At major events like CES, thousands upon thousands of little USB sticks are distributed, full of assets, press releases, and so on. Stop by a booth or show, get a USB stick. Usually they’re only 1 or 2GB (and dog slow), so you don’t end up using them more than once and they end up in a drawer or sitting on a table somewhere in Vegas. Here’s an idea: why not use these Boardy USB sticks? Sure, it’s not really clear how big they are or how much they cost, but they can’t be much more in bulk than all those crappy plastic ones.

Uh oh, another vaguely political post on CrunchGear. As you already know, the Consumer Electronics Association, the trade group that organizes CES, is fighting tooth and nail against possible regulations that would see California essentially ban the sale of power-hungry HDTVs. This mostly affects plasmas because they consume the most electricity of the different types of TVs out there.

Iomega just announced the latest addition to their rapidly growing NAS line, the ix2-200. This is the latest iteration in the line is focused on being easy to set up, something that is fairly uncommon in the small business storage market. The new model also includes a new “Green desktop” mode, which allows the NAS to spin down the drives when not in use, thereby reducing power consumption.

Seemingly overnight, Apple has become the poster child of the responsible, Green company. (Apple recently posted all the details of its efforts; Greenpeace is now BFFs with Apple.) In fact, it’s so pro-enviroment (as if anyone is anti-environment!) that it just quit the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is a huge organization that represents business interests to the various powers that be. The USCC, however, is all up in arms about all this “nonsense” about new laws designed to protect the environment and whatnot, so it’s doing its damnedest to ensure that those laws don’t get passed. That’s what has upset Apple.

While gadget recycling services like Gazelle are handy and more people should take advantage of them, this in-store “ecoATM” is perhaps an even better idea. You put your old phone in there, identify it, and it checks for signs of wear. You get a quote on the spot, redeemable in store credit or whatever — or if it’s not worth anything, you can have it safely recycled and they’ll plant a tree on your behalf.

Like many of you, my knowledge of Greenpeace begins and ends with that one Seinfeld episode, the one where the NBC executive, so in love with Elaine, freaks out and joins the organization in order to impress her. That is to say I don’t really understand the “point” of the organization, or who appointed it the protector of the environment. But, it is, somehow, so let’s roll with it. Good news for HP and Apple: Greenpeace hates you two a little bit less today! Break out the champagne!

It looks like all of Greenpeace’s needling of Apple over the past few years has paid off, as the house that Jobs built is about to announce its successes in becoming a more green company. Think carbon emissions data,all that jazz. Even though Apple is trying plenty hard to assuage the Green Brigade, it thinks it’s being treated rather unfairly.

The common air horn: enhancer of graduation ceremonies, sporting event attention-getter, and the perfect way to wake someone out of a drunken slumber. But air horns are expensive and they don’t last that long — there’s got to be a better way!

So that fake USB Chainsaw from the other day is indeed fake. Hence the fakeness. It’s instead an eye-opening ad campaign aimed at educating the public about the wastefulness of printers.

The U.S. Government created a requirement that by 2020, the majority of cars sold here must get at least 35 miles per gallon. This requires a big commitment on the part of auto makers and so the Energy Department was authorized last year to lend $25 billion dollars. The first round of financing is expected to be announced today with Ford, Nissan, and Tesla getting all getting a sizable chunk during this first round. GM and Chrysler both wanted a bunch of money too, but neither fit the criteria of being a “financial viable” so they were disqualified for this first round.

Nissan hasn’t announced how much the Japanese automaker has requested from the U.S. Government, but we know that Michigan-based Ford and California-based Tesla Motors Inc. are expected to get $5 billion and $450 million respectively.

This $25 billion fund was approved by Congress in 2008 to help auto makers retool facilities and speed up development of more energy efficient vehicles. It was the Government after all that decided that vehicles needed to reach an average of 35 miles per gallon by a random date instead of the natural evolution of development and technology.

Sony, so far not known to be a particularly “green” tech company, has announced plans [JP] to commercialize a total of six different models of batteries that contain no mercury. The company said it’s the first that has found a way to mix absorbent raw material into the cathode, eliminating the need to use mercury in the button batteries.

There have been some rumblings, so to speak, of the so-called low-frequency noises that windmills are said to produce. I’m don’t buy into them, but a bunch of spinning machines in your backyard isn’t desirable whether they cause nightmares or not. Furthermore, the wind they can harvest at ground level is weaker and less reliable than air currents above a few hundred feet. This floating wind harvester prototype is supposed to be an answer to those problems, and it looks pretty solid to me.

Yeah, this is pretty old, but you forget: a spinning electric zeppelin is forever. And we’re trying to get the taste of Apple out of our mouths.

We should probably note right off the bat that a “green gaming PC” is a sort of contradiction in terms, akin to the world’s “smallest giant panda.” But that doesn’t mean Maingear’s aim with the Pulse is completely bonkers: essentially it’s a low-power machine that still aims to provide a good gaming experience. Short of going the nettop route and note quite going ridiculously green, there’s a middle ground where you’re using advanced but low-power components, creating something that won’t dim your lights when you turn it on, yet can play Call of Duty 4.

Although the US is working hard to change automotive standards to reduce emissions, home efficiency standards are still pretty weak. We are doing well with the adoption of LED and CFL lighting, but it’s grudgingly and so many people use electric heating and stoves from the 70s that the energy saved from lighting is a drop in the bucket. Being aware of how much energy your home is drawing is difficult right now, but there’s no reason it should be — other than the cost of getting smart meters and readers out there. The UK is making that a priority, which I think is a smart move.

Frito-Lay announced today that starting in 2010, all of their multigrain SunChips will be packaged in biodegradable bags made out of plant based materials. This is brilliant. I can only hope that they start doing this with all of their products.

I like the idea of electric motorcycles — you take an efficient idea and make it even more so. The GPR-S is my favorite so far, but this one looks pretty solid as well, and you can even buy it. The whole thing only weighs 225lbs, of which 80lbs are battery, giving it about a 60 mile range. I know, not exactly a cross-country job, but great for jaunts around the city. Video inside.

This comes from the, “well duh!” file. A UK firm is developing a canopy designed to be mounted over a parking spot with solar cells, so people driving all-electric vehicles can charge while parked. This sounds like a really great idea. Imagine being able to charge up your car while you’re at work.

If all the paper shredders in the world were hand operated like this Eco-Friendly Hand Crank Paper Shredder, it’d save enough electricity to power every building on all seven continents until the year 2096. That statement may or may not be true, but why take any chances?

I think I can safely say that we all wouldn’t mind getting a little greener in our everyday lives, but one of the most obvious steps — going solar — is simply impractical for people of limited means like myself. By making a solar easier and, if not cheap, then at least cheaper, Veranda Solar is surely only one of many companies that will grow on this new wave of green. These little panel arrays are simple, lightweight, and can be installed in an hour or two. That’s more than can be said about practically any solar solution today.