Greenpeace applauds Apple, MacBook Air

Greenpeace today applauded Apple for the release of its new MacBook Air laptop, calling the device "a winner" and a strong entry in the race to build a green PC. The organization commends Apple's decision to ship a mercury and arsenic-free laptop, which Greenpeace says exceeds European Standards and raises the bar for the rest of the industry. Apple is on the right track, according to activists, and needs to make environmental leadership the theme of all of its products -- both old and new.

"For us though the highlight of the show, was Steve talking about the environment in his keynote speech for the first time," Greenpeace said. "It's a big step for Steve and we would like to congratulate all the Apple fans who helped us with our greenmyapple campaign."

Jobs in early May published an open letter to the public to discuss Apple's then current and future environmental concerns. The letter came after criticism came from environmental organizations as well as company shareholders. The executive promised to remove the inclusion of toxic chemicals in Apple products, and outlined a revamped recycling program for iPods.

Greenpeace lauded Jobs' open letter, praising his decision to phase out polyvinyl chloride and brominated fire retardants (BFRs) by 2008. The organization still criticized Apple's planned recycling program, however, because it will only apply to U.S. residents.

Today Greenpeace commended Apple as well as Jobs, but reminded both that its MacBook Air is not entirely free of hazardous chemicals.

"Had [the MacBook Air] been [free of hazardous chemicals,] it would have made Apple an ecological leader," the organization said. "We can almost taste that Green Apple, unfortunately it’s not ripe yet."

Source:ipodnn.com/articles/08/01/17/greenpeace.applauds.apple/
Read more!

HP Unveils Solid-state 'Green' Desktops

HP and Intel have teamed up to unveil a line of energy-conscious workstations.The companies showed off two new PCs, the DC 5800 and the DC 7800, at a special event in San Francisco recently.

The machines are designed for maximum power efficiency, and offer more efficient power supplies and software to better manage auto-shutdowns.

A notable feature on the DC 7800 is an optional 16Gb SanDisk solid-state hard disk. The drive will add $300 (€204)to the cost, but offers faster boot and load times and improved power efficiency.

Kirk Godkin, senior product manager at HP, told reporters that he expects solid-state drives to become a mainstay of the company's PC offerings by 2010, when chip prices fall sufficiently to make the drives practical.

The new PCs also feature Intel processors with vPro remote management tools. The processors will work with Surveyor, a tool which allows network administrators to gauge power consumption on large networks.

HP plans to have a version of Surveyor for small to medium sized businesses within a month. The new PCs form part of a larger environmental effort by the two companies. Other elements include more efficient data centres, better recycling initiatives and new building materials.

The recycling programme has been hampered, however, particularly with government regulations.

Carl Eckersley, of HP's Personal Systems Group, told reporters that electronic waste and recycling efforts have been slowed by different laws throughout the US.

Eckersley pointed to the recent WEEE laws in Europe as an example of how electronic waste could be regulated. "The Europeans are as advanced as anybody, "he said.

Source:techcentral.ie/article.aspx?id=11710
Read more!

Lenovo PCs Go Thin-n-Green

If 'small is beautiful' was the mantra in the desktop personal computer business, it is time to add another: 'Thin and green is in.'

Chinese PC maker Lenovo has built on the IBM legacy it inherited, by created what is possibly one of the thinnest, smallest, quietest — and least power-hungry desktop platforms on offer. The A 61e ThinkCentre launched in India this week, has achieved the highest ‘Gold’ status of the industry’s Green Electronics Council — rating based on energy efficiency as well as 90 per cent recyclable parts and packaging.

Versions begin at Rs. 15,800 ( monitor excluded) and are configured with a choice of AMD processors: the dual core Athlon 64 X2 or the mono core Sempron. The footprint is 8 cm width by 27 cm length by 17 cm breadth and the machine weighs in at just over 3 kg. Memory is selectable from 512MB to 8 GB and the hard disk is 80 GB. Different models run Windows 2000 or Vista Buiness.

