I'm at the annual, one-day Greener Gadgets Conference here in New York City, where the capstone event is just kicking off: the Greener Gadgets design competition. Many of the entries in the design contest are prototypes or conceptual.

The foundation of this conference is the concept that the gizmos we love can be more ecologically sound -- made of benign matierals, highly energy efficient -- and also, that it's OK to love gadgets and want to have them in our lives, even if we're trying to be more enviro-conscious.

The judges are a trio of green design luminaries: Sarah Rich, a senior editor at Dwell magazine (who, full disclosure, I have worked with in the past); Julian Lwin, owner of design firm Lwindesign; and Andrew Wagner, editor-in-chief of DIY-meets-shelter bible ReadyMade magazine.

It's a tough panel to impress -- they have already slayed two finalists in the competition and barely agreed to advance the third, "Empower," a rocking chair for public spaces that can harness the energy of the motion to power your laptop or other energy-hogging device.

They're just getting into the merits of the "Corky," a wireless mouse made of cork and powered by the piezo-energy created by moving a computer mouse around.  

Rich likes it, on the basis that computer mouses already exist by the millions, and this would be an improvement. Lwin is swayed to its side once he learns it's going to be manufactured from recycled wine corks, but he wonders if you could really generate enough energy to power it just from moving it around.

Wagner also likes the Corky: "It's a subtle twist on something that already exisits, which I like."  Corky makes it into the ultimate round.

Onward: Rich really likes the "Illumi-charger," a "grid-free USB wall power outlet" that's meant to make wall warts obsolete. Lwin and Wagner agree. They like that it's designed to be made from (presumably enviro-benign) bio-plastics, powered by ambient light (like solar calculators), and that it looks good without being obtrusive as well as serving a real need. Illumi-charges makes it into the final round.

The "AUG/Augmented Living Goods Program" meets universal approval, as well -- a phone app that helps shoppers identify locally-grown foods. It even has a community feature: app users can enter comments to help guide other shoppers.

Now the audience gets involved: The final prizes of $1,000 for third place, $2,000 for second, and $3,000 for first will be awarded based on the applause that each of the four finalists receives. 

Poor Corky barely gets a hit on the sound meter. Illumi-charger seems to hit a 3.

The final contender, AUG, tips the meter a smidge past '3' and even gets some woo-hoos from the audience. And yep: AUG/Living Goods Program takes first. One of AUG's strongest points with the panel and the audience, it seems, is that it's "demateriallized" -- as an app, it takes advantage of existing infrastructure (smart phones and iPod Touches) instead of bringing more stuff into the world.

Second place goes to Empower, and third place goes to the Illumi-charger.