Simran Sethi and Sarah Smarsh are writing a series on the impacts of everyday things. They will be posting previews on Green Options before launching the posts on Huffington Post. Want to know how to green your internet porn (or emailing or iTunes) habit? Check out these tips and a post-mortem of where your computers go to die.

Recently, the world computer population surpassed 1 billion. It’s a legion of artificial intelligence that will never die, at least not while humans are around to see it.

The computer species appears to have a high mortality rate (whether due to the rapid progress of technology or an industry conspiracy to ensure that products must be replaced regularly). They “crash” and “die” in droves, their human counterparts literally kicking them to the curb. But there is no heaven, no place in the clouds, for the cold, hard shell once warmed by electrical currents. Once it has left your desk, your computer doesn’t disappear. In a sense, it lives on.

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North American Environmental News

CANADA — Ontario Bans Lawn and Garden Pesticides

Canada has proven once again that it is way ahead of the rest of world with its progressive government. Ontario has banned the use and sale of lawn and garden pesticides for homeowners. Quebec instituted a similar ban on 20 some pesticide products back in 2006.

The new ban is set to take effect by spring of 2009. Home Depot has already agreed to stop selling the pesticides by the end of 2008! This is a huge victory for anti-toxic supporters all over the continent. If only someone in the United States government could take such affirmative action we could all be spared. Ontario will basically phase out some 80 different chemicals and over 300 products that contain them.

Continue reading this article at the Environmental Blog. Join the discussion about this article at Care2.

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Forward it. Instead of printing the page to give to someone to read, click the forward button. You can also include a line in your e-mail signature to remind others to not print, such as, "Consider the environment before printing this e-mail."

Archive it. Need it for your records? Consider saving the file as a pdf, that way you’ll have the information but won’t need to print the page.

Still need to print? Purchase paper with post-consumer recycled content, and set your printer to print on both sides. Or, if you’ve already printed something one sided, use the back side next time. Remember to recycle any printed e-mails you’re finished with.

More on computers and printing from GO:

Daily Tip: Don’t Press That Button

Daily Tip: Ask for a Refill

Daily Tip: Electronic Faxes Save the Day

Daily Tip: Change the Margins, Save a Forest

Dear EcoGeek,

My parents are always bugging me about computer usage and how the computers are sucking up energy. I want to know what I can do so that my computer doesn’t waste so much energy? I totally wanna go green and save the Earth from Global Warming!

- Lukas

Hey Lukas,

You probably won’t be surprised to discover that I spend quite a bit of time thinking about this very question. First, you should let your parents to know that your computer, with all of it’s amazing opportunities for educational, economic and social advancement, likely uses less power than the light bulbs that share the room with it.

Most desktop computers use between 100 to 150 watts. Now, this goes way up if you’ve got some kind of monster high-end gaming system, but 100 watts is a pretty good energy investment for what these glorious machines give us…in my opinion anyhow.

But that doesn’t mean that they’re aren’t steps you can take to decrease your computer’s power usage.

First, it’s important to realize that computers use varying amounts of power depending on what they’re doing. So writing an email doesn’t use as much power as playing Unreal Tournament. However, when your computer is completely idle, even if your monitor is off, it still is probably pulling about 100 watts from the wall. And when you’re not using your computer, that’s a pretty significant amount of waste.

So, always either shut down or suspend the operation of your computer when it’s going to be idle for a long time. This is the most important step we can take to decrease computer use. Of course, sometimes it’s hard to remember. Which is why I like to use Snap’s CO2Saver application. It keeps an eye on the way I use my computer, and idles my machine when I’m not using it. It also lets you know how much CO2 you’ve saved by using the application’s new settings. Unfortunately, it only works withy XP and Vista.

It’s also really important to consider not just the cost of the energy needed to power your machine, but also the energy required to create it. By most measures, more energy goes into creating a computer than will ever be used to keep it running. So one of the best ways to lower your computing carbon footprint is to try and keep your machine alive. You can do this a few ways. Don’t weigh your computer down with too many unnecessary applications. Learn how to upgrade and fix your computer when things go wrong, and never complain about taking your machine in to a repair shop. You’re doing the right thing for your pocket book and the environment.

