Dell Launches New 24-inch Green Monitor

Recently Dell Launches New 24-inch Green Monitor. One of the biggest places that you can save on your power usage in your home or business is by cutting off devices like TVs and PC LCDs that draw power even when they aren’t being used. Dell has announced a new 14-inch LCD that has features for green power savings.

The display is called the G2410 24-inch Wide Green Flat Panel monitor. Typically, 24-inch LCDs have a resolution of 1920 x 1200, but dell cuts the G2410 back to 1920 x 1080, plenty for full 1080p movies and content. However, the gamer out there will be disappointed by the lack of full resolution.

Still the display is rather cheap for the screen size at $349 and it supports 16.7million colors with a 1000:1 contrast ratio. The panel has a response time of 5ms, a bit slow compared to other LCDs but that should be plenty fast for gaming. Dell equips the LCD with features for power saving called PowerNap and Dynamic Dimming, though the computer giant doesn’t describe exactly what the features do.

Related Post: Dell Shows Its Green Stripes At Greener Gadgets
New Green Cases for Green Computers

Source: http://www.slipperybrick.com/2009/02/dell-whips-out-green-24-inch-lcd/
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Dell Shows Its Green Stripes At Greener Gadgets

Last Friday, at the Greener Gadgets conference in New York City, EcoGeek had the chance to sit down with Michael Murphy, Dell’s senior manager of environmental affairs. Mr. Murphy was at the conference to participate in a panel discussion entitled "Measuring Your Hue of Green" – where he talked about how consumer electronic businesses can lead and are already leading the industry in green corporate practice.

Over the last year, Dell has been embarking on various green initiatives, the most prominent of which was their announcement that the company was, officially, 100% carbon neutral. Some critics questioned this title, pointing to the fact that a large part of that “carbon netural” tag came from carbon offsets. When asked to address this, Mr. Murphy pointed out that Dell’s Austin headquarters were entirely run on renewable energy, as were the offices in Oklahoma City. He said that Dell was committed to running on renewable power wherever it was available, and that the offsets are only for those geographies where renewable power is not feasible.

He also made it clear that Dell’s products rightfully deserved to be called green. One of Dell’s big pushes was to build laptops whose displays used LED back lights. LEDs make a laptop more power efficient, and they contain no mercury. More importantly, though, power-sipping LEDs give what all customers want the most – longer battery life.

According to Murphy, the LED move summarizes Dell’s green philosophy: make a better product, and it will naturally be greener. A green computer is not a computer that skimps on performance. It is a computer that is built out of better materials, in a smarter way, will last longer, and will cost less.

Dell has also been taking steps to consider the overall lifetime of the computer. Dell offers the only free consumer recycling and take back program across the globe, and they also have developed a program called Reconnect with Goodwill Industries. This program not only allows people to donate their old computers rather than throw them away, but also provides jobs for people in the recycling industry. Mr. Murphy pointed out that Dell had become so involved in these recycling programs that they were making changes in the way they designed machines -just so that the recycling could be done more smoothly and efficiently.

Dell is doing a lot. Some may take issue with the term carbon neutrality, or with offset usage in general. But it is clear that Dell is delivering when it comes to leadership. They are not only working to embody green values, but are teaching the lessons of responsibilities to all their partners, at every step in their supply chain. As Mr. Murphy’s put it, Dell is learning a lot by trying to make its own facilities greener, and they see it as their duty to share what they learn with the rest of the industry.

Source: http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/2598/73/
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Computer Recycling Program Launched by Dell & Goodwill

Arkansas is one of six states being added to a computer recycling program. Reconnect" is a joint effort of computer maker Dell and Goodwill Industries.

The free drop-off program for consumers who want to responsibly recycle any brand of unwanted computer equipment was announced in Little Rock today.

“The program is another great example of Goodwill Industries of Arkansas’ triple bottom line, of people, planet, and profit,” said Brian Itzkowitz, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Arkansas. “By finding environmentally safe options for the end of life of computers and computer equipment, Goodwill is demonstrating its 82 year history in Arkansas of recycling initiatives that keep products out of landfills. More importantly, with the unemployment rate for people with disabilities in Arkansas over 50 percent, the program offers work activity to our participants with disabilities who would not have a job without Goodwill. The revenue generated by the program helps fund our job training programs and employment that helped 1,300 people in 2008; and, 267 in January 2009 alone.”

Today’s announcement brings the total number of participating Goodwill retail stores to more than 1,000 nationwide. In keeping with its mission of job creation, Goodwill plans to hire additional staff to oversee the expanded recycling program.

“Today we’re making it even easier for environmentally-conscious customers to do the right thing,” said Mike Watson, senior manager of Dell Global Recycling Services. “Every technology provider has a responsibility to provide free, easy and responsible recycling to consumers worldwide. We hope 2009 is the year that brings the industry together around this shared principle.”

“In addition to free and responsible computer recycling, the Dell-Reconnect partnership is enabling job creation and skill training at a time when both are very much needed,” said Jim Gibbons, President and CEO for Goodwill Industries International. “We commend Dell for setting a leadership example for the rest of the industry and for playing an important role in the creation of green-collar jobs.”

Program goals are to divert used computers and computer equipment from area landfills; and provide consumer education on the importance of environmentally-responsible computer disposal. Reconnect can also help create job opportunities for individuals who have barriers to employment or independence.

Consumers can drop off used computers at participating Goodwill stores and donation centers across the region. Goodwill will accept and sort the donated computer equipment and Dell's product recovery partner will recycle and remarket the recycled materials.

Consumers are responsible for removing data from hard drives and other storage media before donating to Goodwill. Consumers can also request a Goodwill receipt at time of donation.

Other states that are now a part of Reconnect include: Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon and Vermont. Additionally, Akron, Ohio, Frederick, Md. and New Haven, Conn. are being launched as new Reconnect cities.

Click here for a list of participating Goodwill locations in Arkansas.

Source:http://arkansasmatters.com/content/green_is_universal_Fulltext?cid=190161
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Dell Offers Energy-Efficient Monitors At CES

Dell had gone with the green approach with its new series of LED widescreen flat panel monitors released at CES today.

Both the G2210 22-inch and G2410 24-inch models are EPEAT Gold and ENERGY STAR compliant and are distinguished by a design approach that combines energy efficiency, LED technology, recycled materials and other environmentally preferable components.

Dell also claims the G2210 and G2410 units consume less than half the power of comparable monitors and come with a typical dynamic contrast ratio of up to 1,000,000:1

Specifications include:

* Viewable image size: 22-inch diagonal (G2210) / 24-inch diagonal (G2410).
* Typical contrast ratio: 1,000:1 (standard) 1,000,000:1 (dynamic).
* Maximum resolution: 1680 x 1050 (G2210) / 1920 x 1080 full HD (G2410).
* Typical power consumption: 18W (G2210) / 20W (G2410).
* Brightness: 250 cd/m2.
* Response time: 5ms black-to-white.
* Available connectors: VGA (analog), DVI-D (digital) with HDCP.

Energy efficiency monitor specifications include:

* Typical average power consumption is less than half that of comparable flat panel monitors.
* Less than 0.15W of power consumption when in sleep mode – no power is drawn from the host computer.
* Built-in ambient light sensor responds to surrounding brightness, automatically adjusting levels when enabled.
* Dynamic dimming automatically decreases the onscreen brightness when the image consists primarily of white and/or bright areas when enabled.
* "PowerNap" screensaver application dims the monitor to minimum brightness or "sleep" mode, based on user preference.

Source: http://www.smarthouse.com.au/CES_2009/W9L4V7A8
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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
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Dell 'O Project' PC is part Green Computer, part potted plant

When Dell commissioned a design contest for green computers, Mexican industrial designer Luis Luna took the term "green" literally. He created O Project, a design concept featuring a couple of round PCs that take Dell's bamboo-clad Studio Hybrid idea a step further, adding a place to grow a small plant inside.



While that tiny organism planted within the machine isn't going to gobble up even a fraction of the CO2 created during the manufacture
and use of such a PC, it certainly cuts down on the visual pollution of most garden-variety beige box computers, and gets you at least thinking green. Click Continue for a horizontally oriented version of this aesthetically pleasing design.

Source:dvice.com/archives/2008/10/dell_o_project.php
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Dell Becomes Greenest Technology Company

Dell recently revealed that it has met its carbon neutral goal ahead of schedule, achieving a major milestone in its commitment to be the greenest technology company on the planet and fulfilling a pledge to operate efficiently, maximize investment in green power and responsibly offset remaining impacts.

