Earth Day Special: Gadgets to Green Your Lifestyle

The Great Recession has been a bad trip for everyone. But look on the green side: Our collective need to shrink bills is giving birth to some of the grooviest eco-friendly gadgets yet.

Tech manufacturers big and small have gone into overdrive with their environmental campaigns, rolling out products as part of a massive "greenwashing" movement. These gadgets cover a wide array of environmental issues -- from energy usage to gas efficiency to waste management. And dig this: Some of these gadgets actually do help you be kinder to Mother Earth.

In celebration of Earth Day, here's a list of far-out products you might get to green your lifestyle. It's like, green power, man!

Kiwi Fuel-Saving Device

What better way to reduce your carbon footprint than turn it into a game? That's what the Kiwi does to your car. The device plugs into your car's on-board diagnostic II (OBDII) port to collect driving data. Then, the Kiwi screen, which you'd mount in a convenient place, displays a "Kiwi Score." By adjusting your driving style to obtain the highest possible score, you achieve the best gas mileage. At $290, it's pretty pricey, but hey -- gas ain't cheap either; over the course of a few months this should help regular commuters save a good amount. (ThinkGeek, $290)

Mode All-in-One Recycling Center

If you're a responsible recycler, you might as well reward yourself by making life easier. Mode's all-in-one recycling center contains multiple compartments to sort and store your recyclables for you. There's even a built-in junk mail slot to collect your roommate's annoying J. Crew catalogs that are normally left strewn around the common space. Another cool feature is a digital reminder that illuminates to alert you of recycling pick-up days. Did we mention it holds up to 13 gallons of recyclable materials? That's some heavy responsibility. (Mode, $250)

Noon Solar Bags

Here's a way to reduce electricity bills and maybe even look cool: Greenloop's Noon Solar bags (right). Composed of biodegradable materials, each bag contains a flexible solar panel on the outside, which connects to a lithium-ion rechargeable battery pack hidden in a pocket. The bags also include adapters for you to plug your iPod, USB-powered device or cellphone into the battery pack to keep your gadgets juiced while you bask in the sun. (GreenLoop, from $330 to $500)

What's Fresh iPhone App

While you're busy saving the planet, let's not forget to keep your body healthy, too. If you have an iPhone handy, an app called What's Fresh will tell you which fruits and vegetables are in season in your area. And if your produce of desire isn't in season in your city, the app will point you to the nearest location where it is. (Mobile Simplicity, $1)

BlueLine Innovation's PowerCost Monitor

We've seen plenty of energy monitors, but what's cool about BlueLine's PowerCost Monitor (right) is it tracks your electricity consumption and converts it into something everybody can understand: Dollars and cents. Here's how it works: You wrap a transmitter on the glass meter outside the house, and the collected data is wirelessly sent to a receiver on the monitor. The gadget gets a real-time feed of how much your electricity is using -- and how much it costs. (Blue Line Innovations, $120)

Digitize Your Documents With Evernote

I can't wait until the day we cease killing trees by printing out documents. Evernote brings us a large step closer to that paperless dream. The app can capture and store and information such as itineraries, business documents, shopping lists and so on. Here's the best part: You can share the information with any other Evernote user. The beauty of Evernote is it's cross-platform, so you won't be left out so long as you own a Mac, PC, iPhone or a Windows Media smartphone, among other devices. (Evernote, free)

Purely Anion's Energy-Saving, Air-Cleaning Light Bulb

The Purely Anion light bulb (right) cares about the environment as much as your mental health. The fluorescent bulb reportedly lasts two years and contains a built-in negative-ion generator, which removes air pollutants, such as cigarette smoke, dust, or your roommate's patchouli. The negative-ion generator also removes positive ions, which the manufacturer says can cause depression, fatigue and irritability. (PurelyProducts, $19)

Monster Cable's Vampire-Power Killer

Environmentalists coined the phrase "vampire power" for electricity wasted by plugged-in gadgets on standby mode. Monster Cable's MDP900 power-outlet management system addresses that issue. Plugging a device, such as a computer, into the main control outlet turns it into a master gadget of sorts. When that gadget is turned off, all the other electronics plugged in -- such as peripherals -- shut down, too. Not a bad idea, huh? Just don't plug your alarm clock into this. (Monster, $130)

by Brian X. Chen

Photos: FredArmitage/Flickr, ThinkGeek, GreenLoop, Blue Line Innovations, PurelyProducts

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