And when you do finally need to upgrade (I like to try and make my computers last at least five years), look into computers that are designed specifically for efficiency. A new breed of low-energy desktops, like the Zonbu and Shuttle, are drawing far less than traditional PC’s. Dell, Toshiba and HP are all looking into low-energy solutions. Additionally, laptops will always be far more energy efficient than desktops, because they have to be designed to run on battery power.

I hope that’s a help to you and everybody else who’s concerned about PC power use. But don’t fret too much: you’ll save way more by changing your light bulbs than your computer.

EcoGeek of the Week is a weekly column provided by EcoGeek.org and syndicated all over the net. If you’d like to ask a question, or if you’re interested in syndicating the column, just use our submission form.

• IntelliPower(TM): A fine-tuned balance of spin speed, transfer rate and cache size designed to deliver both significant power savings and solid performance.

• IntelliPark(TM): Delivers lower power consumption by automatically unloading the heads during idle to reduce aerodynamic drag.

• IntelliSeek(TM): Calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise and vibration.

The new line of hard drives is set to come out this quarter but there are no prices released yet. The hard drives will be at 5400 RPM, which helps reduce the noise; there’s still no evidence that they will outperform regular drives at 7200RPM. The performance will be a key factor in comparing these drives to regular hard drives, and it will be interesting to see reviews and comparisons when these hard drives come out.

Editor's note: This week, A Siegel at the Ecotality blog takes a look at a new initiative from some major players in the home computing industry. This post was originally published on June 12, 2007.

Most people are unaware just how many kilowatt hours their computers burn and how many pounds of CO2 they help pump into the atmosphere. Interested in learning about this, there is no better place to start than Michael BlueJay’s Saving Electricity site.

Reducing energy use when you turn on your computer looks like it is going to get much, much easier. Earlier today, Climate Savers smart computing was announced at the Google campus. This initiative targets a 50% reduction in computer electricity usage by 2010.

From the press release:

Intel Corporation and Google Inc. joined with Dell, EDS, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), HP, IBM, Lenovo, Microsoft, PG&E, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and more than 25 additional organizations today announced the Climate Savers Computing Initiative (www.climatesaverscomputing.org). The goal of the new broad-based environmental effort is to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by setting aggressive new targets for energy-efficient computers and components, and promoting the adoption of energy-efficient computers and power management tools worldwide.

“Today, the average desktop PC wastes nearly half of its power, and the average server wastes one-third of its power,” said Urs Hölzle, senior vice president, Operations & Google Fellow. “The Climate Savers Computing Initiative is setting a new 90 percent efficiency target for power supplies, which if achieved, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 54 million tons per year — and save more than $5.5 billion in energy costs.

The initiative is promising tools to help users reduce electricity use. And, they make the case for investing to cut that electricity use by 50 percent …

Even at modestly higher prices (about $30 per system), more efficient computers will pay for themselves in reduced energy costs. It’s a win-win situation for you and for the environment.

For example, a savings of just 20–30 watts in power consumption translates to a savings of $7.20 per year in direct energy costs at a price of $0.12/kWh for electricity. In an air-conditioned home, the total savings increases to approximately $10/year, which means the high-efficiency system will pay for itself in 2–3 years. Systems that remain turned on all the time typically pay for themselves within the first year of use. …

Reducing the power consumption of PCs and servers has secondary benefits throughout the larger community. It reduces electrical and air-conditioning loads in office buildings, data centers and homes, thus reducing the strain on regional generation facilities and the electrical grid. Last but not least, it reduces emissions of greenhouse gases.

