Green Gadgets that can Help Combat Malaysia’s Energy Issues
One can start unraveling Malaysia's energy problems at home with green gadgets that save on electricity and get the mind thinking environmentally. Photo Credit: Tarinth via Wikipedia
There are a lot of ways to help the environment in Malaysia – and a lot of great organizations that can help you do it – but one good way to start pitching in is to make the things you already do on a daily basis more environmentally friendly. Because of Malaysia’s relationship with electricity, a great place to start improving is by reducing the amount of energy you use on a daily basis.
Malaysia’s Energy Issues
Malaysia’s demand for energy has created a lot of problems with sustainability. Coal and gas are burned to create most of it, contributing to air pollution. Coal and gas power plants cause direct problems like increased cancer risks through emissions, environmental destruction through land-clearing and construction and water pollution through improper waste disposal. Their contributions to global warming also drive big-picture issues like draughts and storms, flooding and food security.
Malaysia has a fast-growing renewable energy sector as well. But while renewables are easier on the environment than fossil fuels, they can carry large negative impacts as well. Hydroelectric dams in Malaysia block up rivers to create power, flooding hundreds of square kilometers of rich riverside rainforest and destroying the homes of animals and people that live there. Solar power manufacturers in Malaysia are not held to high standards for sustainability – so although the panels they create generate cleaner energy, the process of creating them can result in chemical pollution, excessive energy use and even human rights violations for poorly-treated workers.
Where energy is concerned, the best thing you can do for the environment is to use less.
Your phone, your air-conditioner, your household appliances, entertainment devices, lights, etc. all use power –and they’re all opportunities to save Malaysia’s beautiful natural environment. The following green gadgets will help you make positive steps towards sustainability, save energy, start thinking green and start making a difference.
The Phone Charger that Stops Consuming Power when you Unplug Your Phone
Until very recently, every phone charger in the world has been built with a huge design flaw – sucking up power whether or not a phone is attached. Every year, the chargers for the world’s 6.8 mobile phones waste two nuclear plants’ worth of energy just by being plugged into an outlet.
It’s easy to unplug your entire charger when your phone’s battery hits full – but it’s equally easy to forget to do so. That’s why this product could revolutionize global energy consumption.
The ASMO Charger automatically stops drawing energy when you unplug your phone. Simple, but life-changing.
A Smart, Energy-Saving Thermostat
On a global average, heating and cooling account for between 18 and 73 percent of all energy use in buildings. Even on the low end of this figure (which not many buildings are), being efficient with the thermostat is critical to saving energy and money.
Saving on heating and cooling by insulating or buying energy efficient air-conditioners and heaters are great ways to save energy, but there is another, simpler and less immediately expensive way.
It’s called the Nest Thermostat, and put simply, it can be adjustedfrom anywhere via smartphone, recommends energy-efficient temperature levels, and learns from your temperature adjustments so that after a few months, if you forget to make a change, it’ll make it for you.
Since 2011, the Nest Thermostat has saved over 4 billion kWh of energy in millions of homes worldwide. Independent studies have also shown that it saved people an average of 10-12% on heating bills and 15% on cooling bills.
Perhaps the Handiest Solar Device Charger Ever
Because charging mobile devices uses so much energy and is such a big cause of waste, we’re back to charging for the last of our green gadgets: the Port Solar Charger.
Small, lightweight and USB compatible, this ticks off the immediate boxes for a good device, but there are some next-level features that put it a step above the rest. The Port has a suction cup on its solar face, allowing you to stick it on any window and eliminate the hassle of finding a piece of horizontal real-estate (which can be surprisingly rare in busy offices or public spaces). The device also has a battery inside it, meaning you can collect power any time, keep it stored in the charger and plug it into your phone, ipad, laptop – whatever – at a time when you actually need to charge it.
Here’s a quick video demonstration: