Posts Tagged ‘Green’

Improving transportation planning for cyclists through smartphones & GPS

Monday, January 11th, 2010

The San Francisco Transportation Authority (SFTA) has released a mobile application that will improve its ability to understand the traffic patterns of cyclists in the city. Traditionally, the SFTA has used far less accurate and more manual methods of collecting data on bicycle use – e.g., someone standing on a corner counting. By installing an app on your GPS-enabled smartphone and then providing some data on your trips, you can provide rich, accurate, and real-time data to SFTA on how you bike in the city. This is a great step forward in quantifying the growing number of cyclists in the city and making the roads better for them.

The application is currently only available on the iPhone and Android platforms. This has driven some concern for a variety of reasons:

  • It doesn’t provide an accurate view of a very large segment of users. Blackberry has far more current users than the iPhone and the Android platforms combined.

  • It doesn’t provide as representative a picture of users from a variety of income backgrounds. The iPhone is one of the most expensive devices out there ($200 for the newest model). You can get a Blackberry for $50 or often less.

  • It probably undercounts bicycle commuters heading downtown. There are 16 million more enterprise Blackberry users than there are enterprise iPhone users in the US. I believe that addressing the bicycle needs of commuters represents the largest opportunity for taking cars off the road.

  • It isn’t available on CREDO Mobile. Bicyclists such as myself love CREDO Mobile, the greenest mobile phone carrier in America. The iPhone is only available on AT&T, a carrier with a history of contributions to right-wing politicians, including U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) who opposes government spending on bicycle infrastructure. Also, CREDO Mobile is a San Francisco business and woman-owned.

    • If you are interested in having the Cycletracks app support Blackberry, please contact Billy Charlton via email or at (415) 522-4816.

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    Posted in Public policy, Reference, Utilities | No Comments »

    Green Tech and CES 2010

    Thursday, January 7th, 2010

    CES, one of the largest consumer electronics shows is being held in Vegas this week, and Green Tech is one of this year’s big themes. The 2010 International CES will feature the Sustainable Planet Spotlight, the largest exhibition of green products ever on the CES show floor.

    I’ve been following the CES green product announcements with interest. There are netbooks made from recycled CDs and plastic bottles, home energy management systems to monitor and reduce your energy usage, and one I found rather exciting, the MiniPAK portable electronic device charger from Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies.

    “The MiniPAK portable electronic device charger is designed to meet the needs of users who want more portable energy in one package, at a lower cost than existing rechargeable battery-based options,” as described on Horizon’s site.

    minipak02
    The MinPAK uses refillable, eco-friendly hydrogen cartridges, and it can power a variety of devices including mobile phones, gaming devices and GPS systems.

    But here at CREDO, green is nothing new. We have always been committed to protecting the planet. We are the only U.S. phone company that has donated over $10 million to groups like Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network and Ocean Conservancy, and we were the first carrier to offer solar powered phone chargers.
    solio_silver_125x125

    Solio Solar Chargers are a greener way to power up your phone, and they’re also convenient extra battery packs to keep my kids’ ipods charged up on long flights – and me sane. You can order one from the Credo Mobile website.

    I resolve to reduce my carbon footprint in 2010 – what are your New Year Resolutions?

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    Posted in Accessories, Green | No Comments »

    Green Offsets your mobile phone

    Monday, December 14th, 2009

    If you are in the market for a new mobile phone for yourself or to give as a gift for the holidays, you might consider picking up this new product: Green Your Phone. It’s an energy offset that covers the manufacturing of 2 phones and for the amount of electricity you will use to charge 2 phones over the next 2 yrs.

    green-your-phone

    By purchasing the $10 Green Your Phone card, you are purchasing energy from a Wind Farm to replace the electricity you will be using over the life of your phone and making sure it gets put back onto the grid.

    Check it out at Best Buy.

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    Posted in Green, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

    Green (Carbon) Calculator for BlackBerry Curve

    Friday, October 9th, 2009

    thumbgreencalculatorWhen browsing the Handmark mobile content store I recently found a Green Calculator and decided to try it out. The Green Calculator is a mobile application designed to make you more aware about how to lower your impact on the environment and save on energy costs. It calculates your personal CO2 emission footprint based on your lifestyle choices, specifically from activities such as flying, driving and using daily household appliances.

