What to do with Old Computer?

During your computer's life, you can make it greener by using it wisely and by extending its life; beyond that, your main impact is what you do with the computer at the end of its life. Using your computer wisely means treating it like any other appliance and turning it off or putting it to sleep when it's not in use. (This can include just parts of your computer--for instance, if running it as a music server, you can shut the monitor off.) Extending the life of your computer means upgrading it or adding peripherals to keep it useful years longer than it normally would be. This is easier for desktops than for laptops, simply because desktops are much more modular. Many brand-name machines are specifically designed to be easily upgradeable, and all systems cobbled together from third-party components (known as white boxes) are by their nature reconfigurable.

Even older systems where the CPU cannot be upgraded further and there's no room for more RAM can sometimes see great benefit from just replacing the video driver, given the more multimedia-rich environment we are now in. If the computer is absolutely not useful as a working computer anymore, it still may be good for a niche application (like the music / entertainment server mentioned above) where it could eliminate the need for a separate CD player, DVD player, etc.


Reselling and Donating
The best way to get rid of your computer is to sell it (or give it) to someone who still finds it useful. Doubtless there are a few older machines--especially ones with large CRT's--which are such energy hogs that two or three more years of electricity use would cause more impact than manufacturing a new replacement; but the only way to know that is to do a life cycle analysis. Most of the time it will make sense to keep old machines running. The two most popular sites to sell used electronics are eBay and Craigslist, simply because they are so popular for all person-to-person selling. SecondRotation is a company that will buy your old cell phone, GPS, digital camera, or laptop (Apple only, so far) for a fixed fee, then resell it. A quick check on the value of my MacBook Pro showed that I would get more selling it on eBay, but that may not be true for some of the other product categories, and they offer the security of a known buyer/seller.

If your computer is too old to talk anyone into buying it, you can donate it. Free Geek has, as they say, been "helping the needy get nerdy since the beginning of the 3rd Millennium". They and other similar groups like Youth for Technology Foundation and Network for Good take old computers, refurbish them if necessary, and give them to low-income schools (both in industrialized countries and developing countries.) TechSoup has a good list of tips for donating a computer.
Src: http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007587.html

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City calls computer recycling a success

The final computer reycling roundup was a resounding success last week, with over 126,000 pounds of computers, televisions and electronics collected from the 1,275 households bringing their obsolete equipment to the event.

The roundup, held every six months for the past 15 years, is ending to make way for a year-round recycling program, so people can drop off their old computers, TVs and other electronic goods at the city's two recycling dropoff sites, beginning Jan. 1, 2008.

City recycling coordinator George Dreckmann said more than a million pounds of electronics were collected from the public and recycled in the past seven years.

The roundup was sponsored by the city of Madison, Dane County, the Madison PC Users Group and Cascade Asset Management, a computer recycling firm.

Cascade will "retire" the equipment and recycle the usable parts.

Volunteers at the roundup, held at the city's transfer station on Olin Avenue last Saturday, were unloading over five cars a minute.

Computer monitors and laptop computers outnumbered recycled televisions by a 1,375 to 240 count at the roundup.

Dreckmann estimated 5,325 pounds of lead was kept out of landfills because of the latest reycling roundup.

"Because computer equipment contains hazardous materials such as lead, mercury and cadmium, it's important to keep these items out of landfills," Dreckmann said.

The year-round electronic recycling dropoff sites will be at 4602 Sycamore Ave. and 1501 W. Badger Rd.

Madison residents will not be able to put television, computer monitors, laptops or CPUs at curbside beginning Jan. 1, and will have to take the items to the dropoff sites for recycling.

The city will charge $10 for each CPU, monitor and laptop and $15 for each television brought in for recycling. Keyboards, scanners, printers, VCRs, DVD players, typewriters, stereo components, telephones, cell phones and miscellaneous computer parts will be accepted for recycling free of charge.
src: http://www.madison.com/tct/news/258629
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Green 500 list ranks supercomputers

Big iron rated on energy efficiency rather than raw power

Researchers at Virginia Tech have released the first Green 500 list which ranks the world's supercomputers by performance-per-watt rather than pure processing power.

The list of the 500 most energy efficient supercomputers around the world is a derivative of the Top 500 list, a bi-annual report of the top performing supercomputer sites.

The project was spearheaded by Kirk Cameron and Wu Feng, associate professors at Virginia Tech's computer science department.

"The list is meant to encourage people to develop systems that use power efficiently," said Cameron.