Dell met its goal early by implementing an aggressive global energy-efficiency campaign and increasing purchases of green power, verified emission reductions and renewable energy certificates. Since 2004, the company’s annual investment in green electricity from utility providers, including wind, solar and methane-gas capture, has grown from 12 million kWh to 116 million kWh, an increase of nearly 870 percent. Earlier this year, the company announced that its global headquarters campus is powered by 100 percent green energy.

Alongside this announcement, Dell also said that it is making additional investments in wind power in the U.S., China and India. Combined with green electricity purchases from utility providers, this equates to 645 million kWh and the avoidance of more than 400,000 metric tons of CO2e.

The company also claims of already saving more than USD 3 million annually and avoiding nearly 20,000 tons of CO2 through facilities improvements and a global power-management initiative. “We’re driving ‘green’ into every aspect of our global business,” said Dell Chairman and CEO Michael Dell.

Dell currently ranks ahead of HP, IBM and Apple in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership Fortune 500 registry and is working alongside utility and government partners to encourage greater supply of green energy.

"Dell's success in meeting its carbon neutral goal in less than a year is impressive and should serve as a model for other U.S. companies to follow," said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres, a leading coalition of investors and environmental groups that worked closely with Dell on its climate change strategy.

Source:sda-asia.com/sda/news/psecom,id,20178,srn,4,nodeid,4,_language,Singapore.html
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D-Link Looks to Green its Routers

As you look across your desk at all of the blinking lights from your computer gear, have you ever wondered how much energy your router sucks down? On the one hand, probably not that much. On the other hand it is on all the time. You could find out with a guilt-trip power strip. Or, you could turn to D-Link. D-Link is proposing a sort of middle ground by using its Green Ethernet technology on select wireless routers.

D-Link says it is the first to market with "green home network Wi-Fi routers." While that might just be a bit of marketing mumbo, it is nice to note this technology is reportedly capable of saving up to 40 percent in power usage. Several products across the company's Xtreme N line of routers, including the D-Link Xtreme N Gigabit Router DIR-655, D-Link Xtreme N Duo Media Router DIR-855 and the D-Link Xtreme N Gaming Router DGL-4500, are now making use of this Green Ethernet to "decrease energy costs by reducing power consumption without sacrificing performance." Could go very well with your new green Dell computer, and sweet external hard drive.

One can apparently get even better energy savings by using D-Link's Wi-Fi Scheduler, which provides a user-selectable radio shutdown option (adjustable by day and start/end times). Other initiatives focused on more environmentally friendly technology from D-Link include compliance with with RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) and WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) directives and optimization for Energy Star certification.

Source:ecogeek.org/content/view/1945/71/
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Dell Launches Ads to Promote Green PC

Dell is going green with its new Green PC, the Studio Hybrid. The desktops are about the size of a college dictionary, which Dell says is about 80-percent smaller than standard desktops. Other green factors include 70-percent less energy used than standard desktops, 30-percent less packing materials used and those packing materials are 95-percent recyclable.

Dell kicked off its online ad campaign for the Studio Hybrid this week. Print ads are also scheduled to run this month. A spokesperson for Dell says the ads won't fully center around the energy efficient message but more focus will be on the design.

Should the energy efficiency claims and other green factors be the star of the ads as opposed to the new design?

What do you think?

Source:advertising.about.com
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Dell Launches Super-Small 'Green' Desktop PC Line

Dell has announced a new line of mini desktop PCs that are 80 per cent smaller than the average desktop computer, and they consume about 70 per cent less energy. The "Green" mini PC also features some beautiful design features.

Digital Journal -- It's Dell's smallest and most environmentally friendly consumer PC on the market. The Dell Studio Hybrid was announced today and the units show off impressive features and refined design. Gone are the days of clunky, grey desktop towers.


“The design and craftsmanship of the Studio Hybrid alone are enough to cause you to do a double take,” Phil Bryant said Dell's vice president and general manager, Americas Consumer Sales, in a news release. “Combine that with the performance of this little beauty and its environmentally smart DNA, and you’ve got something truly unique.”

Dell's new Studio Hybrid allowed the company to reduce packing materials 30 per cent by weight; packing materials are also 95 per cent recyclable; and printed documentation was reduced 75 per cent by weight.