    The main screen offers a few choices: calculate CO2 emissions based on lifestyle (i.e. # bedrooms in house, # people, AC/Heating usage) or by event (i.e. driving or flying) or review of Tips and Tricks. I started by entering info about my lifestyle. As more data is entered it shows the amount of CO2 generated. If I select energy efficient light bulbs it goes down. Check that I leave the heat on up to 6 months a year and it goes up. The application also compares use to the world’s average.

    Moving on, I checked out the MyEvents category. Here I calculated the impact of a possible 120 mile road trip. The Tips and Tricks section gives tips on AC/heating, driving, home electronics, appliances, water heaters and more. Unfortunately, there are not numerous tips here, but some are useful.

    While this application isn’t going to impact major change, it’s a fun way to spend a little bit of time educating yourself or others about energy use. I purchased my Green Calculator for $4.99 from Handmark and it runs on my CREDO Mobile BlackBerry Curve. Handmark offers the Green Calculator for a selection of other phones to.

    Here’s how to download it:

    1. Go to Handmark’s site.
    2. On the site – select your handset model and type “Green Calculator” into the search box.
    3. In order to download the application you’ll need to set up an account. Handmark charges downloads to a credit card, debit card, or paypal account that you provide. Handmark is a partner that CREDO recommends to our customers for Smartphone content. In addition to the BlackBerry, Handmark offers content and applications for many other phones including almost all smartphones and some standard phones including the Motorola Razor. Handmark also provides content across all operators so you can download the Green Calculator application even if you do not have a CREDO Mobile phone.
    4. Once you purchase a piece of content, you’ll receive a text message with a link to download the application. You’ll need to have a phone with a data service plan in order to access the mobile web link and download the calculator or any other application you’ve purchased.
    5. After you have successfully downloaded the application you’ll find the application’s Icon on your phone’s main menu/icon list.

    If you find other green mobile applications I’d love to hear about them.

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    Posted in Entertainment, Green | 11 Comments »

    Grist and “Scientists”–two eco news sources on your BlackBerry

    Thursday, August 13th, 2009

    For me, riding the bus is a perfect time to catch up on my “priorty B” news. So on my BlackBerry, I’ve been checking out two of CREDO’s 2009 environmental donation recipients websites, Grist and Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS):

    http://www.grist.org/

    http://www.ucsusa.org/

    Grist looks great on my BlackBerry default web browser and UCS isn’t bad. (But they may not be compatible with your browser if you have a non-smartphone, unless you are using Opera Mini,)

    While they cover a lot of the same topics—from climate and energy to food and agriculture–they definitely have different personalities. Right off the bat, Grist sets the tone with their “A beacon in the smog” tagline.

    And while Grist is focused more on personal living stuff and opinion, UCS’s site gives you their measured, highly credible slant on public/policy kinds of news. A few examples:

    50px-grist-logo1

    Grist serves it up with a little ‘tude.

    • Debunking the meat/climate change myth—The farmer-author says eating grass-raised cows isn’t the problem. Industrial animal practices— from corn, fertilizer/ feedlot/ transportation, etc.—are the real culprits.
    • Songs about climate change that don’t suck–Ranks eco songs from “most to least cringeworthy.” We definitely need a better enviro soundtrack, but hey, I still love Melissa Etheridge’s “I need to wake up.”

    175px-ucslogo

    On the other hand, UCS gets down to business.

    • Factcheck: Contrarians Promote Study That Masks Warming Trend–examines in-depth why a new study released July 23 is full of hot air. Great baseball analogy makes this article very accessible.

    So now it’s your turn. What’s your favorite eco news source that you check out on your cell phone?

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    Posted in Fun and Games, Green, News, Political, Reference, Uncategorized, voicemail | 2 Comments »

    GoodGuide on my BlackBerry: Is aluminum zirconium good for me?

    Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

    Well, this is a little personal. I’m at Trader Joe’s the other day and trying to figure out what deodorant/antiperspirant to buy.

    I’m worried my old Mennon Speed Stick–with aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex–is really vile stuff. But is it? This is where a free, mobile-ready site called http://www.goodguide.com comes in handy. The site worked great on my BlackBerry Curve, but the Curve does have a powerful browser. It may not be compatible with a browser on a non-smartphone, unless you are using Opera Mini ( see this blog entry on Opera Mini )

    It helps you figure out not only whether the product you’re about to buy is healthy for you–but also healthy for the planet and our society. In fact, GoodGuide is all about safe, healthy and green.

