3 Ways to Use Twitter to Live Greener
You use Twitter.
You like living green.
So why not use your twitter account to live greener?
What is Twitter?
If you're asking that question, I'd like to invite you to come out of the cave you apparently live in.
...and then go read some posts at TwiTip (and maybe a few from the "getting started" section).
Whether you just recently signed up for Twitter or have used Twitter since the early days (like me), these 3 ideas are REALLY gonna help you use your Twitter account to live greener...or just win you some cool points at the very least.
I use my Twitter account for multiple reasons.
I do NOT have a separate account for The Fun Times Guide to Living Green.
This site is just one PART of who I am, and I want my followers (Twitter term for friends) to be able to experience and interact with all parts of "me".
...Plus I don't want to manage multiple accounts.
If you haven't done so already, you're welcome to follow me on Twitter.
Cool Ways Twitter Can Help You Live Greener
#1: Turn Your Lights On and Off!
Control Lights with Twitter from Justin Wickett on Vimeo
Uh, yeah, I'm gonna guess there's no further explanation needed.
Let us all join in a chorus of "Holy crap! that was cool!" You can get the Insteon switch Justin mentioned at Insteon.net.
Unfortunately there is one not-so-green element to this idea:
You'd have to leave a computer turned on ALL the time for this to work!
If you like this idea and have a fair amount of geekness, check out MisterHouse. This free platform will allow you to automate lots of things, like lights, through AIM or GoogleTalk!
#2: Make Your Plants Twitter When They Need Water
...and thank you when they get it.
This one comes from one of my favorite DIY sites, MAKE Magazine.
The crew at Botanicalls made their plant, Pothos, twitter when he needed water. At the time of this writing, his most recent tweets are:
- "URGENT! Water me!" - 5 hours ago
- "Water me please" - on January 25th
- "Thank you for watering me" - on January 23rd
- "Current Moisture: 83%" - on January 16th
That's pretty cool.
You can buy the Botanicalls kit from ThinkGeek for $99.
#3: Hack a Kill-a-Watt to Tweet Your Energy Use
I saw this great hack yesterday at TreeHugger, but its origin is also MAKE Magazine.
The schematics of this project aren't yet released since MAKE is entering this design into the Greener Gadgets Design Competition.
I'll be at Greener Gadgets next month, so you can bet I'll post plenty of pics, commentary, and 1st hand video of this gadget and others while I'm there!
For now, MAKE gives a brief explanation of how it works:
"Here's how it works, the modified Kill-a-Watt uses a "super-cap" to slowly recharge itself, once there is enough power it turns on the Xbee wireless module which transmits the data to a nearby computer (or internet connected microcontroller, like an Arduino) once the power usage for the day is recorded it uses a predefined Twitter account (it can be your own) to publish your daily KWH consumption for the day, multiple units can be used for an entire household."
I can't wait to see the schematics released after next month.
How About You?
Are there any ways you've found to use Twitter to help you live greener and more eco-friendly?
Leave a comment