The results are in for the Greener Gadgets Design Competition, and it’s safe to say the apps craze has been noted by the green and sustainable crowd. Energy-saving and sustainable home electronics, however, were considered rather harshly.

The 2010 Greener Gadgets Design Competition winner is a smartphone app, called AUG Living Goods, that scans a code on supermarket produce to determine where it came from and if it is locally grown.

Click here to view all finalists.

The second-place winner is the Empower glider chair whose gliding motion produces electricity to help run or charge electronics. While the judging panel did not particularly like the idea of the chair in their homes, they felt it was a perfect application for airports and train stations.

Third place went to the Illumi-Charger, an on-wall USB charging station that produces electricity from the collection of ambient light, much like many calculators.

It was extremely disappointing that the panel of three judges and conference attendees chose the Illumi-Charger over products like an energy monitoring Energy Hub and the BuLogics Z-Wave-based Smart Grid Home Controller. And sadly, they trashed the Automan500 subwoofer, in which the woofer is hidden in an ottoman that is custom-crafted from recycled tires and other sustainable materials.

I love the idea of the Illumi-Charger, but I would never hang it on my wall. It resembles a small in-wall speaker that announces itself. Put it in a less conspicuous form, and there should be a huge market or it.

The judging panel also trashed a kinetic-energy cell-phone charger that is already being sold in India, due to that country’s unreliable electric grid. Sure, it may not sell here, but it sells somewhere - and that’s more than can be said for many of these other “products” that are still in development.

Incredibly, the judges even drew their knives on the InCharge Battery Station, into which you toss your rechargeable batteries, it charges them only to the point of a full charge, and when you need a battery you retrieve it from the bottom. Wouldn’t something like that encourage people to use rechargeable batteries by making it so incredibly easy?

One of the judges reasoned that anyone who uses rechargeable batteries would have a little recharger under their desk, anyway. So much for rewarding sustainable innovations that help people change their green behaviors, without any effort required. I can only shake my head.

Unfortunately, the one finalist that didn’t merit a place may have be the most innovative and practical. The Corky is a wireless mouse that runs on the kinetic motion of typical mouse strokes rather than batteries, and is surfaced with recycled cork. One of the judges actually criticized it for using virgin cork harvested from cork oak trees and whose true sustainability is in question. (If harvested responsibly, the cork bark grows back.) However, the Corky is surfaced with recycled cork from wine bottles, and the judge had to be corrected.

The panel of on-stage judges displayed an alarming ignorance about home electronics and appeared to have precious little regard for them. One might expect that from a typical green event, but Greener Gadgets is a conference and design contest organized and run by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

If the CEA really wants to show how electronics can be green, it should select judges who know more about home electronics.

Steven Castle - Contributing Writer

Steven Castle is Electronic House's managing editor. he has been writing about consumer electronics, homes and energy efficiency topics for two decades. He is also the co-founder of GreenTech Advocates.