Dell Turns to Recycled Plastic, Thin Client for Green Computers

From the people who brought you the bamboo computer come two new greener computers: a new desktop made partially out of recycled plastic water bottles, and Dell’s first thin-client computer, a minimalist PC designed to access remote apps and data.

Recycled water bottles? That’s how Dell is pitching its new OptiPlex 960, announced this morning, which uses at least 10 percent post-consumer recycled plastic in its casing. “That’s about the equivalent of three plastic water bottles,” Curtis Campbell, the OptiPlex’s product manager, tells us. The 960 is part of Dell’s launch this morning of a whole new line of “greener” OptiPlex computers, a series aimed mostly at institutional buyers.

Beyond the greener materials, the OptiPlex also boasts higher energy performance with a redesigned power supply that’s 88 percent more efficient than previous desktops, and reduced and recycled packaging. All this means the desktop has achieved EPEAT Gold and Energy Star 4.0 ratings (just like Apple’s newest Mac line.) For large buyers like government organizations and schools, more efficient computers are important for their financial and environmental bottom lines.

Dell’s first thin-client computer, the OptiPlex FX160, is a stripped-down terminal designed for users accessing files and applications running remotely on a local server or in the cloud. The future of greener home computers will probably look more like the FX160 than the rest of the OptiPlex line as more services move into the cloud and users can accomplish more within their browser. This could mean fewer constantly spinning hard drives and less power wasted on unnecessary cooling, which could be better for global warming.

Source:earth2tech.com
Read more!

HP announces “green” Pavilion desktops

HP has announced two special-edition green desktops, which will be available only at Circuit City and Best Buy stores, and updated the configurations of its current desktops sold direct. The company also announced a 25.5-inch LCD display with lots of extras.

As with most things, to go green you have to give up a little. Both Verde Special Edition desktops are based on AMD processors that do indeed draw less power than the typical high-end chips found in most desktops–but they also offer a lot less performance. HP says the systems also have advanced power management features that reduce energy use by up to 45% and they come in packaging made of 100% recycled material.

The two configurations are:

HP Pavilion Verde Special Edition a6645f

* 2.50GHz AMD Athlon X2 4850e dual-core processor
* Up to 5GB of memory
* Nvidia GeForce 6150 SE graphics with 128MB
* 500GB hard drive
* SuperMulti DVD burner with LightScribe
* Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit edition with SP1
* Available on November 9 at Circuit City, starting at $579

HP Pavilion Phoenix Special Edition a6655f

* 1.80GHz AMD Phenom X4 9150e quad-core processor
* Up to 5GB of memory
* Nvidia GeForce 6150 SE graphics with 128MB
* 640GB hard drive
* Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit edition with SP1
* SuperMulti DVD burner with LightScribe
* Available on November 9 at Best Buy, starting at $659

Some of these choices–DDR2 memory, discrete Nvidia graphics and 7,200rpm drives–seem puzzling for a green PC since there are other options that should use less power, but DDR3 memory is still relatively expensive.

The 25.5-inch HP w2558hc Vivid Color Display includes a 2MP Webcam, 15-in-1 card reader (that can display video or pictures when the PC is off), HDMI input, multiple USB ports and built-in speakers. It is currently available direct or in retail stores for $599.

HP also updated the configurations of its HP Compaq Presario, HP Pavilion, HP Pavilion Slimline and HP Pavilion Elite desktops available at HP Direct.

Source:zdnet
Read more!

HP Intros Green PCs

HP is stressing environmental virtues in two new desktop PCs that use less power, and come in packaging that is more recyclable than before. The HP Pavilion Verde Special Edition a6645f and HP Pavilion Phoenix Special Edition a6655f (C$649.99) desktop PCs are ENERGY STAR qualified and meet the standards for Silver registration in the Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT), thanks to the use of AMD energy-efficient processors and advanced power management features that provide up to 45 per cent energy savings compared to PCs without power management enabled. In addition, they come in 100 percent recyclable packaging with less plastic foam.

Both special-edition desktop PCs offer up to 5GB of memory, Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit edition with Service Pack 1, a front-panel 15-in-1 memory card reader, and a SuperMulti DVD burner with LightScribe technology for etching custom labels and artwork directly onto discs.