The Climate Savers smart computing initiative looks like a serious effort to provide a path toward more energy efficient, greener computing … A path toward greener blogging …

Apple recently announced plans for A Greener Apple and highlighted several improvements in sustainability that Apple has made over the past few years that are now being brought to light. The announcement responds to the concerns Greenpeace brought up - phasing out toxic chemicals, improving the take-back and recycling programs, and improving energy efficiency and overall environmental footprint. Steve Jobs outlines what Apple has done, is currently working on, and will do in the future to improve on the company’s environmental impact:

Apple has been criticized by some environmental organizations for not being a leader in removing toxic chemicals from its new products, and for not aggressively or properly recycling its old products. Upon investigating Apple’s current practices and progress towards these goals, I was surprised to learn that in many cases Apple is ahead of, or will soon be ahead of, most of its competitors in these areas. Whatever other improvements we need to make, it is certainly clear that we have failed to communicate the things that we are doing well.

It is generally not Apple’s policy to trumpet our plans for the future; we tend to talk about the things we have just accomplished. Unfortunately this policy has left our customers, shareholders, employees and the industry in the dark about Apple’s desires and plans to become greener. Our stakeholders deserve and expect more from us, and they’re right to do so. They want us to be a leader in this area, just as we are in the other areas of our business. So today we’re changing our policy.

Jobs goes on to explain how Apple has and will continue to phase out toxic chemicals in their products, such as lead (which was nearly eliminated in 2006 when Apple stopped producing CRT displays), Cadmium, Arsenic (which should be phased out in displays by the end of 2008), Mercury, PVC, and Brominated Flame Retardants (PVC & BFRs will also be eliminated by the end of 2008). Jobs also discusses Apple’s recycling program, which he considers far superior to some of his competitors’ programs.

Greenpeace responded to this news by increasing the environmental rating they gave Apple from 2.7 to 5 out of 10. They applauded the company for making strides in their environmental policy, but said that there is still room for improvement. For instance, Apple’s take-back recycling program is currently only available in the US. Greenpeace suggests they implement a worldwide comprehensive recycling program to ensure that none of their products end up as e-waste. Greenpeace urges Apple to go all the way towards making their products “green to the core.”

This news has created quite a buzz from Apple enthusiasts and bloggers. On GigaOM, Katie Fehrenbacher discusses how Apple’s announcement illustrates how green concepts are becoming a necessary part of a company’s branding, especially in tech industries. Working towards greener solutions has become a business necessity in order to keep consumers happy. Green is definitely the new black.

As I write this on my old Apple Powerbook, I am quite excited to learn that the company whose products I use every day is improving its environmental standards. Of course, this means I may have to put off upgrading to a new machine until their products are even greener and the toxic chemicals are all phased out. Hopefully that MacBookPro I’m eyeing will soon be free of toxic chemicals, have an LED display, and be green enough for this environmentalist to plunk down a serious chunk of change. Yo Steve, do you need anyone to test the new green Apple products you’re creating? (hint, hint…)

Links: Apple’s ‘A Greener Apple’ Announcement, Greenpeace’s Response, Macworld news article, Discussion on GigaOM.

Launched in January, the Plant a Tree for Me program asks Dell customers to voluntarily donate a couple of bucks at check-out to offset their computer purchase. That money is then given to the Conservation Fund and Carbonfund to plant trees as a way of offsetting your PC carbon footprint.

The idea is to get Dell customers to offset the electricity usage of their computer over three years (the estimated lifetime of the computer). Now with the no-purchase necessary angle, anyone can buy these credits.

You can offset a notebook for $2, a desktop for $6, your choice of monitors (CRT for $4, LCD for $3). A server is $40 and there is even an option to offset yourself for $99. All of the proceeds go to the Conservation Fund and the Carbonfund (Dell says they're picking up the admin costs for the program.)

And whether or not you choose to purchase credits, anyone can download a PDF Certificate of Participation for planting a tree through Dell. Although, I'd suggest instead of having the link on the program home page that they include the PDF link in the e-mail confirmation after a purchase.

The decision to reach out to a wider audience may have stemmed from customer feedback from Dell's IdeaStorm, an online suggestion box where ideas for improvements (green and otherwise) are welcome. The expansion will also help to enhance their green image.

