If you want to reduce your annual carbon footprint, one of the first things you need to do is revisit the power consumption and efficiency of the devices you use daily. Our daily habits and the devices we use in our homes and offices contribute significantly to our annual carbon footprint.
In today’s article, we will walk you through some of the best eco-friendly devices that will inevitably lower your carbon footprint, especially if you use them daily. Most of the gadgets on this list can be used in our homes, offices, or any other place we spend much of our time.
The 12 Best Eco-Friendly Gadgets for a Sustainable Home
Smart power strip
These are usually power socket extensions that intelligently monitor the devices connected to your power outlet. One of the great features of smart power strips is the ability to disconnect devices remotely. Most of the smart power strips in the market come with a mobile app that you can use to connect or disconnect your appliances or gadgets.
Some of the smart power strips have the ability to automatically disconnect all devices that are not actively being used. They can learn how you use your various devices, which enables them to know when to turn the devices off and when not. For example, if you switch off your smart TV, your power strip will automatically disconnect or the gadgets that complement that TV, which may include your gaming console, sound bar, and more.
Another great feature you will love about smart power strips is the ability to measure the power consumed by the different devices. This lets you know how much power the different gadgets in your house consume. With this information, you can determine the gadgets or appliances that need to be replaced with more efficient ones.
Smart thermostat
If you live in an area that gets extremely hot or cold, you will undoubtedly need to heat or cool your house. Smart thermostats can learn from your usage behavior and will determine when and how to cool or heat your home, depending on the outside temperatures. For instance, it can automatically turn on the heater to a specific temperature if it detects that you are about to reach home in the evening.
This is a much more efficient approach than leaving your heater on all the time just because it is winter season. Some smart thermal stats can save you up to 15% on your cooling/heating energy bill. This reduction in energy consumption also translates into a lower carbon footprint. These thermal stats can also be controlled remotely using a smartphone app.
One of the most popular smart thermostats you might have heard about is Google’s Nest learning thermostat. It is built right into Google smart home platform, so you can even control it using Google Assistant. There are several smart thermostat brands that you can choose from, depending on the smart home ecosystem you would like to use.
Smart leakage detectors
The plumbing systems in our homes are often not perfect or can get faulty after a certain period. Studies show that every household leaks about 10,000 gallons of water every year. This wasted water is equivalent to wasted energy since it is pumped into your home using pumps that consume several kilowatts of power. You can minimize these leakages using smart leakage detectors like Eve Water Guard Leak Sensor. This sensor costs about $150, but it will save you several dollars each year and also help you lower your carbon footprint.
The sensor is paired with a mobile app that will send notifications whenever a leakage is detected in your home’s plumbing systems. Some of these leakage detectors also integrate with the different smart home platforms, like Apple’s HomeKit, Google Home, or Amazon’s smart home ecosystem. So, you can easily control them with the home apps or using voice assistants, including Siri, Alexa, and Google.
Smart bulbs
At first, most people used to consider smart bulbs a luxury. However, smart bulbs can save you significant energy every year. It should be noted that most smart bulbs are LED, which use on average 75% less energy than conventional incandescent lighting. They also last 25 times longer than most traditional bulbs, so you don’t have to replace them frequently.
Smart bulbs allow you to control your lights remotely, making it easy to turn them off if you leave them on when leaving your home. This can significantly reduce your lighting energy bill. Another benefit of using smart bulbs is easily tracking their power consumption over time. This information alone can help you make some smart choices in the future.
Tesla Powerwall
The Tesla powerwall costs over $11,000, which is not cheap. However, it is an investment that will pay off over time. This appliance is designed to store energy from a solar panel or your grid during off-peak hours. So, you can decide to always switch to the battery power during peak hours or a power outage.
It should be noted that Tesla powerwalls can only be purchased from a Tesla outlet or a Tesla-certified installer to help you install them after purchase. Studies have shown that this system saves about $2000 on energy bills every year. This value is even higher if you rely more on solar energy than the energy from the grid. If you can afford it, this gadget is worth it, especially if you live in an area with enough sunshine to charge the battery daily.