The HP Pavilion Phoenix Special Edition a6655f desktop PC features a design symbolizing the mythical phoenix, and includes an energy-efficient AMD Phenom X4 9150e Quad-Core Processor and 640 GB hard drive. The HP Pavilion Verde Special Edition a6645f desktop PC has a nature-inspired pattern on the chassis and includes an energy-efficient AMD Athlon X2 4850e Dual-Core Processor and 500 GB hard drive.

Either can be mated to HP’s new 25.5” widescreen model HP w2558hc Vivid Color Display (C$599) that includes a built-in 15-in-1 card reader for easily viewing slideshows and videos, even when the PC is turned off, as well as a built-in two-megapixel Webcam. It also has multiple USB ports and digital outputs and HDMI inputs. In keeping with the green theme, the HP w2558hc is ENERGY STAR qualified and offers a Power Saver feature to help reduce energy consumption.

Source:marketnews.ca/news_detail.asp?nid=4189
Read more!

HP's 'Verde' Desktops Say 'Green PC'

On Monday, HP announced a pair of new Energy Star desktops and a new color display designer designed to reduce the impact on the environment.

The HP Pavilion Verde Special Edition a6645f and HP Pavilion Phoenix Special Edition a6655f desktop PCs are powered by AMD's energy-efficient processors and have recyclable packaging.

Both Pavilion Special Edition PCs have Energy Star qualifications and meet the criteria for EPEAT's Silver rating. The HP Pavilion Phoenix Special Editon a6655f desktop PC starts at $659 without monitor, and is powered by a quad core AMD Phenum X4 9250e processor, 640-Gbyte hard drive and a DVD burner. The HP Pavilion Verde Special Edition a6645f desktop PC starts at $579 without monitor, and is powered by a dual core AMD Athlon X2 4850e processor and 500GB hard drive.

The Verde edition is a Circuit City exclusive and ships with a "nature-inspired" design on its front panel, while the Phoenix Edition is exclusive to Best Buy and comes with a "stunning design symbolizing the mythical phoenix". Both systems will be available on November 9.

HP also announced the 25.5-inch HP w2558hc Vivid Color Display with a built-in webcam and 15-in-1 digital media card reader. The w2558hc has multiple USB ports, built-in speakers, and HDMI inputs to support your digital life. The monitor is also Energy Star qualified and is available now through HP Direct and select retailers for $599.

In other PC news, Gateway announced the 233137, a trendy, stylish laptop for about $1,000, which PC Magazine called "the best-looking one in the company's history".

Source:pcmag.com
Read more!

Green PC for SMBs

ASUS in association with Intel has launched Eee Box, a power-efficient computing solution. The desktop PC consumes 90% less power than normal desktop PCs with only 26 decibels sound emission and uses Intel Atom N270 (1.6 GHz) processor.

According to the company, the product is targeted at the SMBs and the home users segment in India.

The ASUS thermal solution integrates a heat dissipation module with the AI fan - allowing quiet (26db) and comfortable computing. The Eee Box also utilizes green design and is made with eco-friendly materials for reduced CO2 emissions and conforms to stringent RoHS and WEEE standards.

With ASUS' boot technology, Express Gate, users can easily access the Internet, manage pictures or communicate over IM/Skype just 7 seconds after boot up. It also supports WiFi 802.11n wireless standard - providing up to six times faster connectivity than previous 802.11b/g wireless. Users can download a 30 minute video in only 44 seconds.

Specifications:
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Home
CPU: Intel Atom N270 (1.6 GHz)
Chipset: Intel Chipset
DIMM DDR2 SO-DIMM: 1 GB
HDD: 80 GB
Card Reader: SD/SDHC/MS/MS Pro/MMC
WiFi: 802.11b/g/n
LAN: 10/100/1000
Accessories: Keyboard and mouse

The Eee Box is available at Rs. 6,490/ exclusive of taxes.

Source:enterpriser.in
Read more!

Slick new ‘green’ PC from HP demonstrates CSER

New PC from HP shows why green thinking is good for business as Amy Fetzer discovers

HP’s slick new TouchSmart PC doesn’t look green with its sleek touch screen technology designed to tempt style-conscious consumers looking for cutting-edge gadgets. Yet under its shiny black casing, the TouchSmart has impressively green credentials. Its power management technology can reduce PC energy use by up to 45%; it arrives in 100% recyclable packaging with more paper and less plastic foam for easier recycling; and the machine itself uses 55% less metal and 37% less plastic than standard PCs and monitors*. It is also Energy Star and EPEAT™ registered at silver level.

