Emily Cummins is an inventor with a focus on helping the environment. This wouldn't be so unique if it wasn't for the fact that she is only 21, and has been inventing since the age of four when her grandad gave her a hammer.

Starting by taking things apart and rebuilding them with her grandad - who she describes as an 'inspiration' - in his shed, Emily progressed and won a barrage of awards and competitions at school for inventions such as a toothpaste dispenser that minimises waste, which she came up with at just 15 years old. She went on to become Cosmopolitan's Ultimate Save-The-Planet Pioneer in 2008.

Currently in her 3rd year of university at Leeds, she studies part time so she can work on her inventions, and dedicate time to inspiring young people.

Emily's best known invention is the sustainable fridge, (pictured with her) which she also produced at school, and is set to change lives in the third world, as it is used to hold medicines. Emily is currently working on a second generation version that is intended for commercial use.

Emily believes that all new inventions should be green. She says "This concept - to maintain the quality while neutralising the damage to the environment - must be extended to all the other appliances we can't seem to function without such as TVs, cookers, dishwashers, computers, even cars."

"Just like Trevor Baylis's wind-up radio, the key is to creating quality green alternatives to the items which people have come to rely on."

If you think you have a great idea for a green invention, she suggests you check out N powers 'Bright Ideas competition' on their website, where you can also check out some great tips for getting more energy efficient.

ITCEC it might not seem like the greatest of ideas to launch a chauffeur service. However Ecochauffeur are entering the market with the aim of converting all those cigar-chomping bigwigs who are just too good to travel by bus into caring tree-huggers.

Ecochauffeur have introduced Lexus GS 450h SE-L Hybrids into their fleet of motors, which means VIPs can be transported in a vehicle which is reported to be 25% more cost effective on fuel than your usual chauffeur service cars like Mercedes and BMWs.

In addition to greener vehicles, the company partakes in carbon offsetting by investing through Climate Care. However, despite the Hybrids costing 20% less to hire than gas-guzzlers, clients apparently still prefer the cache that comes with rolling up in a traditional A-List motor - company director Will Senior admits: "At the moment the reality is that the S-class Mercedes, BMW 7 series, Range Rover, Bentley Continental Flying Spur and Rolls-Royce Phantom make up the majority of our fleet."

[source: Times Online]

Duncan at our gadget-y neighbour site Tech Digest has taken a look at the claims made by the makers of Carbon Hero - a device intended to record a person's carbon usage by monitoring their mobile phone signal - and weighed them up. He's not too impressed:

Carbon footprints are difficult. They've received a lot of attention in the press, and they're firmly stamped (no pun intended) on the public psyche, but they're not actually very accurate. Given the complexity of power generation in modern life, it's something that's incredibly difficult to calculate, and very easy to underestimate.

This device, the Carbon Hero, was designed by an art graduate named Andreas Zachariah. It tracks your phone signal, and if you're moving at train-ish speed, on a train track, then it assumes you're on a train, works out the distance you travel, and gives you a number for your carbon footprint. Simple, right? Well, there's about a billion things wrong with the idea.

Produced in sunny Southwold since 1872, Adnams has long been behind some of Britain's best loved homegrown beers. And now, the company says it's brewed a beer that can be called the UK's first carbon neutral beer.

'East Green' is brewed in Adnams' eco-efficient brewery, which has an Energy Recovery System that recycles 100% of the steam created during the brewing process and uses it to heat 90% of the following brew. The beer is made with locally grown barley to minimise CO2 emissions from transportation, and type of hop that's naturally aphid-resistant is used, cutting the use of pesticides significantly. To ensure their carbon emissions were as low as possible, Adnams worked with The University of East Anglia's carbon reduction CRed team, throughout the project. Let's drink to that!

Facebook servers and your computer use energy, which puts CO2 in the air. Boo! Step in Greenbook, the latest must-have facebook accessory which aims to offset the carbon generated by all those millions of tapping fingers.

Greenbook works by buying renewable energy credits; certificates that prove that electricity produced by traditional (potentially harmful) means were replaced by equal amounts of energy produced by green methods. Unlike many such schemes, Greenbook does not rely on tree-planting for its carbon offsets. Instead, it invests in 'green power', namely renewable sources such as solar and wind power. To pay for this, it has to get companies to sponsor it: the more users sign up, the more sponsorship they get. So why not sign up today? I promise it's far more rewarding than being a zombie.

Related: How to make your website carbon neutral

We internet types like to think of ourselves as 'green', and online is considered by many to be an earth friendly way to run businesses, communicate and have fun. It's paperless, instant and clean. But how green is it really?

It's been claimed that the digital industry has as big a carbon footprint as aviation -- and while aviation is slowing down, digital is growing at a tremendous rate. There are only so many planes you can fit in the sky, but the internet is virtually limitless...

It's not good enough to keep an eye on your own carbon footprint nowadays: if you've got a virtual identity on Second Life or any other dark corner of the web, you need to ensure that he or she is living responsibly too! After a shocking bit of research showing that each Second Life avatar consumes as much electricity as a real life Brazilian, Big Green Switch has started a campaign to help SL residents offset their carbon footprints.

Here's how it works - a SL user purchases our set of 10 beautiful exclusive trees for 3000 Linden Dollars (L$) and 100% of the money goes into a dedicated Big Green Switch offsetting fund. Periodically, the fund is converted into UK Sterling and invested in tree planting schemes via the UK's Tree Appeal organisation. SL land owners can also carbon offset their sim for a further L$1000.