"If you do that, you decrease costs, which are really high, between $800,000 and $1m a year per megawatt. It's ridiculously expensive. You're looking at $1m to $4m a year to run a mega system."

Virginia Tech said that the Green 500 will help usher in a new era where supercomputers can be compared by performance-per-watt, rather than just computational power.

This inaugural list uses the measured power consumed during a Linpack run, if submitted, or peak power consumption of the supercomputer otherwise.

"While the selection of any power-performance metric will be controversial, we opt for 'flops per watt' given that it has already become a widely used metric in the community," says the Green 500 website.

This method is under review by the researchers, and Feng hopes that the process will "evolve over time to ensure accuracy and more closely reflect energy efficiency in the fast-paced, ever-changing, high-performance community" .

The top of the list is completely dominated by IBM's Blue Gene supercomputers, with 26 of the top 27 deployments.

Caroline Roberts, deep computer sales manager in the UK at IBM, told vnunet.com that energy efficiency was a key design feature of the Blue Gene architecture.

"Since IBM sold the first Blue Gene supercomputer in 2004, it has come along in leaps and bounds," she said.

Roberts explained that using a large number of relatively low powered CPUs (850MHz compared to 2GHz used in most other supercomputers) meant that the Blue Gene machines are "sipping electricity but still producing massive computational power".

Roberts concluded that "floppage-per-watt" will become an increasingly important metric for supercomputer deployments as the pressure of green issues and costs of powering these systems continues to increase.

Ref: http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2204051/supercomputers-green-rated
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Acer To Supply Green PCs To TAFE

Acer Computer Australia has signed a three-year contract to supply desktop PCs to Holmesglen TAFE in Victoria.

The deal is worth over $3 million and follows the company announcing the highest market share in the education sector in Australia for five years running, according to figures from the company.

Acer will now provide the Institute with its ultra small form factor (USFF) range of PCs, including the energy efficient Veriton 1000.

According to Acer, Holmesglen was interested in the ‘green' benefits of the product range which include additional energy saving costs.

"Holmesglen Institute, Victoria is another prestigious win to add to Acer's already impressive list of education customers in Australia," said Acer national education sales manager, Frank Ugolini.

"Acer was able to add significant value to Holmesglen Institute through creative initiatives to reduce both Holmesglen and Acer's operating costs.

"This included enabling Holmesglen TAFE to provide warranty services to their own user base and sharing Acer's e-Learning facilities with Holmesglen Institute's IT staff. On top of this, Acer has used its channel business model and partnered with Perfektcom who have also been able to add significant value to Holmesglen."
Src: http://www.smartofficenews.com.au/Business/Technology/J2F3H5W7

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Reselling and Donating Old Computer

The best way to get rid of your computer is to sell it (or give it) to someone who still finds it useful. Doubtless there are a few older machines--especially ones with large CRT's--which are such energy hogs that two or three more years of electricity use would cause more impact than manufacturing a new replacement; but the only way to know that is to do a life cycle analysis. Most of the time it will make sense to keep old machines running. The two most popular sites to sell used electronics are eBay and Craigslist, simply because they are so popular for all person-to-person selling. SecondRotation is a company that will buy your old cell phone, GPS, digital camera, or laptop (Apple only, so far) for a fixed fee, then resell it. A quick check on the value of my MacBook Pro showed that I would get more selling it on eBay, but that may not be true for some of the other product categories, and they offer the security of a known buyer/seller.

If your computer is too old to talk anyone into buying it, you can donate it. Free Geek has, as they say, been "helping the needy get nerdy since the beginning of the 3rd Millennium". They and other similar groups like Youth for Technology Foundation and Network for Good take old computers, refurbish them if necessary, and give them to low-income schools (both in industrialized countries and developing countries.) TechSoup has a good list of tips for donating a computer.
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Green Interview with VIA

TFOT recently interviewed Gaynor de Wit, deputy director of processor platform marketing at VIA Technologies, to learn more about the company’s green-technology initiative and future plans.

Q: Can you describe when and why VIA decided to “go green”?
A: Early on, VIA recognized that massive adoption of computing technology on a global scale had the potential to result not only in the creation of vast amounts of waste material when components became obsolete, but also in significant stresses on existing power-supply infrastructures. With this in mind, in 2001 we opted to take an approach to product design that factored in the impact its products and processes might have on the environment.