The success of the TouchSmart in marrying style with substance demonstrates the important role that corporate psychology plays in bringing CSER (Corporate, Social and Environmental Responsibility) principles into projects to ensure they become an integral part of the process.

By adopting an attitude which aimed for the ideal, viewed obstacles as challenges, and which kept environment considerations at the heart of the design process, the team behind the TouchSmart were able to think outside of the box to create a product that broke new ground both in terms of cutting edge functionality and environmental performance.

This combination of style, market-leading functionality and environmental performance is an excellent example of the symbiosis which often exists between the environment, design, functionality as the team found time and time again that designing for the environment had numerous paybacks. For example, by looking at ways to reduce energy use, the team looked to minimise waste heat. This in turn reduced noise and improved reliability as overheating is a common cause of computer malfunction.

Smashing the status quo Companies, like people, become accustomed to established systems that aren’t always the most efficient or effective. The way to drive innovation and improve efficiencies is to forget the status quo and to question everything.

‘We said, forget any constraints, let’s look at this on an ideal basis - what would we do if we could do anything?’ explains Ken Bosley, the HP Brand manager on the TouchSmart project.

‘We asked: “What’s the best way, what’s the obstacle, why aren’t we doing it?” Usually the answer to “Why aren’t we doing this?” was “We’re not sure!” so we decided to find out.’

For example, the desire for slender, sexy product not only increases consumer appeal, but the resulting reductions in material use, packaging materials, and increased transport efficiencies are good for the environment and the bottom line as fewer materials mean lower costs while ultimately creating a smaller, more flexible and more appealing product for the consumer.

‘The gains made on the TouchSmart, both in terms of technology and packaging, are now being fed back into the mainstream HP production line. For example, we’re now trying to incorporate more cardboard usage in to the packaging of our mainstream products and looking at ways we can utilise energy efficiencies.’

Design for the real world

Many products are designed for ideal environments that don’t actually reflect real world practice. Yet designing products for real life consumer behaviour can have massive benefits. For example, the TouchSmart made massive energy savings by focussing on the sleep mode. Research had demonstrated that consumers leave their IT idle for long periods yet don’t utilise the power-saving sleep mode as they find it cumbersome. Recognising this, the TouchSmart default was set to sleep after 15 minutes of being idle, while considerable effort was put into making it wake up in just three seconds. This rapid resume is essential. Otherwise, the customer will just change the default settings and stop the PC from going to sleep at all.

In addition, the design team were driven by the knowledge that although many materials, like the EPS foam often used in IT packaging, are recyclable, the lack of local recycling markets can mean it winds up in landfill. In addition, customers prefer the ease that comes with recycling just one material. This led the team to cardboard because it has the highest recycling value.

Creating robust cardboard packaging was a massive challenge, and inevitably created extra work, but the design team were soon motivated by the challenge of creating packaging that not only could be 100% recycled but that would be recycled.

‘We asked questions like, “Why do we have an accessory box and cushions? Why can’t the cushions be the accessory boxes? Why do we have two of these?”’ explains Bosley. ‘When we started to question why we weren’t using more cardboard already, we discovered it was because we didn’t know if it would pass all of our drop tests. So we did all the drop tests. And it failed first time, but so did the foam first time, so we didn’t let that put us off. So we went back to drawing board and tried and tried again until we succeeded.’

The hard work paid off with the creation of 98% cardboard packaging for the TouchSmart, and this single material cardboard design is now being applied to the mainstream PC box.

However, a real world approach also led some frustration. Knowing that the box is often the only means of communicating with the consumers, the design team weren’t prepared to compromise on the signature HP ‘black box’ design. ‘It was very frustrating,’ says Bosley, ‘because the most environmentally friendly scenario is if there was no printing on the cardboard box. If you print anything at all, it’s the same as if you print the whole thing. There is no way we would sell products with a blank box so that wasn’t feasible. We looked into doing a printed sleeve on a plain brown box, but after doing further research, it seemed that overall, it was better to print on the box itself.

Weighing up the options

There were some areas where the design team had to reluctantly accept defeat. One of these was screen, which would use mercury-free LEDs rather than fluorescent backlights in an ideal world. Unfortunately, this was too costly to implement at the moment, but with LEDs becoming more and more affordable, it’s likely to be a temporary setback.