The PC boasts an Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo processor and runs on Windows Vista. You can also get up to 4GB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM.

Summer is traditionally a quiet period for tech companies, when few major products are announced to the industry. But with the Green movement in full swing, Dell is cashing in on the trend and the upcoming back-to-school surge.

The Studio Hybrid is about the size of a "collegiate dictionary," according to the company's news release. A "collegiate" dictionary? Could they not have found a better comparison? For those of you wondering, it is bigger than Apple's Mac Mini.

The PC can be set up both vertically or horizontally and comes in seven colours (Bamboo, Emerald, Quartz, Ruby, Sapphire, Slate, and Topaz).

The new PC starts at $529 CAN ($499 USD), and Dell's launch of this new line is in step with its aggressive pursuit of HP. Dell trails HP in the desktop PC market at number two.

The PC also comes with optional Wi-Fi networking capabilities, Blu-ray, and a TV tuner.

"Our goal was to design a desktop that fits in the office or in the living room, or anywhere space is at a premium,” said Bill Tyrrell, consumer product marketing, Dell Canada. “We’ve created a desktop PC category that combines style, performance and a high degree of energy efficiency.”

Source:digitaljournal.com/article/257988
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Dell Introduces Slick Studio Hybrid PC

Desktop PCs are, to be blunt, not particularly eye-catching. But Dell's new Studio Hybrid does just that, making an impression with its style and decidedly un-PC-like design. And its price will make you take note, too: A basic configuration starts at $499, without monitor; with monitor, $689.

The first thing you'll wonder about the Studio Hybrid: Where'd they put the computer components that make this gracefully curved, ovally shaped device a bonafide PC? The Studio Hybrid's physical dimensions put it in line with what a typical external DVD burner (with a half-height, desktop-sized drive inside) would require. Except in this case--you get a whole PC, as well as a DVD burner.

Dell bills the Studio Hybrid as being 80 percent smaller than a typical desktop. The company also says the Energy Star 4.0-compliant system uses about 70 percent less power than a typical desktop.

The system can be set in a vertical or horizontal configuration; the glowing blue Dell logo is on the top and bottom (or left and right, if vertical) of the unit, and the name "Hybrid" will automatically orient itself depending upon whether you stand the computer vertically or horizontally. The unit comes with a stand; the stand's two tabs help the Hybrid stay upright.

The Hybrid's clever design packs tons of functionality into its compact package. The ports (HDMI, DVI, gigabit ethernet, a Kensington lock, SP/DIF, and line-in and line-out; a 4-pin FireWire 400 port and three USB 2.0 ports) are all neatly arranged in the back, which helps with cable management. And up front, you'll find a slot-loading 8X dual-layer DVD burner at left (if vertical), and a headphone jack, two more USB ports, and an 8-in-1 memory card reader at right. Come August, you can upgrade the DVD burner to a slot-loading DVD burner/Blu-ray Disc reader, instead.

Dell achieves this feat of miniaturization by using notebook computer components, including Intel Pentium Dual Core and Core 2 Duo CPUs, and 2.5-inch, 5400 RPM notebook hard drives (160GB, 250GB, and 320GB capacities). You also get a choice of 1GB to 4GB of shared system and video memory; options for built-in draft 802.11n Wi-Fi, a TV tuner, or a wireless keyboard and mouse. But, since the system is not expandable (or user-serviceable), you have no graphics option beyond its integrated Intel graphics.

The unit comes with a smoky gray plastic sleeve that sticks out about an inch beyond the chassis itself; this means that the cables coming out the back are mostly tucked within this sleeve. Want a different color to better match your setting or personality? Dell will be offering seven colors in all, including green, red, blue, and orange.

What's most notable about this system is that you're not paying a gigantic premium for the miniaturized design--prices start at $499. This is a first--and a testament to the mainstream status of notebook components.

The physical size, aesthetics, and basic specs of the Studio Hybrid have whet my appetite. The idea of having a stylish, unobtrusive system like this to connect to my television is particularly enticing; suddenly, using a PC as a digital video recorder feels plausible (though I'd want remote control, too, if I were to use the PC that way). But first, I look forward to seeing how this unit performs on our PC WorldBench 6 tests. Stay tuned for our results.