"The A 61 e is our signature eco-friendly and energy-efficient desktop," said Lenovo India’s Executive Director, Transaction Business, Anil Philip. It strengthens the partnership with chip maker AMD, whose dual core processor used here takes just 45 watts — less than an average incandescent light bulb.

Source:hindu.com/2008/01/27/stories/2008012754301300.htm
Read more!

HP Introduces Energy-efficient Business Desktop PCs

HP today announced two new energy-efficient business desktop PCs, including the industry?s first to feature a solid-state hard drive (SSD), which offers improved reliability.

Both the HP Compaq dc7800 Ultra-slim Desktop PC with SSD and the HP Compaq dc5800 Business PC provide the power and flexibility to meet the needs of most any business. In addition, they include a variety of environmental features that allow them to meet the most stringent environmental requirements of the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT?) Gold registry.

The two PCs Add to HP?s industry-topping number of Gold-listed products in the EPEAT registry. The registry helps businesses evaluate, compare and select technology products based on their environmental attributes, such as meeting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency?s latest ENERGY STAR? energy-efficiency requirements.

While using more power-efficient PCs can help any business save on energy costs and reduce the environmental impact of their technology, the effect across an enterprise environment can be immense.

Source:ad-hoc-news.de/Aktie/12718191/News/15117815/ERSOL.html
Read more!

Green UPS Reduces Standby Power

APC has introduced a new uninterruptible power supply (UPS), which shuts down power to connected peripherals when a computer goes into sleep mode.

Like other UPS' APC's Back-UPS ES 750 provides battery backup power and surge protection to a computer. Unlike them it has new master/controlled outlets, which reduce energy consumption by automatically shutting down power to unused peripherals, such as printers, scanners and speakers when the host computer is shut down or in sleep mode.

Joe Loberti, APC-MGE's SVP for home and distributed systems, said: "The electronics in this unit are meticulously engineered to minimise impact on the environment and maximise efficiency, consuming up to five times less power in normal operation than other available solutions – saving consumers money on their electric bill."

The master outlet monitors the current drawn by the host computer. If it drops down to levels indicating sleep mode or shut-down then it will automatically shut-down power to the controlled outlets, which consume power even when the computer is off. APC claims that, by cutting power to these so-called 'dark loads,' its new UPS can provide a combined savings of $40 (£20 at ordinary conversion rates) per year on average as compared with competitors’ models.

The Back-UPS ES 750 has ten outlets, all of which provide surge protection with five of them also providing battery backup. It has a capacity of 450 watts and provides up to 70 minutes of run time, depending on the load. It also offers coax and telephone or Ethernet protection ensuring surges and spikes do not travel through data lines. A data port enables communication with APC’s PowerChute Personal Edition software, which automatically powers down the computer system in the event of an extended power outage.

APC says its new UPS is also more energy-efficient than other UPS products. It complies with RoHS regulations and uses less copper and other raw materials in manufacture. The packaging is made from recycled material.

It will take two and a half years for the new UPS to pay for itself in terms of saved power as its recommended retail price is $99.99 (£50.00) in North America.

Source:techworld.com/green-it/news/index.cfm?newsid=11188#commentsform
Read more!

US to Require Agencies to Buy Green Hardware

The US government plans to require federal agencies to buy green PCs and computer monitors that are energy efficient and include reduced levels of toxic chemicals — a requirement that likely will affect corporate users as well because of the government's massive buying power.

The Department of Defense, NASA and the General Services Administration jointly detailed an interim rule on the new purchasing requirements in a notice published in the Federal Register on December 26, and they are accepting comments on the proposal through to February 25. The new rule formalises the use within the government of the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT), which some agencies and private sector companies have already adopted.

EPEAT is a three-tiered rating system developed by the Green Electronics Council in Portland, Oregon. Under EPEAT, qualifying desktop systems, laptops and monitors are awarded gold, silver and bronze ratings based on how well they meet 51 environmental criteria, such as ease of disassembly and the lack of paints or coatings that aren't compatible with recycling or reuse.

