
  Magazine’s top 100 Green Rankings
• Also, Sprint has its own eco-criteria (nothing fantastically impressive upon quick inspection) that the Samsung Restore obviously meets

There is still of greening to do for Samsung to achieve the eco-nirvana phone but I think the Restore is definitely pointing in the right direction.  So Kudos Samsung.  Now how about making one of your Android smartphones an eco-phone?

The kit consists of a charger with a handlebar mount, a phone holder, a wheel mounted bottle dynamo and a 2mm charging cable.  The bottle dynamo, which is a small electric generator, uses wheel movement to charge a handset.  Nokia claims that 10 minutes of riding will provide 28 minutes of talk time or one-and-a-half days of standby.

While green consumers in first world nations will enjoy taking another device off the grid, it is developing nations, where electricity is scarce or expensive, that will truly benefit from a device like this.  This isn’t the first bicycle powered cell-phone charger but it is the first from Nokia – a company that specializes in bringing low-cost phones to the third world.  The device’s relatively low cost, compatibility with Nokia phones and brand recognition under the Nokia label should make it a runaway success.  Nokia’s blog even suggest that entrepreneurial cyclists in developing countries could uses the device to make a living charging phones.

The Nokia Bicycle Charger Kit will be available before the end of the year. Pricing is expected to be around USD $18.

If these Seventh Generatin products can deliver it will be great news for the green cleaning sector as effective green disinfecting products are far and few between.  I have personally used other Seventh Generation products and have generally been pleased, which bodes well for the new product line-up.

As mentioned, the thymol-based disinfecting component of these products is made by the CleanWell Company.  Literature on the CleanWell website states that the component is a patented blend of natural thyme and other essential oils that is safe for kids and not an ingestion risk.  The formulation is lab-tested at ATS laboratories and found to be effective against a variety of germs.  The active ingredients are also biodegradable and not tested on animals.  Thyme grows quickly in various regions around the world without the use of pesticides and has a long history of medicinal as an antiseptic.

CleanWell markets their own line of hand soaps and hand sanitizers in a variety of scents.  Check them out here.

The EPA claims that TV’s meeting the new 4.1 spec will be, on average, 40% more efficient than conventional models (though they have yet to update all parts of their website to reflect this).   The ENERGY STAR label was first applied to TVs in 1998 and was last revised in 2008.  With consumer electronics technology changing so fast and larger screen TVs becoming the norm it is essential that the ENERGY STAR requirements keep pace.

According to the EnergyStar.gov website there are about 275 million TVs in use in the U.S. making up 4 percent of household electricity use (there was no mention on what year the stats apply).  In a nod to unrealistic extrapolations, the EPA estimates that if all TVs sold in the U.S. were version 4.1 ENERGY STAR compliant, it would save around $2.5 billion a year in energy and result in a carbon footprint reduction equivalent to taking 3 million cars off the road.

The requirements for ENERGY STAR qualified TVs are generally dependent on screen size though all qualified TVs must consume no more than one watt of power while in Sleep Mode.  There are additional restrictions on luminance and the amount of energy that can be used during Download Acquisition Mode (i.e. updating channel listings etc.).

For the 4.1 spec Televisions are divided in to two size categories – above or equal to a screen area of 275 square inches (1774 square centimeters) and below 275 square inches.   The ‘Maximum On Mode Power Consumption in Watts’ is calculated using the following two equations:

Area <275 Square inches – PMax = 0.190*A +5
Area >= 275 Square inches – PMax = 0.120*A + 25

So, for example, a television with a screen area of 754 square inches would have a maximum power consumption allowance of:
(0.120 * 754) + 25 = 115.4 watts

The EnergyStar.gov website has a small chart illustrating how the ENERGY STAR requirements are becoming progressively more stringent over time.

From EnergyStar.gov

A higher priced large screen TV that meets the ENERGY STAR qualifications might pay for its slightly higher price tag and more in reduced energy costs, over the life of the product.

There are already a fair number of ENERGY STAR (Version 4.1) qualified televisions on the market.  On the larger end of the market you will find LCD TVs using LED backlighting which use less energy than fluorescent backlit LCDs and Plasma TVs.

If you’re in the market for a new TV check out some ENERGY STAR qualified TVs here.

CCFL’s offer a number of advantages:

• They have a long lamp life – as high as 25,000 hours
• The fluorescent bulb is smaller meaning that they generally fit fixtures (whereas some high wattage hot cathode lamps have trouble fitting)
• They are dimmable
• They can be rapidly turned on and off without and degradation to lamp life
• They are typically 10 – 30% more efficient than a comparable hot cathode fluorescent lamp

There are some potentially large green benefits of CCFLs versus CFLs.  Assuming a similar amount of mercury in both bulbs, the CCFL reduces the amount of of mercury that could potential get in to the environment because of its much longer life span.  For example, you may have to replace 3 or 4 CFLs during the lifespan of a CCFL.

Also, the 10-30% increase in efficiency reduces the amount of (potentially coal generated) electricity required.  Finally, the dimmable nature of these bulbs mean that you can operate them at a reduced brightness where appropriate, further reducing the power required.

