Green Options

Computer technology is always about being one step ahead of competitors. Information technology moves faster than light it seems, and by the time your new computer arrives at your doorstep, it is already out of date. Dell, whose computers can be found in most offices, homes, and campuses across the country, has been doing its best to stay ahead of the curve.

Proving it is both environmentally friendly and hip to the trends of popular culture, Dell has just finished installing a grove of solar trees at its Corporate headquarters in Round Rock, Texas.

A new tool in Google Earth shows you the “effect” of climate change in your area.

Using Google Earth, you can look at climate effects under three different scenarios — 1) Confronting Climate Change — “with Al Gore”, 2) IPCC High Emissions Scenario, and 3) IPCC Low Emissions Scenario. Other new tools let you examine other aspects of climate change and how to adapt to climate change.

If you’re like me and work from home, ergonomics are one of the last things on my mind. I often find myself sitting with my feet up and my laptop in my lap, typing away (ahem, like right now.) The down side to this, is of course the laptop heats up and becomes too hot to sit just so.

Not only is this bad for me and my legs, but also for the computer. It can’t cool itself down sitting on my legs. That’s where this pretty nifty laptop pillow from IF comes in.

The Log laptop pillow is a series of log shaped pillows that when placed just so, make a comfortable pillow for your laptop and legs. Held together by snaps, the logs are made with hemp canvas and organic cotton twill or a hemp and lycra twill blend. The insides are stuffed with buckwheat hulls. The hulls provide for padding and insulation. The arrangement of the logs provide cushion for your legs and allows air to flow and cool the laptop.

Indian designers have announced plans to launch a laptop that will cost an astonishing $10 (500 Rupees).

A prototype of the computer, to be known as Sakshat, (meaning ‘before your eyes’), will shortly be showcased by the Indian government as the centerpiece of an ambitious e-learning programme linking 18,000 colleges and 400 universities across the sub-continent.

Argonne National Laboratory’s new Blue Gene/P high-performance computer runs at an awe-inspiring 557 teraflops (557 trillion calculations per second) and can wow the green crowd with its energy efficiency. The computer uses only 1 MW of power— about a third as much electricity as a conventionally built supercomputer of comparable size.

PC energy saving specialists Verdiem have today released free downloadable software designed to help users slash their energy use up to a massive 80 percent.

According to Allison Cornia, vice president of product management at Verdiem, “If we could get just 10 per cent of the world’s one billion PCs using [the product] properly we could save 32 billion kilograms of CO2 a year. That’s equivalent to taking half a million cars off the road.”

The world’s most powerful supercomputer, the Cray XT Jaguar, is to be to used in the quest to fight global warming and develop renewable energy.

The computer, housed in the National Center for Computational Sciences (NCCS) at Oak Ridge National Labs (ORNL), Tennessee, has been upgraded to a staggering 1.64 petaflops  - and put at the disposal of some of the world’s leading climate scientists and renewable energy experts.

As far as green gadgets go, this little desktop computer will give Dell and (to a lesser extent) Apple a run for their money.

The CherryPal promises to be affordable, efficient, and powerful enough for the average PC user. At first glance, that stats on the system look modest, and for good reason. This design actually cuts out 20% of PC components to reduce energy usage. But fear not, despite being small (the size of a paperback), the CherryPal claims it can start up in 20 seconds, and cloud computing provides more power/storage when you need it. A Linux operating system (now more user friendly than ever), and cloud computing means you won’t need to worry about viruses or install protective programs that can slow down your PC.

I cover a lot of upcoming or future technology, but it’s time to step into the present and aim for the past. Today we’re going to look at a technology available right now that can make some wanton energy waste history. It’s a surge protector that stakes the hearts of vampire electronics without hassling you, the sleeping victim.

Vampire appliances are pretty much anything you can plug in that still sucks energy when it’s supposedly turned off. Some are pretty obvious - the clocks on your microwave or VCR/DVD player burn all day, everyday. We know they’re not “off” because we cans see their LEDs glow. But other electronics, from your television to your cell phone charger also draw power when they’re plugged in but not in use. Check out a handy graph from Good Magazine. Some gadgets are notorious, like your plasma TV. Estimates claim that 5% or more of U.S. energy usage is insidiously wasted by “stand-by mode” or certain misleading “off” buttons. A whopping 5% may not sound like much, but it adds up to about $1 Billion dollars per year - and energy prices will probably continue to rise.

Be honest - how many times would you go around the house unplugging everything before it got old? Smart greenies have been switching off their surge protectors, but it’s easy to forget while watching your favorite late-night TV show or blogging at 4am. So what can we do about these metal-toothed Nosferatu in our midst? How about a surge protector that turns off all your appliances for you?

Let me be the first to confess: I love my laptop. I spend more time with it than most people in my life, including family, room mates, and boyfriend. I might even go so far as to admit an unhealthy infatuation with the Internet, writing, and a handful of computer games. Yet as an aspiring environmentalist, my electronic sidekick poses an uneasy paradox. How do I lay claim to “green” (whatever that really means) when I spend so much of my time plugged in?

Computers aren’t very environmentally friendly. They contain lead, mercury, cadmium, lots of plastic, and they thirst for electricity. Most people don’t realize that most of a computer can be recycled, so most discarded computers head to the landfill where the heavy metals can contaminate local water and air. Computers and electronics have become disposable in our culture, so the amount of electronic waste generated each year is astounding. Fortunately these are not problems without solutions. Starting from the beginning of a computer’s life to its demise, it can be easy to optimize everything about your PC.

Buying, Building, and Design

With the new popularity of green, critics have been quick to turn on companies like Apple for pumping out so many gadgets. The good news is that companies have been quick to respond with energy-efficient models, recycling programs, and improved design. Many “green” initiatives focus on energy efficiency but ignore manufacturing or end-life issues, so be wary of their “environmental” credentials. If you find a product or company that can vouch for the creation, use, and disposal of their products, you’ve struck gold. The good news is that newer models use fewer harmful chemicals and metals, require less energy, and improve performance. Lean, and mean is the angle many companies are aiming for with “green” patched on to sell. Laptops are the best example of this trend as they become smaller and more powerful simultaneously. So rest easy knowing that if you must buy a new computer, it will probably be more efficient than your old one… assuming you don’t hook a brand new 60-inch flat screen to it.

The internet is saving 10 times the energy required to run an internet-linked computer.

Remember when renting a movie required a trip to the video store or checking a bank balance required a visit to the bank? Now, anything from used books to driving maps are just a click away. Telecommuting is common and taxes can be submitted electronically to the IRS. The internet is shaping our lifestyles, allowing us to save energy.

A recent study by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) discovered that every kilowatt-hour of electricity used to power communications and information technologies is resulting in a 10 fold increase in energy savings.

“Acceleration of information and computer technology across the US landscape post 1995 is driving much of the nation’s energy-productivity gain,” says John Laitner of the ACEEE and coauthor of the study. “Had we continued at the historic rate of prior years, we would today be using the energy equivalent of 1 billion barrels of oil more [per year] than we were” in the early 1990s.