Since the introduction of the VIA C3 processor in 2001, we have led the industry in the design of energy-efficient x86 platforms. From thin clients to laptops to industrial computing systems, VIA processor platforms have built a reputation for leading performance per watt and cool operation.

With the challenges presented by the forward-thinking European Union directives on the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), VIA implemented internal procedures that ensured a smooth transition for the development of RoHS-compliant products.

While the RoHS directive came into effect in July 2006, VIA’s move toward lead-free manufacturing started much earlier, with the introduction of the Enhanced Ball Grid Array (EBGA) package for its processors and the Heat Sink Ball Grid Array (HSBGA) package for its chipsets. In fact, VIA has been shipping lead-free VIA Eden and C3 processor platforms into the market since the end of 2003, with the current VIA C7 processor family lead-free at launch in 2005.

With the launch of the VIA C7-D processor in late 2006, we’re seeking to define a new era in eco-friendly computing, and to further heighten awareness of computing’s impact on the environment. Conceived as the ideal desktop processor for corporations seeking to significantly save on their power bills, while delivering the performance and reliability needed for productivity applications, the VIA C7-D processor is the world's first computer component to be sold as carbon-free.

Q: Does green computing reduce costs for VIA in the short term as well as the long?
A: One of the great things about green computing is that it’s not just a more sustainable, environmentally friendly approach to computing; it also means very real savings in dollar terms. With office equipment currently accounting for up to 20 percent of total energy output and the fastest-growing area of energy use, a large company like VIA can cut costs enormously by utilizing energy-efficient, green-computing technologies.

And the savings don’t stop at lower power consumption through more efficient components. Cooler-running systems don’t heat up office spaces to the same extent, enabling significant air-conditioning cost reductions. Additionally, cooler components extend the useful life of hardware, further reducing costs. The business case for saving energy is very clear.

But green computing extends out of the data center and the desktop, encompassingsuchmobility issues as encouraging work from home and video conferencing that discourages travel. VIA is a global organization of nearly 3000 people, with engineering teams needing to collaborate regularly, so there are significant financial savings as well as lower carbon emissions that can had through reduced travel. As technology improves, that’s been easier to achieve, and to this end we have an in-house videoconferencing suite that has gone a long way toward cutting back on costs.

Q: What obstacles do you face, in research or development, with your environment-friendly products?
A: Our leadership in energy efficiency, miniaturization, and integration at the silicon and board level is a testament to VIA’s R&D capabilities.

On the design side, ensuring energy efficiency in IC chips requires a keen focus on reducing voltage, while retaining performance and enabling our signature rich-feature integration within ever-smaller packages. This is not a simple process and demands high levels of skilled engineering, which is why, to this day, we can offer the lowest power-consuming embedded, notebook, and desktop processors in the world.

Achieving such high levels of energy efficiency and low heat production also allows us to build smaller, which in turn allows our partners to build smaller systems, providing savings for consumers not only in terms of power requirements but also in disposal costs. For portable systems, such as the new generation of ultra-mobile devices, this also means longer battery life, an essential element of ultra-mobility Other companies cannot achieve this, as their chips consume too much power and emit too much heat.

On the manufacturing side, the removal of hazardous substances raises several technical challenges, especially the replacement of lead as a stable solder substance. However, an aggressive approach to the problem, starting five to six years ago, allowed our engineers the time to experiment with effective replacement alloys, so that our processor platforms were effectively manufactured lead-free long before the industry was mandated to do so.

Q: How would you respond to critics who claim that lead-free products are dangerous and unreliable?
A: This has become a hot topic in the wake of the recent RoHS directive. The issue is that lead-free solders have higher melting points than traditional tin-and-lead solder. Lead has been used in solders for hundreds of years because tin-and-lead solders have a low melting point, are easy to use, and give reliable solder joints. The argument is that most useful alternative alloys have higher melting temperatures, which can cause damage to laminate and to heat-sensitive components and raise concerns about stresses put on components. This unreliability can become dangerous in systems people rely on, such as medical devices, and can cost lives. Such reliability concerns have kept manufacturers from transitioning to lead-free soldering, and exemptions for certain industries (for example, aerospace, military, and computer-server products) have been taken as a tacit admission that lead-free is unreliable.

The fact is, lead-free components and manufacturing processes can be completely safe and reliable. VIA, and other companies who have been lead-free for a while, are in a good position, because we have already worked through the transition problems. Everyone else is just going through it now, which is why we’re hearing so much about it.

