Gadget Wisdom » Eco-Tech

Category Based Subscriptions

guru — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 20:37:58 +0000

It has come to our attention that people might be confused about the category based subscription. If you are subscribed to all posts on Gadget Wisdom, the feed is www.gadgetwisdom.com/feed and will display as Gadget Wisdom. If you subscribed to one of the sections, ie Android.gadgetwisdom.com, you will only get Android themed posts. If this [...]

Review: MJSI Hydroright Dual Flush Converter

guru — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 05:21:48 +0000

After writing about a dual flush retrofit kit, we became enthused about the idea of installing one of these ourselves. We don't have a plumber on staff, so our intrepid editor was forced to play with his own toilet. Please excuse if our terminology falls short as we try to explain basic toilet technology.

LED Lightbulbs That Don’t Stink Coming Soon

guru — Mon, 17 May 2010 05:12:18 +0000

Image via Wikipedia We love the idea of LED lightbulbs. Like so many technologies, CFLs just started to get good, and adopted by the mainstream when the latest thing comes. LED lightbulbs last over ten times longer, use less electricity, and…are dim. Very very dim. We can’t even find equivalency on most LED bulb packages [...]

Turning Off Your Lights Part II – Night Lights and Light Sensors

guru — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 04:24:33 +0000

Last time, we discussed the simple and easy to implement technologies of Occupancy Sensors and Countdown Timers to control lights. After we posted it, we missed one simple and overlooked item we use. Nightlights.

Converting Your Toilet to Dual Flush

guru — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 03:43:16 +0000

Image by drburtoni via Flickr Lifehacker posted an article today about how to convert a toilet to dual flush, and we thought it was worth reposting. We didn’t know you could retrofit an existing toilet for only a few dollars. For those of you who don’t know, a dual flush toilet offers two levels of [...]

Turning off Your Lights Part 1 – Occupancy Sensors and Countdown Timers

guru — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 22:26:36 +0000

In the 70s, President Jimmy Carter told America it was time to turn off their lights. Not making this a political blog and discussing Carter overall, Jimmy Carter’s comments on energy are exactly what people are prioritizing today. Turning things off when they aren’t in use makes financial sense. Energy costs money, so why waste [...]

Wakeup for HTPCs and Servers

guru — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:26:42 +0000

Image via Wikipedia Tonight, we upgraded an old computer we use as a secondary MythTV combined backend and a frontend. It is currently the only computer we use ACPI Wakeup on, so we spent some time resetting this feature. There are three basic Wakeup Types that are useful for computers nowadays. Wake on LAN – [...]

EnergyStar 3.0 TV Specification Goes into Effect

guru — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:05:29 +0000

The new EnergyStar 3.0 TV specification went into effect November 1st. It includes a test for how much electricity televisions use when turned on, as well as when turned off. Even the default settings could save as much as $100 in power. Keep it in mind when you buy new televisions. For those of us [...]

The Simplest Way to Save Energy – Shutting Things Off

guru — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:00:51 +0000

This past week, prompted by increased utility costs, we became obsessed with the idea of vampire power. Vampire power, standby power, or phantom power, whatever you wish to call it, is the power a device draws when supposedly turned off. So, we did the research. If you like tech, and we do, you can go [...]

Does Home Depot Really Recycle CFLs?

guru — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:27:23 +0000

Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs are one of those simple things we’re now encouraged to do to save money. However, they contain mercury and must be recycled. Until recently, in most municipalities, it was not easy to do that. Then Home Depot came along and announced they would accept these lightbulbs for recycling. Happy day. Except the [...]