Green Applications for Your iPhone

Hands up who doesn’t know what an iPhone is? Good. Fair enough. It’s fair to say that the iPhone has changed the way we think about mobile phones and with their apps, Apple has changed the mobile landscape forever.

But I’m sure there’s one question that has yet to be answered - is the iPhone green? Back in 2007, Greenpeace attacked Apple over its claims to be a company with good green credentials. Greenpeace released a report that included an analysis of the chemicals used in the production of the iPhone. They claimed that whilst other phone companies had either eliminated or were in the process of eliminating these chemicals Apple was still using toxic chemicals in its handsets. With the threat of possible court action Apple decided to clean up its act and by 2008 it had eliminated some of the toxic chemicals although the company still had a way to go before it met the strict standards set by other companies.

Look at it - amazing, isn’t it?

However, short of buying a different phone can you find applications for your iPhone that will help save the environment? The answer is yes, and below are some examples of applications that will help you to be aware of your environmental impact and do something about it. The applications fall into several categories which include green shopping, measuring your carbon footprint, travel and green tips.

Green Tips, Get Green and Green Lemur are all examples of applications that provide the user with free eco tips for a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Green Tips sends the user an eco-friendly tip every time it is launched whilst Get Green provides the user with a new green tip each day. Green Lemur is similar to the other applications and has a good selection of tips and interesting trivia. Some of the tips will be familiar to people who already take an interest in the environment, such as making recycled cards rather than buying new ones.

Good Guide is an application that is designed to help consumers spend their money in a way that helps the environment. It is based on the Good Guide website and carries reviews and ratings for natural, green and sustainable products. Good Guide has detailed information on thousands of products. For example there are many different brands of toothpaste that you could purchase, but which one is the greenest?

GarageBuy and eBay Mobile are applications that allow you to track items on eBay. Both applications will help you find and bid for items. GarageBuy is free to download. Generally speaking buying second-hand goods is a greener option than buying new goods because the resources have already been used in the manufacturing of the item and some items are difficult or impossible to recycle.

Carbon Tracker is an application that is free to download from the Apple iPhone App store. It is a GPS-enabled application that calculates users’ carbon footprints.  Whether you are making a journey as part of your daily commute, a business trip or simply for leisure it will calculate how much carbon dioxide will be generated as a result of your trip. Users can also set up maximum emissions for a month and monitor their progress.

GreenMeter is an application that allows users to track their car’s fuel usage and power usage. The application makes use of the iPhone’s accelerometer to measure acceleration and to calculate oil consumption, engine power, fuel economy and your carbon footprint. Changing your driving habits can make a big difference to how much carbon dioxide is emitted. In fact it has been estimated that if all drivers were to follow the tips for environmentally friendly driving it would reduce CO2 emissions from cars by 8 percent, around 5.5 million tonnes per year. Not only would this help to save the planet, but it would also help to save users money as they would need to purchase less fuel. You can check the effects of changing your driving habits by viewing the visual graphs of the data.

Carcare is another car application that helps you reduce your impact on the environment. Cars which are poorly maintained produce more carbon emissions. This application allows users to keep track of their car’s fuel efficiency and maintenance.

Trains is an application that provides live train schedules and also updates users on the expected arrival time of individual trains. So if your train is delayed or has been cancelled then you will know in real-time. You can also see if the train is stationary and where it is scheduled to stop along its route. The application uses GPS technology to find the traveller’s location and can then plan the best route to any destination on the railway network.

Zipcar is a car-share company that has launched a mobile version of its reservation website. The Zipcar Mobile Locator is a GPS-based mobile application that allows users to find and reserve one of Zipcar’s fleet of vehicles. By borrowing a car for occasional essential journeys rather than owning one, users help to reduce the number of cars on the road, cutting both congestion and emissions.

A Real Tree is a quirky little application that is not particularly exciting, but nevertheless makes a valuable contribution to the environment. Users who purchase this application are contributing to the reforestation of different countries across the world. You receive a virtual tree which you can see blowing in the wind and you can watch birds flying amongst the branches. iPhorest is a similar application that allows you to grow a virtual tree on your iPhone. For each virtual tree purchased the Conservation Fund will plant a real tree that will help to restore a habitat for wildlife.

Google Earth provides useful information about businesses including reviews, business hours and photos. It also has a new ‘search near me’ feature which helps users to locate businesses that are in their area with the single touch of a button. Vicinity is another application that will tell you about local services and amenities thus cutting down on unnecessary long journeys.

These are just some of the green applications that are available for your iPhone and there are others in the pipeline. Not available at present, but scheduled for release in the UK, is the Kindle iPhone touch application. Using the Kindle Reader, iPhone users can increase the size of the typeface, add notes and bookmarks to e-books and highlight text. This will allow Kindle owners to access their e-books whilst they are on the move and of course it saves trees.

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