Green gadgets: the tech and apps to help you lead a sustainable life

If your eco-anxiety levels are rising, upgrade your kit. From smart fridges to bamboo earpods, here's our green tech guide
Plugged in: House of Marley’s Exodus ANC headphones are made from wood and have noise-cancelling technology
House of Marley
Amelia Heathman20 January 2020

Australia is burning, the ice caps are melting and the hottest ever UK temperature in December was recorded in the Scottish Highlands last month, when the mercury in Achfary, Sutherland, hit 18.7C. In December.

The effects of climate change are, quite simply, everywhere.

No wonder this has given rise to “eco-anxiety”, the fear of environmental damage and ecological disaster, causing sleepless nights and bouts of worry across the country. A survey by Ipsos MORI last year found 85 per cent of Britons were concerned about the environment, up from 60 per cent in 2013.

If images of koalas being rescued from bushfires make you feel helpless, there’s a wealth of tech initiatives promoting the digital way to minimise your carbon footprint and help save the planet.

Waste not

Food waste saving app Karma has been a hit in London ever since it launched here in 2018. It helps restaurants dispose of their surplus food by connecting them with hungry Londoners — over 750 tonnes of food have been saved across Europe so far, amounting to 1,000 tonnes of CO2. Karma’s new plan? Install smart fridges, like the one that debuted in Westfield’s Japan Centre Ichiba last week.

Customers pay for food in the app and then their smartphone connects to the fridge to unlock it using Bluetooth. Purchases can increase up to 68 per cent once a Karma fridge is in use.

The Karma fridge at Westfield's Japan Centre Ichiba makes it easier for customers to pick up surplus food
Karma

“It increases the capacity for retailers to store surplus food when they may have a limited number of shelves for full-priced products, it increases efficiency because it can be time-consuming to hand out items and it removes the stigma for of buying discounted goods,” explains Karma spokesperson Jess Barlow. “We’re trying to change the world with a big pink fridge.” (karma.life)

Green gadgets

A report last year by Vice slammed the “environmental tragedy” of Apple’s AirPods thanks to the lithium-ion batteries which will lose their charge and can’t easily be recycled. For headphones with green credentials, look no further than House of Marley, created in partnership with Bob Marley’s offspring.

The products are made using sourced bamboo, wood and recycled aluminium — the Exodus ANC noise-cancelling headphones are an excellent choice; stylish and sufficiently blocking out Tube noise (£199.99, thehouseofmarley.co.uk). The company also donates to the One Tree Planted project and funded the planting of 191,000 trees.

Phone cases are ideal for reusable materials. The Instagram favourite is Pela which makes cases out of compostable bioplastic elastomer and flax straw and is delivered to you in plastic-free packaging (from £23, pelacase.com).

Wildcase’s version is made from bamboo fibres and corn starch, though the colours aren’t as bright as Pela’s options and it only sells cases for iPhones, (£22, wildcase.co).

Digital footprint

The solution to saving the world could be in your browser. Ecosia is a non-profit search engine that partners with tree-planting organisations. Since launching, the company has facilitated the planting of 81 million trees thanks to its 15 million users. Ecosia Travel does the same for hotels — for each room booked the company will plant 26 trees (ecosia.org).

Internet browser Ecosia uses its profits to plant trees to mitigate the harms of deforestation
Shane Thomas McMillan/ Ecosia

Another way to improve your carbon footprint is to watch your digital one. Unnecessary emails use up data which has to be stored in the cloud via data centres that generate carbon emissions. Cleanfox wants to change this by analysing your inbox and removing promotional emails. British Cleanfox users receive 2,850 promo emails a year, emitting 28.5kg of CO2.

The app connects to your inbox and analyses emails and then points out who to unsubscribe from and which to keep. (free, cleanfox.io)

Saving for the future

Invest in the world’s future and in yours by putting savings into green stocks.

Investment app Freetrade saw a 32-fold increase in investments in companies focused on climate change in 2019, while four of its top 10 most popular investments were in green energy companies from its mainly millennial user-base.

“Freetrade customers see green investment as a net positive — it’s an industry that fits with their values and can provide a solid return,” explains co-founder and CMO Viktor Nebehaj. The start-up just launched its own investment platform and will add opportunities throughout 2020. (freetrade.io)

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