An effort to provide water filters and cookstoves to households in Rwanda will be improved by analyzing data sent from mobile smart sensors.

Half the households in South Korea will have smart meters by 2016. The savings could equal the output of one nuclear power plant.

Wireless charging was a popular technology being shown around CES. I stopped to talk with eCoupled, a wireless charging company working to put wireless charging in households and businesses everywhere. Basically, imagine being able to cook on your counter top more quickly and energy efficiently than current electric stovetops, or taking your laptop to the corner cafe and charging it from the table top where you work – no hunting for a free outlet for your charger. Sounds nice! While we’re quite a way off from seeing this on the market, eCoupled is already showing off their technology and what we can expect to see in the future. …Read the full story on TreeHugger

Image via Think Geek

While 25% of broadband households will have a digital photo frame by the end of this year, the debate over newfangled photo frames is a hearty one. On the gadget geek side, a digital photo frame is worth the electronic effort, since it eliminates the need to print photos, can be used for classy advertising in offices, keeps people who get bored easily from having to stare at the same photo for too long… But on the other side of the debate, why does anyone really need another electronic when photo frames are cheap and abundant i…Read the full story on TreeHugger

Photo via Samuel Mann

The UK is looking to tighten up their zero waste policy, which means sorting will start at home. However, that also means that households could be required to use as many as 6 bins to properly sort materials. …Read the full story on TreeHugger