Source:pcworld.com
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Dell Awarded 80 Plus Gold Energy Effciency

Dell recently became the first in its industry to achieve 80 PLUS Gold-certification for a server power supply, the latest sign that the company is meeting its goal of becoming the "greenest" technology company on the planet and strengthening its position as an energy-efficiency leader.

"When it comes to energy efficiency, our focus is clear and simple," said Albert Esser, Dell’s Vice President of Power and Infrastructure Solutions. "We’re designing next-generation Energy Smart technology that reflects customers’ feedback, collectively avoids millions of tons of CO2 emissions and drives unprecedented cost savings."

The 80 PLUS certification enables manufacturers and customers to compare and contrast power supplies based on established criteria from Energy Star and the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. Dell’s new 80 PLUS Gold power supply meets July 2009 Climate Savers targets for servers more than a year ahead of schedule, which require 92 percent minimum efficiency for the power supply unit at 50 percent of rated output.

Earlier this month, Dell became the first major computer manufacturer to list an 80 PLUS Silver-certified power supply for its desktops. The 80 PLUS Silver certification is up to 8 percent more efficient than what is required to meet Energy Star 4.0, up to 3 percent more efficient than the Energy Star 5.0 draft and also meets the July 2009 PC requirements of the Climate Savers Computing Initiative.

"We want to recognise Dell for taking energy-efficiency to a whole new level," said Geoff Wickes, Director of Commercial & Industrial Programs at Ecos Consulting and the 80 PLUS program. "The value of 80 PLUS is made available by a partnership between manufacturers, utilities and consumers and is bringing forward new market innovations and efficiencies that are helping to enable greener IT solutions."

Dell has pledged to become the first in its industry to neutralize the carbon impact of worldwide operations by the end of 2008. The company is already saving more than $3 million annually and avoiding nearly 20,000 tons of CO2 through facilities improvements and a global power-management initiative.

Dell’s laptops and desktops, already among the industry’s most energy-efficient, are being designed to consume up to 25 percent less energy by 2010 relative to systems offered today. Dell recently introduced a Vostro Energy-Smart 410 desktop computer that can save customers up to 47 percent in annual energy costsii without sacrificing power and performance.

Based on worldwide unit sales beginning in 2005 with power-management features enabled, Dell estimates that OptiPlex desktop systems alone have helped customers save more than $2.5 billion and avoid approximately 25 million tons of CO2. Customers can access online calculators at http://www.dell.com/me/energy to measure and assess potential impact to their power bills and compare configurations side by side to determine annual cost savings and CO2 emissions avoided through the use of Energy Smart systems.

Defining What It Means to Be Green in Technology:-

Dell is committed to becoming the ‘greenest’ technology company on the planet. In April, Dell announced that its corporate headquarters campus in Austin, Texas is powered with 100 percent green energy. Increasing use of green power is locking in Dell’s energy prices as cost as traditional energy is expected to rise.

The company’s carbon intensity (CO2 emissions/revenue) is also among the lowest of the Fortune 50 and less than half that of its closest competitor. Last September, the company announced “Plant a Forest for Me,” a programme that enables organizations worldwide to share best practices and, as partners, facilitate the planting of trees in sustainably managed reforestation projects. Partners include AMD, ABN AMRO,CGI, Staples, Salesforce.com, Targus and WellPoint.

Source:pcmag-mideast.com
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Green PC Wars: HP vs. Apple vs. Dell

When software giant Microsoft characterizes its environmental efforts as "still in the first inning," as its new Chief Environmental Strategist, Rob Bernard recently did, you know that the information technology industry (IT) has a long way to go towards becoming more sustainable.

Just think about the environmental cost of Google's famous cloud computing. Data center computers and servers alone used 61 million megawatt hours of electricity in 2006, according to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Datacenter Report submitted to the U.S Congress last summer . That's at least 1.5% of all U.S. electricity and double the amount consumed in 2000.

To tackle energy consumption from personal computers (PCs), an industry partnership has been recently established. Intel, Google, Lenovo and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an environmental nonprofit that tends to partner with corporations, have launched the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. Goals include sharing green computing tips to consumers, along with a 50 percent efficiency target for future PCs which would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 54 million tons per year and save $5.5 billion in energy costs.