Not all lead-free soldering is the same. Some alloys are better than others, and some temperatures work better than others. For many companies, there will be an element of trial and error in discovering what works best for them. Certainly, we’ve seen real advances in the last few years with some electronics manufacturers offering lead-free soldering that rivals their leaded counterparts in reliability. We feel comfortable that criticism will die away as companies progress through the transition, and this is being borne out already by the European Union’s removal of several of the exemptions to the RoHS directive.

Q: How do you see VIA's green-initiative progress in the future?
A: VIA will continue to innovate in the x86 platform space and push forward with more power-efficient, smaller-form-factor components. Since it’s not just businesses that should be aware of the impact of their computing activity; this includes taking our green-computing message into new settings and product areas. So, for example, we’ll be attending the Green California School Summit in Pasadena, California, in December to showcase low-power client-servers and ultra-mobile devices for the education market, and there will be other events that help get the message across.

We’ll also continue to work closely with organizations and companies involved with renewable energies in an effort to develop more sustainable computing platforms.

At VIA, we believe that the computing device you’ll be using in the future will be very different from the one you’re using today. Devices are using less and less power at the same time as renewable energy is getting more and more portable and effective. The materials computers are made from are becoming less hazardous. At the end of the road will be a computer that not only connects us to the world through information technology using renewable energy, but is also constructed through a cycle of manufacturing that doesn't hurt us or future generations. How long that road is isn’t clear at the moment, but VIA intends to continue to lead the way forward through its green-computing initiative.

src: http://www.tfot.info/articles/1003/green-computing.html

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VIA Technologies into Green Computing

VIA Technologies, a Taiwanese company that manufactures motherboard chipsets, CPUs, and other computer hardware, introduced its initiative for "green computing" in 2001. With this green vision, the company has been focusing on power efficiency throughout the design and manufacturing process of its products. Its environmentally friendly products are manufactured using a range of clean-computing strategies, and the company is striving to educate markets on the benefits of green computing for the sake of the environment, as well as productivity and overall user experience.

Carbon-free computing
One of the VIA Technologies’ ideas is to reduce the "carbon footprint" of users — the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide (CO2). Greenhouse gases naturally blanket the Earth and are responsible for its more or less stable temperature. An increase in the concentration of the main greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorocarbons — is believed to be responsible for Earth's increasing temperature, which could lead to severe floods and droughts, rising sea levels, and other environmental effects, affecting both life and the world's economy. After the 1997 Kyoto Protocol for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the world has finally taken the first step in reducing emissions. The emissions are mainly a result of fossil-fuel-burning power plants. (In the United States, such electricity generation is responsible for 38 percent of the country’s carbon dioxide emissions.) VIA aims to offer the world's first PC products certified carbon free, taking responsibility for the amounts of CO2 they emit. The company works with environmental experts to calculate the electricity used by the device over its lifetime, generally three years. From this data, one can conclude how much carbon dioxide the device will emit into the atmosphere during its operation. This estimate will serve as an indicator, and the company will pay regional organizations for the “sequestering,” or offsetting, of the emissions. Offsetting carbon dioxide can be achieved in different ways. One way is to plant trees that absorb CO2 as they grow, in the region in which the processors were purchased. The necessary amount of trees per processor is represented by VIA's TreeMark rating system.

In addition, VIA promotes the use of such alternative energy sources as solar power, so power plants wouldn't need to burn as much fossil fuels, reducing the amount of energy used. Wetlands also provide a great service in sequestering some of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere. Although they make up only 4 to 6 percent of the Earth's landmass, wetlands are capable of absorbing 20 to 25 percent of the atmospheric carbon dioxide. VIA is working closely with organizations responsible for preserving wetlands and other natural habitats, and others who support extensive recycling programs for ICT equipment. The amount paid to these organizations will be represented by a proportion of the carbon-free product’s price.

Carbon-emissions control has been a key issue for many companies who have expressed a firm commitment to sustainability. Dell is a good example of a company with a green image, known for its free worldwide product-recycling program. Dell’s Plant a Tree for Me project allows customers to offset their carbon emissions by paying an extra $2 to $4, depending on the product purchased. AMD, a global microprocessor manufacturer, is also working toward reducing energy consumption in its products, cutting back on hazardous waste and reducing its eco-impact. The company’s use of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology in its manufacturing, and strained silicon capping films on transistors (known as “dual stress liner” technology), have contributed to reduced power consumption in its products. http://www.via.com.tw/en/index.jsp
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