Five green smartphone apps to shrink your carbon footprint

Takeaway: Small choices can have a big impact on how you treat the planet. Here are some apps that will help you green up your lifestyle.

Going green — whether you do it because you are worried about the environment or you simply want to reduce the number on your monthly electric bill — can be as easy as making a reasonable choice. Putting a soda can into the recycling bin instead of throwing it away. Thinking through the route you drive to work. Pausing before you print a 20-page document to consider whether the electronic version will do the trick. Here are five apps to help with your green decision making.

1: GoodGuide

With GoodGuide [iTunes and Android App Store], you use a barcode-scanning feature to find out whether the products you’re thinking about buying are green, safe, and healthy for your family. You can create your own personal filter to rate products according to the issues you care about. The app includes ratings for more than 120,000 products, and you can create your own personal shopping lists based on the results you receive. Free.

2: LiteFaire

LiteFaire [Android App Store] helps you estimate the cost and energy savings involved in replacing your light bulbs. You can display room-by-room estimates of replacement costs, energy saved, and the point at which your investment pays for itself. LiteFaire is available in a free version and in a Plus (no-advertising) version. If you’ve been thinking about changing to energy efficient lighting, this app can help give you the data you need to make the call.