Today, however, there is still no widely understood standard for greener PCs. If you wander into Best Buy and ask a sales rep for the greenest personal computer, you are going to be met with a blank stare.

It is unreasonable to expect that most people have the patience to collect and wade through the environmental data before shopping for a new machine. Many enterprises now have an entire staff dedicated to tackling the energy use and electronic waste of their office computers and data servers. Yet resources and clear fact-sheets for environmentally-conscious PC customers are still relatively limited.

The EPA has attempted to solve this issue by funding a scheme, called the Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT), which ranks PCs on a tiered system similar to the LEED ratings for green buildings. Environmental attributes include Energy Star ratings, packaging and durability and electronic waste reductions. Although major purchasers such as the Federal government now mandate buying EPEAT-certified computers, good luck finding this information at your local retailer.

That isn't to say that PC firms are idling on the green messaging. Dell caused ripples in the IT world and green blogosphere when a May press release took a direct shot at rival HP's green credentials. HP's camp responded over a phone conversation with me that they let their long environmental track record speak for itself.

Nonetheless, GreenPeace's 'Guide to Greener Electronics,' suggests that neither firm is particularly green just yet.

In reality, while PC firms do seem to be tackling energy issues (at least in regards to the operating energy efficiencies of their products; most computer companies take no responsibility for the greenhouse gases emitted by third party vendors along their global manufacturing supply chains), they still need to reduce toxic components and improve their recycling programs. The EPA estimates that electronic waste accounts for two percent of the total municipal solid waste stream. Shockingly, there are more than 1,000 toxic chemicals used during electronics production. And PC companies have been reluctant to change their ways and take ownership of the solutions.

For example, Greenpeace was so stunned by Apple's refusal to eliminate toxic flame retardants, and polyvinyl chloride from its computers that it launched an entire online campaign called Green My Apple. Apple has finally responded with the "We were always green but we just weren't sharing it" argument, and has gone on to claim it is actually ahead of HP, Dell and Lenovo on many green metrics.

Clearly, the IT industry is just starting to figure out how to go green and communicate its efforts with its customers. Now is the time for consumers to ask tough questions to PC companies and their retailers. Dell, at least, has created a website to solicit feedback on these issues called IdeaStorm. As demand for greener computing grows, hopefully the green marketing confusion will subside and true sustainability innovators will be rewarded.

In the meantime, make sure that you properly recycle your old machines when you decide to upgrade. The EPA has put together a handy list of take-back options. Often, you can donate old electronics and actually get cash donated to a nonprofit of your choice.

Source:http://www.huffingtonpost.com
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Cheap Green Computer runs on 2 Watts

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.

On a more green note, the CherryPal is supposed to sell for under $400 (monitor, keyboard, etc. not included). It should hit the market on August 4th, 2008. For that price and low energy use, it will appeal to wallets as well as the environmentally conscious. Though there is some understandable skepticism, I’ll praise any manufacturer that lowers the bar on PC environmental impact.

I recently took a blow to all of my electronics in the same week (Murphey’s Law at work), so it’s nice to see alternatives on the market. I’ll definitely have my eye on this cute little computer that thinks it can.

Source:cleantechnica.com
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Dell Gets Green Gold Star from 80 Plus

DELL was blowing its own green trumpet today, as the firm announced its server power supplies had met an industry target of 92 per cent efficiency at 50 percent load.

The company is apparently the first in the industry to get gold certification from 80 Plus, an outfit which promotes more electrical energy efficient computer power supply units.

80 Plus certification lets manufacturers and customers compare various power supplies using criteria laid down by international standards outfit, Energy Star and Climate Savers Computing Initiative.

According to Dell, not only do its power supplies get a ‘gold star’ from 80 Plus, they also met July 2009 Climate Savers targets for servers, over a year ahead of schedule. Earlier in June, Dell also became the first major computer manufacturer to receive an 80 plus silver certified power supply for the company’s desktops. This latest achievement, the company says, is another brick in the yellow brick road to ultimate green-ness amongst its tech rivals.

Dell has apparently taken on a quest to become the first firm in the tech industry to totally cancel out its global carbon impact by the end of this year. The company reckons it is already saving over $3 million a year and cutting down on almost 20,000 tons of CO2 through power-management programmes and greener facilities.