Interestingly, the long lamp life and ability to cycle, flash and dim makes them very practical in some specialized lighting situations such as signage where hot cathode fluorescent lamps were impractical.

The first wave of compact sized cold cathode bulbs (2006-2007) received mixed reviews as they suffered from inconsistent build quality leading to shorter than advertised life spans and lumens per Watt.  Additionally, they typically could only be dimmed to 30% of their maximum light output.  The current generation of products addresses
most of these concerns.

A number of companies are producing CCFLs in an ever expanding variety of wattages. CCFLs range from 2 Watts to 15 (in the A-19 or GU24 bulb shape) Watts and are generally found with a correleated color temperture of 2700K (warm white). Litetronics latest offering is the Micro-Brite line-up, which has a 15-Watt CCFL that is dimmable down to 5% and produces 750 lumens . Global also has a 15 Watt dimmable product that only products 525 lumens but with a higher bulb life.  Ushio makes an 18 Watt CCFL bulb that produces 820 lumens but it is only available in FPAR format.  You can browse some CCFL products here.

The ‘Green’ outlets feature iGo Green™ Technology that monitors how many amps your devices are drawing from its outlets and shuts off the power when the load drops significantly.  The Power Smart Tower then checks the outlets regularly to see if the connected devices want more power – allowing gadgets like a cell phone to remain constanly charged using the least amount of juice possible.  The overall result, claims iGo, is a reduction in standby power of up to 85%.

An additional feature of the Power Smart Tower is its ability to rotate the green plugs at 365 degrees to accommodate different shaped plugs.

The Power Smart Tower is part of a line of power devices from iGo that use the iGo Green™ Technology.  The product line-up includes:

• iGo Power SmartWall, a smaller sibling of the Power Smart Tower that is meant to be wall mounted and has half the number of outlets and no USB ports
• iGo Green Laptop charger which only charges your laptop or mobile device when it’s required
• A Laptop travel charger which lets one power laptops or mobile device from a standard wall, auto and airplane outlets

Turns out the solar lights discussed in the article are made by Houton-based SunNight Solar and are called BoGo lights.  Their latest model, the BoGoLight SN-2, is high efficiency, durable LED flashlight that can toggle between a room mode (for ambient lighting) and a task mode (to light a specific area).  The SN-2 is very useful as an emergency light – if it sits on a window sill it remains in a constant charged state.  Some other neat features include

• A single mold case with no screws making the light quite waterproof,
• NiMh batteries that are air-cooled and each isolated in its own compartment and suspended to allow heat to be radiated away from the light,
• Six LEDs for normal illumination and three wide angle higher power LEDs for room illumination,
• Carabiner attach point

As a light source in developing world, the SN-2 really shines.  Because of their versatility between task and ambient lighting and their relatively long battery life they can  be used as a replacement for kerosene lighting, candles and single-use battery flashlights.  The benefits of an affordable, safe and environmentally friendly light source in the developing world should not be underestimated – impacting everything from education to security to literacy.

Not only is the technology that goes in to the SN-2 impressive, so is what SunNight is doing to distribute the lights to the developing world.  The ‘BoGo’ in BoGoLight means ‘Buy one, Give one’ and SunNight encourages customers to ante up $59 to do so.  SunNight also gives you the opportunity to earmark the light you give to a particular NGO they have listed.

Coming full circle, the Light Haiti project (at www.lighthaiti.org) is an initiative of Partners in Health and Jhpiego together with SunNight Solar.  Their website lets you donate a BoGo SN-1 for $10 or SN-2 for $20.

October of 2009 saw the launch of Zkano (from the Native American word “kano” meaning “a state of being good”), an organic sock company founded by Gina Locklear.  According to Zkano.com, Locklear’s parents started a sock manufacturing company 20 years ago in Fort Payne, Alabama.  Two years ago, while shopping for groceries, she came upon pair of organic socks and had an epiphany – in her own words:

“My wheels began turning, and after extensive research and product
development, my sock company Zkano became a reality. And, of course, my
parent’s company manufactures all of our socks. I’d finally found a way
to be involved in the family business that is incredibly near to my
heart, while taking it in a completely new direction that reflects my
passions of organic living and sustainability. “

So what’s the Green angle on Zkano socks?

• They are made from 100% certified organic ring-spun cotton
• Sweatshop-free
• Manufactured in the USA
• Finished without the use of harmful heavy metal dyes

The Zkano website doesn’t say whether the Organic cotton is locally produced. And when they state that the socks are made from 100% organic cotton they don’t mean they are comprised of 100% natural fibres.  Zkano socks contain some amount of the synthetic fibres spandex and nylon for durability and function.

Right now the socks are only available from Zkano’s online store – look for retail distribution later in 2010.

In one of the questions, consumers were asked the question “Do you feel guilty if you don’t buy a green gadget?”.
The results?  58% of respondents felt no guilt for not buying green.  Of those, 16% was due to price being more important, while 42% just didn’t care.

Another question asked consumers if they trusted Energy Star ratings and if they use these ratings to help them decide what to buy.  While overall, 80% indicated that they trusted Energy Star ratings only 55% of respondents over 25 and 36% of respondants under 25 said that they use the ratings in helping to decide what to buy.

To take a look at the rest of the survey hit the following link.