Just released: Green Gadgets For Dummies, by Joe Hutsko

My new book, Green Gadgets For Dummies, is now available in paperback and Kindle editions.

Below is a brief description of the book, followed by the book’s foreword by Tom Zeller Jr., editor of the New York Times Green Inc. section.

Thanks to everyone who provided so much support and assistance throughout the writing of the book.

(Special thanks to Wiley project editor Nicole Sholly, who made the process a learning experience that set me up for my next book, Macs All-in-One For Dummies (2nd edition).)

Book Description

Save some green by going green with these environmentally friendly gadgets!

With concern for the future of our environment growing stronger and more serious every day, there has never been a better time to take a new approach to some of the most popular gizmos and gadgets on the market and learn how you can convernt to electronics that have minimal environmental impact.

Green gadgets encompass everything from iPods to energy-efficient home entertainment devices to solar laptop chargers and crank-powered gizmos. This helpful resource explains how to research green gadgets, make a smart purchasing decision, use products you already own in a more environmentally friendly way, and say goodbye to electronics that zap both energy and money.

Explore the environmental and financial benefits of green gadgets with this friendly reference
Discusses which gadgets save energy-and which ones create energy
Learn ways to offset your carbon footprint when you can’t reduce consumption
Get tips for understanding products labels and avoiding “greenwash”
Discover how to calculate the energy and money your gadgets consume

Get moving and start living green with this informative guide to environmentally and wallet-friendly gadgets!

From the Back Cover
Think green, save green, love Mother Earth, and have your gadgets too

No doubt about it, we’re a society of gadget freaks. But if you love your gadgets and the planet and saving money, here’s where it all comes together. Discover new environmentally friendly gadgets, ways to use the ones you have more efficiently, and steps to safely recycle or dispose of out-of-date or broken gizmos. You’ll even find out how being green saves green!

Start thinking green — learn the “four Rs” of green gadgetry, understand carbon footprints, and starve energy vampires
Save energy now — by using rechargeable batteries, monitoring power use, adjusting settings on TVs and video game consoles, and more
Control your computer — discover how to adjust power conservation settings for Macs and PCs
Know green from greenwash — find out how to choose electronic devices that are truly environmentally friendly
Recognize when it’s time to say goodbye — know what you can donate, how to erase your personal information, and how to find reputable recyclers

Visit the companion Web site at www.dummies.com/go/greengadgetsfd to find more online resources and information about green gadgets!

Open the book and find:

How many dollars you can save with energy-saving settings
Sneaky ways your gadgets steal energy
The six sins of greenwashing
Safe ways to dispose of dead batteries
How (and why) to deauthorize iTunes before donating your PC
Steps for wiping Windows or Mac hard drives
Greener gadgets for your home, car, and outdoor activities
What EnergyStar ratings mean

Foreword

The very idea of “green gadgets,” to many, might seem an oxymoron. After all, it is a fundamental tenet of the environmental movement that less stuff is better, and that consumerism – the thing that makes us want to have that snazzy new cell phone, or to covet that nifty new digital camera – is at odds with maxims like “reduce, reuse, recycle.”

There’s some truth to this paradox – but it is hardly the only way to frame the contribution that technology can make to a greener, cleaner world. Setting aside the efforts underway to develop large-scale, clean-energy technologies like wind and solar power, which promise to address the steady march of climate change, there remain myriad ways for ordinary consumers to make simple adjustments in how they live – and what they buy – to generate substantial environmental gains.

In many cases, gadgets can help. Sure, we could all do better to manage our electricity consumption at home – but what if there were a product that could provide detailed data on when and where we were being most wasteful? What if there were “greener” versions of the technologies – like computers and cell phones – that we use frequently, and upgrade regularly?

Of course, such technologies do exist, and that’s part of what Joe Hutsko has assembled here: A guide to green gadgetry and how you can best deploy it to your own personal environmental advantage.

But this is not just a buying guide, and there’s a key point in that: Making better, less wasteful use of the gadgets you already own, and finding sensible ways to reduce, reuse and recycle those things you no longer need, are first-order strategies for consumers seeking to limit their overall footprint.

So, too, is learning to understand the increasingly complex eco-friendly and energy-efficient labeling systems used to keep consumers informed. You’ll find guidance on these matters here as well.

There is no magic wand – no magic gadget – that will neutralize consumers’ impact on the planet. But I think few green advocates would quibble with the idea that every consumer can make simple, informed choices about the technologies they buy and the energy they use – and that these decisions, factored collectively, are an indispensable part of any environmental movement.