The firm has also pledged to make laptops and desktops up to 25 percent less power guzzling by 2010, compared to its current offerings.

Source:theinquirer.net
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Dell Launches Energy Efficient Green PC

Dell has come up with its latest Vostro green PC for small businesses called the Vostro Energy Smart 410 Desktop. The latest in a series of energy efficient computer products and initiatives designed to drive customer savings, the Vostro 410 saves customers up to 47 percent in annual energy costs, claimed the company.

The Vostro 410’s features Intel Core 2 Quad, 512MB Nvidia GeForce, 800MHz sys memory, space for four hard drives + 3TB of local storage/memory, six expansion slots, four bays, gigabit Ethernet, 30 day return policy, and no bloatware at all.

"Small businesses are increasingly concerned about rising energy costs," said Frank Muehleman, vice president and general manager, Dell Small and Medium Business. "With the Energy Smart Vostro desktop, we're able to save our customers money and collectively cut down on CO2 emissions, while delivering the features and functionality they require - especially high-performance processing power, graphics technology, fast networking and maximum expandability."

In addition, Vostro customers can also take advantage of Dell’s new services portfolio, ProSupport, which gives them the ability to customize and tailor services to fit their technical expertise and business needs. With growing demand for mobile technology among small businesses, Dell also recently announced its refreshed line of Vostro laptops.

The Vostro 410 carries a price tag of USD 599 and is available worldwide.

Source:sda-india.com/sda_india/psecom,id,22,site_layout,sdaindia,news,23547,p,0.html
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Dell’s New Environmentally Friendly Green PC

Dell has gone a step further this year and created a green computer unlike any other Dell has ever had.

This year at the Fortune Brainstorm Green Conference, Dell CEO Michael Dell introduced Dell's new green PC. The new Dell green PC is a bamboo-coated computer filled with recycled materials (ex. recycled plastics such as: milk jugs, laundry detergent bottles). The Bamboo-computer uses 70% less energy than the average computer and is 81 percent smaller than the standard desktop. The size makes it easier, less costly and more eco-friendly to ship.

What is the estimated cost of this computer? The estimated cost is about $500-$700. Unfortunately, other than the above information there is little else known about this computer. The computer's name has not been released nor have any further details of the computer capabilities. Don't worry though, the Bamboo computer is set to come out later this year. Stay tuned.

If you are a Dell customer or fan and you are wondering what other environmentally friendly initiatives Dell has taken you will be surprised at what they've done and plan to do. Here is a quick list of their recent eco-efforts:

a. Plant a tree program. Take a look here .

b. Recycling program . Drop off your old Dell at any dell store and they'll have it recycle. You can even buy a refurbished computer if you would like.

c. 100% Renewable Energy for Dell Headquarters, in Austin Texas. 2.1 million square foot headquarters building in Austin is powered by alternative energy.

Source:inventorspot.com/articles/dells_new_environmentally_friendly_pc_13718
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Dell Plans Green PC Push

Dell said Wednesday that it plans to cut the combined power of its desktop and notebook PCs by 25 percent in 2010, compared to the current power output of those systems today.

Rival Hewlett-Packard said earlier that it plans to reduce the energy consumption of volume desktop and notebook PC families by 25 percent, relative to 2005. Measured against that standard, Dell's reductions would be 62 percent for its desktops, and 37 percent for its laptops, according to Albert Esser, Dell's vice president of power and infrastructure solutions for its Dell Product Group .

"Overall this one thing we really want to be is driving forward to become the greenest tech company on the planet," Esser said.

The power savings are in part required by Energy Star 5.0, with its significantly toughened regulations on power supplies and the like. But Esser said that Dell will continue to work with vendors to throttle power, both in terms of system design and the sourcing of power-optimized components.

"One, we will first continue to integrate Energy Smart technologies into the product," Esser said, referring to a basket of Dell technologies that includes low-power Intel and AMD processors, aggressively power-managed system settings, and management tools. Those will also include circuit design and internal routing, he said.

"Low-flow fan technology is a significant one," Esser added. 'We don't source the cheapest…fans, but often we choose to work with a vendor to create a custom design." Esser cited Dell's internal 1000e rack-mounted platforms as ones that are more efficient at moving air than competitive offerings.