Smart sprinkler controller
If you often sprinkle flowers or specific crops in your home compound/garden, a smart sprinkler controller will help you save water. These devices use weather data to determine when it is best to sprinkle your flowers or lawn and when not to. They also determine the amount of water that should be sprinkled depending on the expected weather conditions.
This sprinkler will ensure that you are not one of those people who waters their lawn or flowers a few minutes before the rainstorm. Remember, saving water can significantly reduce your annual carbon footprint. Ultimately, this device will lower both your water bill and your annual carbon footprint.
Solar water heater
Heating water is one of the home activities that consume a considerable amount of energy. Installing a water heater that uses solar energy could significantly lower your annual energy bill. So, instead of heating water with energy from the grid, you heat it with energy from the sun. On top of lowering your annual energy bills, this appliance will help you reduce your carbon footprint since you are using much more clean energy to do the heating.
Just like the Tesla powerwall, solar water heaters need to be installed by qualified technicians. You can’t just buy one and install it by yourself; it requires some technical skills to install and configure.
M1 MacBook Air
You should be surprised to see a laptop in a list of eco-friendly devices. However, Apple’s M1 MacBook Air is on this list because of the highly efficient chip that this machine comes with. This M1 chip is the reason this laptop lasts up to 17 hours on a single charge if you are doing light tasks. This is twice more than the previous intel version of this MacBook, which had almost the same battery size.
If you are someone who is cautious about the energy consumption of your devices, this is one of the best laptop options out there. It can potentially lower the energy you spend on computing by over 50%, which is very significant to your annual carbon footprint. If you need something more powerful than the Air, Apple’s M-series MacBook Pros are a good alternative because they also use way less energy than any other machines in their category.
Smart water bottle
This is a fun and eco-friendly device that you can use to encourage yourself to take more water throughout the day. Most of these bottles are synced with a mobile app, which gives you reminders of when you should take water. Besides the reminders, this bottle will discourage you from buying packed drinking water.
Single-use plastics are some of the most dangerous materials that are degrading our environment. These plastics release a variety of dangerous chemicals during degradation, which has a negative impact on the animal and plant habitat. Even if you don’t want to spend much money on smart water bottles, at least buy a normal bottle that you can use for several years.
Rechargeable remote batteries
Most TV remotes still come with removable single-use batteries that you often dispose of after a few months or weeks of use. However, the chemicals in these batteries are not good for the environment. To eliminate the dangers of single-use batteries, it is best to buy rechargeable batteries for your TV or sound bar remote.
You may also consider buying appliances that come with built-in rechargeable batteries. Most of the modern devices are starting to embrace the idea of using built-in rechargeable batteries. For instance, the Apple TV remote is rechargeable using a lighting cable, similar to the one you use on your iPhone.
Electronic Notepads
Many people still prefer manually writing with a pen to using the keyboard on our computers and phones. However, writing with a pen and paper is not eco-friendly since papers are made of wood. So more demand for papers leads to cutting down trees. If you are cautious about the environment, using an electronic notepad and stylus is the way to go. It will give you the same feeling as someone writing on a physical piece of paper with a pen. Some electronic notepads also have mobile apps that store all the content you write. So, even when you erase the notepad after a writing session, your content will still be saved to the app, and you can access it whenever you want to.
Organic waste digester
This device turns organic waste in our homes into biogas that can be used for cooking or fertilizers that you can use in the garden. So, instead of throwing away leftover foods from your recent meal, you should pour them into the organic waste digester. This will reduce both the volume of your waste and the energy spent on cooking.
These digesters are also very sustainable since they don’t need electrical energy to do their job. All the processes happen naturally.
Botton line
We have covered a dozen of devices that you can carry with you or install in your home to minimize your carbon footprint. You will notice that most of the devices we shared on this list are geared towards directly or indirectly reducing your energy consumption. This is because electricity is one of the major contributors to greenhouse gases.
If you can reduce the electricity you use daily; your carbon footprint will significantly be lowered. The other devices you should prioritize are those that reduce water consumption and food waste.