    It has a some great features:

    • Browse ratings for 70,000 food, personal care, “household chemicals” and toy items. Check out just the overall ranking, or get really informed with the 3-part breakdown (health, environmental, social performance).
    • Learn about issues such as the ins and outs of buying organic food, latest news, recalls and tons more.

    So where did I end up with my deodorant dilemma? Surprisingly, the GG showed my Speed Stick was actually OK with a 7.8 rating. But I’m still going to switch to Axe with its 8.2 rating, not too far off top-scoring Tom’s of Maine’s 9.4 (but it’s deodorant only).

    Other categories have ratings that vary more. One example: Chips and Pretzels. Top-scoring Kettle “Bakes” has an 8.0 rating. Bottom of the barrel SunChips (hey, I eat these!) could only muster 5.0

    My rating for GoodGuide itself: 8 out of 10.

    I’d like to see categories added such as electronics, banks and other stuff in the Better World Shopping Guide . But the basic structure and depth of info is great. Readable, simple, actually useful right in the store.

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    Posted in Green, News, Political, Reference, Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

    DIY: Bike-powered Cell Phone Charger

    Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

    We love this DIY project on make.com: replace your traditional plug-in cell phone charger with your bike. It’s an innovative way to use less electricity and lighten your cell phone’s carbon footprint. It’s also a handy device if you’re camping or spending a few days without electricity.

    blog-bike

    Author Alastair Bland successfully modified his bike headlight generator to charge his cell phone – with just $25 worth of electronics equipment from Radio Shack.

    Bland’s test ride was a success: starting with a dead cell phone, he was back at a full charge after a three-hour bike ride around San Francisco, rarely exceeding 4 mph.

    His post includes lots of helpful pictures and provides clear step-by-step instructions. Check out the full post here, including the parts list and detailed instructions:

    http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/06/how-to_pedal-powered_phone_charger.html

    You may have heard that uneven charges or using modified chargers are somewhat bad for your phone. That may be sort of true so try this at your own risk but general consensus here is that it will likely be just fine.

    Curious to try this yourself? Tell us about your experience. Or, if you’ve tested another kind of environmentally friendly phone charger, let us know!

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    Posted in Green, Travel and Maps | 2 Comments »

    Making your cell phone Greener

    Friday, June 5th, 2009

    We all want to do our part in reducing energy consumption and keeping our earth green.
    Here are some simple tips that we can all follow to make our phones more environmentally friendly.

    1) Adjust the brightness settings on your phone.
    A phone screen is one of the biggest power hogs.  The iPhone is not exactly an energy friendly phone with its battery draining display screen.  On most phones, you can adjust the settings of the screen to reduce the energy it uses.

    To do this, go to Menu -> Settings->Display.

    You can change the glow of your screen, or backlight, and the keypad light by setting it to light up for a shorter length of time before automatically turning off, by dimming the brightness, or turning it off completely.

    2) Turn off anything that you’re not using or don’t need on your phone.

    - If you’re not beaming contacts or using a bluetooth headset, make sure bluetooth is set to off.   Better yet – don’t use a bluetooth headset and use a corded one instead.

    Go to Menu -> settings -> Bluetooth

    - If you’re not using GPS or Location Based Services that track where you are, make sure location is set to off.

    Go to Menu-> settings -> scroll down to more -> Location

    - Don’t use your phone outside your regular provider’s coverage area in “roaming mode”.  You can program your cell phone only to work on your provider’s network.  Roaming not only costs more, it uses more power.

    Go to Menu -> settings -> scroll down to more -> Roaming -> set mode -> home only.

    3) Keep the juice in your battery topped off
    Most cellphone batteries are made of Lithium ion.  Extend the life of your battery by not letting the battery get too low between charges. Recharging when you see the battery bar at half dead instead of almost all dead will keep your battery in working order longer.

    4) And of course, always recycle any old phones including batteries and chargers.
    Retailers like Staples have drop off boxes for recycling old phones.
    You can also send it to a mobile phone recycler like Collective Good.
    Select a charity, print out a donation form from their website and mail it to:

    CollectiveGood International
    Include Charity Code
    405 Glenn Drive, Suite 10
    Sterling, VA 20164

    CREDO Mobile customers get a prepaid shipping label to CollectiveGood when it’s time to switch out their old phones.

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    Posted in Green | 7 Comments »