The vagaries of the international shipment process also meant that despite all the efforts to avoid using foam packaging, it was necessary in countries which use single box shipments, rather than multiple pallets. This was because the cardboard packaging was not shock absorbent enough to protect the product in transit in single shipments. However the team is viewing this as a short-term set back and they’ve pledged to keep working on developing a higher grade cardboard packaging.

Another problem the team grappled with was more fundamental. ‘You can’t get away from the fact that an energy efficient computer is still going to be a piece of e-waste eventually,’ says Bosley. ‘However, we did everything we could to make sure the TouchSmart was designed to make it easily disassembled for recycling so the plastic parts can be separated from the metal. We’ve tried to incorporate these factors into the design as much as possible.

Source: csr-news.net
Read more!

4 Ways to Green Your Gadgets

Last month, the congressional watchdog GAO published a report on high-tech toxic trash exports, and Greenpeace released its ninth annual Guide to Greener Electronics. Here are four ways to keep consumer electronics from harming human health and the environment. Even better, some of them will help you save money at the same time.

Tip #1: Buy electronics from companies with take-back programs

When companies establish take-back programs for used or broken electronics, the high cost of hazardous waste disposal gives them an incentive to eliminate toxic components and design products for easy recycling and reuse. Rather than sticking consumers or municipalities with the dilemma of what to do with complicated unwanted devices, manufacturers collect their own products and -- with smart design -- can turn them into new gadgets instead of trash. To ensure a green ending to your gizmo's life, opt for products from companies (like Nokia, the high-scorer in Greenpeace's latest report) ready to take back what they hath sold. In the meantime, your unwanted devices from manufacturers without these programs can be brought to Best Buy stores around the country.

Tip #2: Extend battery life

Later this week, European Union officials will begin enforcing new restrictions on rechargeable batteries -- a move that the research firm Cleantech Group reports could nudge the market away from toxic components and non-replaceable, built-in batteries. In the meantime, Americans still buy more than 350 million of the pricey, heavy metal-packed capsules every year. With smart maintenance practices, they can be replaced less frequently. For example, lithium-ion batteries, one of the most common types used in laptops and mobile devices, last longer when kept from running below a 40-percent charge. If you have an iPod, you'll get the most bang for your battery buck (make that bucks--at least 49 of them for a replacement battery) if you take it out of the case before charging. Carrying cases can trap heat and compromise battery capacity -- making you plug in more frequently and burn through the battery's limited number of charges sooner. For any device, it's a good idea to keep batteries away from extreme temperatures, allow plenty of circulation, shut off juice-draining non-essential functions, and use a low-power mode whenever possible.


Tip #3: Eliminate excess energy use

It's easy to grab your menagerie of mobile devices and leave chargers plugged in when you dash off to work. But chargers and gizmos left on standby pull electricity even when they seem to be turned off. This vampire power accounts for as much as $2.7 billion-worth of electricity use every year in the U.S., according to Power Management DesignLine. In a typical household, it represents about 5 percent of annual electricity costs, with plasma TVs, computers, and game consoles being some of the thirstiest offenders. If you want to reduce your contribution to the phantom load, you no longer have to run around pulling plugs: smart power strips like APC's Power-Saving Surge Arrest cut the juice automatically, and energy monitors help you figure out where to target your efforts for the biggest results.
Share your tips: Have you slayed vampire power in your home? Tell us how.

Tip #4: Sell or donate unwanted gear

What's the easiest way to avoid sending e-waste to irresponsible recyclers? Give your old gadgets new life in the hands of students and families who can't afford the latest electronics. Sites like eBay and Craigslist make it easy to sell unwanted items, while freecycle.org lets you find people in your city or neighborhood to pick up giveaways. If you'd like help assessing value, erasing personal data, creating a listing, and shipping or trading in an old device, you can turn to the Rethink Initiative. Hosted on eBay, the site represents a coalition of tech companies, anti-toxics groups, philanthropies, the EPA, and other groups working to manage e-waste (and generate business, in some cases) by connecting buyers, sellers and charities -- so you can get that PC-o-saurus or old-school boombox out of your basement and back to work.

Source:huffingtonpost.com/josie-garthwaite
Read more!