Products are required to conform to 23 of the criteria to get a bronze rating. Earning a silver or gold designation is dependent on meeting more stringent EPEAT standards, such as having 90% of the materials in a system be reusable or recyclable, or using batteries that are free of lead, cadmium and mercury.

The federal government has a total installed base of 6.7 million desktops and laptops across civilian and military agencies, and it buys about 2.2 million new systems annually, according to Shawn McCarthy, research director for government vendor programs at market research firm IDC.

Because the government is such a large user, PC vendors will be hustling to comply with the new federal rule, McCarthy says. And since the vendors don't make PCs specifically for government users, he said, "you will see spillover into other sectors, much as you did once the government pushed Energy Star compliance back in the mid-1990s." Energy Star is an energy efficiency rating system for various products.

Last January, President Bush signed an executive order requiring EPEAT compliance within the government.

Only a few vendors have earned gold EPEAT ratings thus far. For instance, Dell has six products with gold ratings and 72 at the silver level. Hewlett-Packard has earned a gold rating for one desktop system, plus 73 silver ratings, while Apple has 17 products that meet the requirements for a silver.

A number of major agencies are already using EPEAT, including NASA, the EPA and the Department of Homeland Security, and some private-sector companies have adopted it as well.

The arrival of EPEAT as a purchasing standard isn't a surprise to hardware vendors. Wayne Rifer, EPEAT operations manager at the Green Electronics Council, said the group includes PC makers that were involved in the development of the rating system.

A big reason why the vendors took part in developing a standard designed for national adoption was concern that various state governments might adopt their own environmental rules governing electronics purchases. "That is a very strong motivator — probably the core motivator for them to be engaged," Rifer says.

He also thinks vendors will seek more silver and gold ratings than bronze ones. Achieving gold is "pretty tough". But since the middle of last year, he says, PC makers have been producing products that are eligible for gold ratings, which must be verified by the council's EPEAT team.

One bare-minimum EPEAT requirement would put the US on par with a directive on the restriction of hazardous substances that took effect across the European Union last July. The directive, known by the acronym RoHS, bars electronics products that include lead, mercury, cadmium and some other substances from being imported into EU member countries.

Source:computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/mgmt/D902F33699DA1A7CCC2573D400031C0B
Read more!

D-Link Turns Green With Power-Saving Switches

Networking vendor D-Link claims its new range of 'green' Ethernet switches, which intelligently minimise power usage by up to 80 per cent, could be a massive hit for VARs selling into environmentally conscious corporations and markets such as education and government.

It showcased two products in its range, a five-port gigabit switch and an eight-port version, at the British Education Training Technology (Bett) show in London on 9 January. Higher-end products, 16- and 24-port gigabit switches, are expected to be launched in February.

The devices save energy by supplying only what is needed to power up the length of wire to which they are connected, explained Kevin Wen, D-Link’s European president. The switches’ in-built intelligence also enables them to power down if they detect that the device they are connected to is switched off.

"Most people in SMEs and schools want to save on electricity usage, but they dare not touch a comms box, as they do not know what it does. These boxes make the decisions for them,” said Wen. “These could be an easy sell to the growing numbers of environmentally conscious technology buyers."

Lloyd Everard, director of infrastructure at systems integrator SAS Group, said: “The green Ethernet technology were welcomed by the SAS Group. They are receiving significant interest from companies consciously looking to cut their energy consumption and carbon footprint.

"D-Link has stolen a lead by being the first to market. Better still, there’s no price premium," he said.

D-Link exclusively revealed to CRN plans to develop a Partner Plus channel programme.
"Our higher-end products could open up a new range of sales opportunities for high-end systems integrators and specialist VARs," said Chris Davies, D-Link’s general manager for the UK and Ireland.

"We need more specialist partners who can integrate the products into diverse networking infrastructures and management systems."
Launch details were unavailable at the time of press.

Source:vnunet.com/crn/news/2207569/link-turns-green-power-saving-3750101
Read more!