Beyond that, Dell is the first PC manufacturer to include a bronze-level certified power supply from the 80 PLUS organization, which certifies power supplies at 80 percent efficiency or above. Similarly, Dell is working with vendors of memory and hard drives to optimize those components, too.

"Once you have the best components…you thus go in and try with power management and advanced speed curves and load management," Esser added.

Although Dell has yet to call out the power consumption for a given product on its shopping pages, the company does provide a energy calculator to provide some baseline comparisons on how much power certain Optiplex desktops and Latitude notebooks draw, versus the other.

Dell's other green credentials include its corporate headquarters, whose campus is powered with 100 percent 'green' energy, Dell said. The company has already saved more than $1.2 million and avoided 8,200 tons of carbon dioxide through replacing lights and retrofitting air conditioning units throughout central Texas facilities.

Source:pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2305095,00.asp
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CSCI Reducing Computer Power Use by 50% in 3 year

Well, we're not quite to the point where our laptops are solar-powered and our server farms run on sewage. So for now, let's set our sights on some realistic intermediate goals, like the ones set forth by the good folks at The Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a consortium consisting of virtually every major player in the PC industry (Intel, AMD, Google, Microsoft, Dell, HP, Sun Microsystems... the list goes on and on). CSCI has an ambitious gameplan: reduce power consumed by computers worldwide by 50% over the next three years.

I know that sounds far out, but when you consider that the average lifespan of a computer today is somewhere between three and five years, that's 60-100% of all computers in use today replaced by 2010. The average desktop produced today wastes over half the power delivered to it, and the average server more than a third... so simply improving hardware energy efficiency, implementing virtualization, and using automated power management software might be enough to meet these goals. As part of a push to see improved technologies brought to market, CSCI has launched a catalog featuring many of the latest green offerings:

With 300 products, the Initiative’s new online catalog offers individuals and enterprises a comprehensive and searchable listing of Climate Savers Computing-compliant desktop PCs, laptops, servers, power supplies, power supply components, motherboards and power management software.

Unfortunately, this kinda celebrates obsolescence, and as computers use about as much energy being produced as they do during their lives, short life spans are also something that we need to deal with. Understandably, that's a problem that HP and Dell are less interested in solving.

Browsing through, one sees a lot of product listings containing third-party green certifications, such as EPEAT silver and gold, Energy Star 4.0, RoHS, and 80+. Although there are many consumer-level products available, including desktop and laptop offerings from HP, Dell, and Lenovo, this seems mainly geared towards IT professionals - servers, power supplies, converters, and rectifiers make up the bulk of the catalog. Though you can't do any holiday shopping on the site itself, it's a great place to start when searching for energy-efficient computers, components, and software.

Source:ecogeek.org/content/view/1239/
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Tackling the E-Waste Problem

While interest in green IT is growing across the Asia-Pacific region, awareness is generally low and action is rare, according to Springboard Research's findings.

However, "leading companies, including Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Dell, Ericsson, Philips and Cisco Systems have joined a United Nations initiative that aims to standardize world policy and legislative approaches to electronic recycling processes," noted Chris Perrine, Springboard's chief operations officer and executive vice president of sales and marketing E-Mail Marketing Software - Free Trial.

"Dell has taken the lead in the area of Green IT as it is the only computer maker to offer consumers free recycling, whether or not they are buying a new Dell product," Perrine told TechNewsWorld.

Dell: Latest News about Dell plans on extending its recycling services to business customers in mainland China and Hong Kong. The company says it is on target to recover nearly 275 million pounds worth of used computers from customers by 2009.

HP: Latest News about Hewlett-Packard provides a recycling service for all IT products for a fee ranging from US$13 to $34, according to Perrine.

"In addition, HP customers who recycle old computers independently can get credit toward future HP purchases, which offset most of the recycling costs. HP aims to recycle as much as 1 billion pounds of hardware and supplies in 2007," he said.

Apple: Latest News about Apple has frequently been criticized for lagging behind in its environmental programs, Perrine noted. The company has a relatively low 36 percent score the Computer TakeBack Campaign -- an international effort by a coalition of 16 top environmental groups to address the growing problem of computer e-waste -- gave Apple for its disposal of computer equipment.

"However, Apple recently claimed that by 2010 it might be recycling significantly more than either Dell or HP, as a percentage of past sales weight

Src: http://www.ecommercetimes.com
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