Expect to see Dell in the headlines again next month with another round of Plant a Tree publicity when the company announces that it will be available to customers outside of the US.

Via Dell
More information available at The New York Times; TreeHugger

Leading computer hardware and software giants have created a consortium called the Green Grid to address their power problem. A recent report revealed that data centers, the backbone of the IT industry, are huge energy suckers. The consortium intends to look at this pressing issue and find ways to solve it.

Their mission statement calls for:

Defining meaningful, user-centric models and metrics; Developing standards, measurement methods, processes and new technologies to improve performance against the defined metrics; Promoting the adoption of energy efficient standards, processes, measurements and technologies.

The Green Grid's Board of Directors includes AMD, APC, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Rackable Systems, SprayCool, Sun Microsystems, and VMware. The consortium has also released three white papers on the topic, available at TheGreengrid.org.

While there is pending legislation in Washington regarding data center energy use, the technology industry is not waiting for mandatory rules to come into effect and are finding ways to self-regulate a growing problem.

Via GreenBiz; The Green Grid

Data centers run up about $2.7 billion in energy bills in the U.S. alone and $7.2 billion across the world. What's more, the study shows that data center power consumption has roughly doubled from 2000 to 2005. Faced with such growth rates, delivering the technology that the world demands without delivering as power-efficient products as possible is quite simply an unsustainable model.

Industry leaders are calling for more regulation and applaud the recently passed House Resolution 5646, an act "to study and promote the use of energy efficient computer servers in the United States."

CNET commentary on this issue calls for greater partnership within the industry to develop energy efficient solutions and increased voluntary plans with the federal government such as Energy Star.

Let's move this beyond home appliances to the technology that drives the Internet. This is an exciting moment for the IT industry. And if we prioritize the incredible benefits by reducing our energy consumption, we can make a real and lasting impact on the future of businesses and the planet.

Via CNET

Energy Star

The last specifications were issued back in 1992 - ancient in computer years - garnering at least 90% of PCs on the market today the Energy Star label. The new specifications, due out in July, are aimed at power supply efficiency and idle power consumption.

The Natural Resources Defense Council helped Energy Star come up with the new standards. And they're not just stopping at computers - the increasingly popular flat screen tvs are getting their own set of Energy Star specdifications.

Via CNET

Editor's note: Megan Prusynski, GO's newest team member, is a professional graphic designer and a very prolific blogger. She'll be covering design, art and culture for us. We're happy to welcome her aboard!

Apple computers have been staples for the graphic design industry since they arrived in the early 1980s. The company prides itself on its innovative technology, attention to detail, and good design. Designers like myself are often unapologetically obsessive about their Apple computers.

But as I type this on my Apple PowerBook, I feel a bit guilty for being such an Apple addict. Why? Because they are pretty far from a green company. In fact, according to Greenpeace, Apple is one of the worst computer and electronics companies out there in terms of sustainability.

"Today, I challenge every PC maker to join us in providing free recycling for every customer in every country you do business, all the time - no exceptions. … It's the right thing to do for our customers. It's the right thing to do for our earth."

Additionally, Dell announced that the company would also would begin a program called "Plant a Tree for Me," in which customers could elect to have a small portion of their purchase price ($2 for notebooks, $6 for desktops) donated to The Conservation Fund and CarbonFund.org to fund tree-planting efforts. Dell would cover the administrative costs of the program.

This is a smart move by Dell. E-waste recycling isn't mandatory nationwide in the US, but it's likely coming: already some states and local governments have implemented requirements for disposing of used electronics. Carbon regulation is also on the way. Dell not only prepares itself for these requirements, but gets green credibility for making this voluntary move — Greenpeace, for instance, has praised the company's efforts thus far. More and more, these kinds of moves are going to put companies on top not just in terms of eco-consciousness, but also in terms of profitability.

New York Post: Dell: PC Industry Need to Go Green

New York Times: Dell Founder Wants to Offset Energy Consumption

Dell Earth