[Via Virtual Economics]

The Rt Rev James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool, has a suggestion for his congregation as they prepare to make the usual chocolate and alcohol sacrifices for Lent: give up carbon. The Christian thing to do is to help those in need, and by living a greener lifestyle we begin to stem the tide of suffering inflicted on some of the world's poorest people.

Bishop Jones has teamed up with Christian humanitarian group Tearfund as a response to what he heard from youth groups in Liverpool, which was that helping save the Earth - or at least the people on it - was their top priority. Together they suggest the usual small but useful measures: change to energy saving lightbulbs, recycle, use fewer plastic bags, give the dishwasher a day off and do whatever else you can to generally reduce your carbon footprint. After 40 days, it might even become a lifelong habit; you never know.

Oh, and a word to the Greek Orthodox community: if you're going for the full 40 days of semi-vegan goodness, the Lent fast for us starts on March 10th.

Gadgets are never going to be the most eco-conscious addition to our lives, but slowly technology companies are getting wise to the fact that not only is green living necessary, it's also fashionable, and woe betide the company that loses its cool factor.

For whatever reason, quite a few companies - Nokia featuring among the most recently notable - have decided to show off their green credentials. In his keynote speech announcing the instantly controversial MacBook Air, Steve Jobs made sure to point out that the case was manufactured from recyclable aluminium, and no mercury, arsenic or brominated flame retardants were involved in the process. But there were two quieter eco-friendly nods that also caught Shiny attention.

Despite celebrating the world's gadgetry next week at CES and containing the blindingly brightly lit Las Vegas, Nevada has taken steps towards producing more green energy.

The 14-megawatt Nellis solar energy system has the distinction being the US's largest "solar photovoltaic system", at least until California's whopping 80-megawatt project is completed. Here come the numbers: 72,000 panels arranged over 140 acres aim to produce 30 million kilowatt-hours of clean electricity, powering one quarter of the Nellis Air Force Base it is installed at. That's 25% of the energy needed by some 12,000 residents, all of which sounds pretty positive to me (before us Shiny Shinies covering CES board that carbon-spewing jet, of course).

I live next door to the House of 10,000 Lights. And round the corner is the House of 1,000,000 Lights. It's scary. There are globes, and trains, and reindeer. *Sob*. Someone needs to tell these people about solar power... apart from the environmental considerations, their electricity bill ought to look a lot slimmer!

These solar powered fairy lights are $29.95 (£15) for a string of 50, which is actually cheaper than the non-solar LEDs we have wrapped around artfully arranged twigs in the living room at the moment (you try living with a designer; sparkly twigs is the least of it). They charge automatically during the day to give you eight or nine hours of pretty glowing light during the night. Sparkly fun with a conscience; how wonderfully Christmassy is that?

Alexandra Roumbas is Deputy Editor of Shiny Shiny, where a version of this post first appeared. Remember kids, everything - including gadgetry - in moderation!

A couple of days ago I was lucky enough to be one of several hundred green activists, academics and hangers on (that’ll be me then) who caught the first Eurostar train out of the new gleaming and incredibly beautiful St Pancras station.

Not only was it the first train to depart from north London as opposed to Waterloo, it also marks a new era for Eurostar in that the company claims the train was the first ever to be carbon neutral. So what does this mean in practice?

When most companies claims to be carbon-neutral there isn't really a huge amount the likes of you and I can do to check up on them. It is slightly different for Eurostar in that while much of their claim has to be taken on trust, there are a few things passengers can do to check the green creds for themselves.

Firstly the trip was really little more than a PR stunt. Eurostar has been trying to green its service for many months now. What happened on Wednesday was that it used the high profile launch of its new service to underline its current green credentials and suggest where it is going in the future.

Today is a big day for green travel: Eurostar's first ever fully carbon-neutral journey across the to Paris has just left St Pancras station in London, and Ashley Norris is blogging the trip for us, live from the train. Read on to find out what's happening...

"The brand new station concourse is filling up, the punters are jostling towards the platform and the first Eurostar train to Paris is set to rocket out of St Pancras station in about twenty minutes time. Yet on board isn’t the usual mixture of local dignitaries, politicians in search of a photo opp and railway enthusiasts. Many of the, ahem, VIP crew for the first journey are green activists, campaigners and of course bloggers (which is where I sneaked in) here to judge for themselves the environmental credentials of Eurostar's new cross channel carbon-neutral service.

It has widely accepted for some time now that the journey between London and Paris by train produces a tenth of the carbon dioxide as one using a plane (11kg as opposed to 122 by plane). But Eurostar claims that thanks to some core changes in its service passengers can enjoy a completely carbon neutral trip."

Tofutti has brought out yet another flavour of Creamy Smooth - the soft cheese substitute is now available with delicious hints of Country Vegetable. I can safely say my vague attempts at shedding the few pounds I've accumulated as the weather's got colder are now completely doomed. I am literally incapable of allowing a tub of Creamy Smooth to sit in my fridge for more than half an hour. I love the stuff - and this new flavour is rapidly becoming my favourite.

If you want to get hold of some, check your local health food shops (I found some in my local Holland and Barrett), or get online and order some from Goodness.co.uk.

Related: Dairy free cheese is getting better all the time...

They're more attractive than plastic trees, they don't shed like cut trees, you can reuse them, and they help the environment too. Gone are the days of destroying Norwegian forests in order to get hold of trees - you can buy them from sustainable plantations in England, with every tree taken replaced. The Christmas tree "farms" themselves protect eco-systems by acting as a buffer against erosion and contamination from nearby waterways, as well as absorbing C02 emissions. When the tree finally dies, it becomes useful compost - rather than just ending up as landfill like a plastic tree. Visit The British Christmas Tree Growers Association for more information.