I’ve been looking to replace the flood light in my small backyard because it makes a loud annoying buzz and puts out a cold unwelcoming light. I suppose these are not bad qualities to keep burglars away, but I’ve wanted something a bit quieter and warmer, while of course making an environmentally conscious purchase.

So I started checking out floodlights powered by their own little photovoltaic cells. I was surprised to find a pretty wide selection. SmartHome.com and SolarHome.org were two of the sites I spent some time on comparing features and prices. Both sites are pretty cluttered and a bit tough to navigate, but while SmartHome has better product information, SolarHome (as the name would imply) has a broader product selection. More...

In April I wrote about iResQ, a website that can help you resurrect your ailing iPod.  But if all you need is to replace your iPod battery I recently discovered an even easier option – Batteries Plus. More...

Your iPod has been a faithful travel companion, guardian of your most sacred digital music and status symbol among today’s technorati. So what will you do when it reaches its golden years and the screen begins to flicker or the battery begins to fail? Repair or Upgrade? You have more options than Apple might like you to know. More...

Thanks to companies like Credo Mobile (formerly Working Assets) and recyclers like CollectiveGood.com, environmentally conscious consumers have long been able to choose a socially responsible cell phone plan and recycle their phones when they’re ready for a new one.

But consider that surpassed 3.3 billion last year (equivalent to about half the world’s population). That’s a lot of cell phone handsets. And when you think about how often people upgrade their phones without recycling that’s a lot of handsets heading to the trash. In fact, more than half a billion cell phones are already in landfills.So it’s a relief to hear that Nokia, the world’s largest maker of cell phone handsets, is trying to create a greener cell phone. At last weeks Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas (nirvana for any tech junkies like me), Nokia debuted a non-working prototype of the Eco Sensor Concept they announced last year. The concept is a hybrid of eco friendly materials, energy efficiency and - get this – “a wearable sensor unit which can sense and analyze your environment, health, and local weather conditions.” Now that’s allotta phone. More...

If you followed my advice from last week, you’ve managed to get yourself a sweet new laptop that’s also easy on mother Earth. But choosing a socially responsible computer is just the beginning. Computers (and the people that sit in front of them) are notorious for binging on a high carbon diet of energy, paper and printer toner. So today I’ll cover ways you can curb your computer’s gluttony or as I like to say, reduce your carbon mouseprint.

Okay, let’s start with energy. We’ve all been guilty of leaving our computer on when we’re not using it. The good news is that most computers and their peripherals come pre-set to save energy by going into “sleep” mode after a period of inactivity. The bad news is that this tricks us into thinking they’re off, when in fact they’re still sucking energy. More...