The ZERO sounds like a cool piece of technology. Not only will it save you a couple bucks each month, but it will also reduce wasted electricity. The real question is how does it work? The ZERO works by automatically sensing when a mobile phone is not plugged in to the charger. Once the charger recognizes that there isn’t a device receiving power, it cuts all power supply from the wall socket. 

Do phone chargers that are left plugged in really waste that much electricity? The answer is yes. Today’s press release that introduces AT&T’s energy efficient ZERO charger sites that the electricity wasted by chargers that aren’t being used could power 24,000 homes for a year or brew three to four million cups of coffee each day. The ZERO will cut the power supply when a phone is not plugged in, which will intern cut a few bucks out of your energy bill and reduce electricity usage. Now it’s no solar powered charger, but it does have the potential to save a lot of energy.

As part of their expansion to the Future Friendly marketing campaign, Procter & Gamble released the findings of a consumer poll that Ipsos Public Affairs conducted on their behalf regarding the purchasing of products and waste reduction.  The study found that the top reason for purchasing environmentally-friendly products is not to help save the environment, in fact, it is to save money. 

GAP Stores has created a website to provide information about their social responsibility rather than their previous un-green method of a printed report.  The website gives customers up-to-date information about their initiatives regarding their responsibility in terms of supply chain, the environment, employees, and the community.  More specifically, in their Environmental responsibilities, GAP has a method of calculating their environmental footprint.  The company also takes pride in involving the company as a whole by developing an Environmental Council that receives updates on the initiatives.

The Go Green Expo, taking place next weekend in New York City, is bringing in some big names to teach you how to be green.  CBS Television stations is the official television sponsor of the event, and companies like Honda and Home Depot have their name on the event as well.  But the even bigger names show up on the speaker list.  Emmy nominated actor Ed Begley, Jr. will be speaking on March 20th about eco-living.  Currently Begley can be seen on his eco-educating reality show “Living With Ed,” which follows his daily life of living-green with his not-so-green wife Rachelle Carson.  Besides his numerous acting credits, Begley can be seen on the speaking trail.  He is currently one of the hottest speakers in the country when it comes to eco-living.  

Next weekend, March 19-21, the Go Green Expo will take place at New York City’s Pier 92.  The event is dubbed by the coordinators as the “nation’s largest eco-friendly trade and consumer lifestyle showcase.”  Go Green Expo is focused on showcasing products and services that are green alternatives to our everyday products that can help us improve our impact on the environment.  

We've already talked about IBM's collaboration to develop better recyclable plastics, but they are also collaborating to help build smarter buildings.  Johnson Controls, a leader in energy services and management, and IBM announced last month that they will be collaborating to provide a "Smart Building Solution" in order to reduce energy and water consumption and improve building operations. 

The roll out of eBay’s new Green Team Challenge, which will save up to 250,000 acre, also brought a new green and eco friendly focused sub domain to purchase the same products (with your current username) from eBay. So far there are seven main categories on "Green eBay", which include: Green Gadgets, Living Room, and Men’s Fashion. More categories are sure to appear as news of the Green site spreads, and it gains more buyer and seller interest.

After a multi-year research effort, IBM and Stanford University have announced that they have discovered a new recycling process that can lead to the development of new biodegradable, biocompatible plastics.  This new green process could change the future of sustainability in such industries as biodegradable plastics, plastics recycling, healthcare, and microelectronics.  The results of this study have been published in the American Chemical Society journal.

eBay announced the official launch of the eBay Green Team Challenge earlier today. The big news is their initiative to help save thousands of acres of rainforest land. For the first 250,000 people that make the pledge, eBay will protect an acre of rainforest through a new collaboration with Team Earth and individuals convened by Conservation International (CI). eBay’s Green Team will be in charge of spreading the word that purchasing second hand products can be just as green (if not greener) than buying new “green” consumer goods.

The Kill-A-Watt power meter is not new to the marketplace.  The meter assesses how efficient your appliances are by showing their energy consumption.  Now the Kill-A-Watt is helping you determine the energy consumption of all of your electronics with the Kill-A-Watt power strip.  At this year's CES, the power strip was featured, creating a way for you to track the kWh usage of your every-day electronics and shut off your electronics when you've hit your maximum desired amps for the month (or day, or however you want to set it). 

James Cameron is one of the biggest Hollywood directors of our time and he is certainly celebrating his success right now with the release of Avatar.  One of the themes of his award nominated film is deforestation; and he's not stopping with the film to get the green message to the public.  Cameron has been asked to speak at the International Sustainability Forum in Brazil this month. 

It's not news that most of Haiti after the devastating earthquake needs to be rebuilt.  Unfortunately it's been found that most of the buildings destroyed in the earthquake were made of low quality materials and were constructed with little or no codes or standards.  Rebuilding Haiti is going to be a long, expensive process, but folks out there are helping to not only rebuild, but rebuild green.

The 80th International Motor Show is being held right now in Geneva, and green technology and alternative energy have become the focus of automobile manufacturers for this year's event.  For the last two years, there was a decrease in product introductions due to the economy and the change in customer needs, but this year over 75 automakers introduced over 100 new models, most of which weren't even in the beginning design phases until very recently.  This shows that the importance of green technology has finally been realized by automakers, and they are taking advantage of this and working quickly to bring cars to market that consumers want today, rather than for the future. 

As we mentioned previously, 3M Canada has made the wise choice to use Mannington Mill to recycle large format graphics from the Olympics in order to limit the environmental impact of the Olympic Events.  3M chose Mannington Mill because they would work with complicated materials in order to keep waste out of landfills.  So, what is it that Mannington Mill does that other companies claim they can’t do, or won’t attempt to? 

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