Asus First Green Wireless Monitors

Today at CeBIT, Asus not only unveiled its new "green" series of LCD monitors, but the world's first wireless monitor as well.

Earlier this morning, Asus revealed two different LCD models, each offering unique features that very well may cause buyers to pull out their hair. In one corner, Asus offers the energy-efficient Green monitors, the VH192C and the VH196, designed to conserve energy and protect the environment. However, in the other corner, Asus has brought forth a mighty contender, the world's first wireless LCD monitor utilizing a new generation of EzLink technology. It's certainly easy to be indecisive: take the cool wireless route, or save the world and pick up a Green LCD monitor?

While the decision-making process may drive some consumers to drink, buyers may appreciate Asus' direction in creating an environmentally friendly LCD monitor. Asus said that it kept the environment in mind during the design process, utilizing low levels of mercury during construction and just two lamps to save more than 20 percent in power consumption. Both the Green Asus VH192C and VH196 make good use of an advanced optical film that provides brilliant image performance without sacrificing brightness. The Aspect Control feature even offers a 4:3 aspect ratio or full screen playback without distortion. Additionally, the Green Asus VH192C incorporates the Color Shine glare-type panel, "enriches" image color density and saturation, clarifies borders and improves image clarity.

As for the EzLink wireless monitor, Asus provided very little detail, nor did it say when the monitor would actually become available on the market. However, the EzLink technology will enable users to connect displays either through a Wireless Host Controller Interface (WHCI), or through a Wireless USB HWA (Host Wire Adapter) which delivers the same performance as a conventional display. The EzLink series is ideal in the business environment, eliminating the need for professionals to worry about connecting a monitor to a PC or notebook.

Source: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/LCD-Wireless-Green-Asus,7204.html
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Zero Watt Green PC Launch by Fujitsu Siemens

Sunday at the CeBIT trade show in Hanover, Germany, Fujitsu Siemens said that it was set to launch by mid-year a PC that uses zero power green PC when it is powered down.

In reality, much like your TV, most computers use one to four watts on average unless it’s disconnected from power or attached to a shut-off power strip. PCs remain “active” for functions such as remote power-on.

Speaking of which, many corporations send updates and the like during off-hours. How would this work, if the Esprimo 7935 system is truly powered down?

Fujitsu Siemens has a setting that wakes the PC during a predefined time slot during which updates can take place. Once that time passes, the machine returns to zero-watt mode until it is turned on.

Realistically, there is no way it can be completely powered down, if it can still wake itself up. However, the way they describe it, they could power the machine into a sub-one watt mode.

According to the company, the PC has still more “greenness,” including a power supply that is 89% efficient and motherboards with no halogen or lead. The Esprimo 7935 meets the Energy Star 5.0 standard, which will come into use mid-2009.

Expect the PC to cost between 700 and 800 euros, or $755 and $881, according to Fujitsu Siemens, when it releases mid-year.

Source: http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/6510
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5 reasons to consider PC power management

The rolodex of Green IT projects available to IT leadership is seemingly endless. But at some point, prioritization is necessary, and IT professionals tend to gravitate to those projects that produce an acceptable financial return with the path of least resistance. And in recent interactions with Forrester clients, it’s becoming clear that PC power management — the act of powering down PCs when not in use (e.g. nights, weekends) — is one of those projects IT leadership are willing to act on.

Do I agree? In short yes. And here’s why: PC power management can reduce costs, cheaply and effectively, while at the same time help justify more strategic IT investments and improve your green “credentials.” Let me elaborate:

1. Save money — and lots of it. The top motivation for pursuing greener IT is to “reduce the energy-related operating expenses of IT.” And PC power management can do this very effectively. By powering down PCs during periods of inactivity, Energy Star estimates that firms can save $25 to $75 per PC per year. Take AT&T as a real-world example. By powering down their 300,000 PCs during non-working hours, AT&T expects to save more than 135m kilowatt hours of electricity – assume an average U.S. price per kilowatt of $.095, savings top $12.8m per year.

2. Reduce costs without capital expenditure. While more energy-efficient equipment and computing architectures are a surefire way to reduce energy costs and environmental impact they require capital investment. So if you’re seeking effective cost-saving tactics with zero to little investment, get familiar with green PC power management. There are a variety of tools to assist in implementing power management organization wide. Many of these tools are free while some are license fee based, but include added features, such as reporting or advanced provisioning and power management settings.

3. Address your most energy-consuming environment. What consumes more energy: your data center, or the IT assets outside of your data center? According to a recent Forrester survey, IT professionals report that more electricity is used outside the data center by a margin of 10%. While every organization is different, recognize that your energy reduction efforts in the PC environment might offer a larger payoff than in the data center.

4. Justify investments in client management suite technology. One of the biggest challenges IT ops professionals face is managing an increasingly distributed and heterogeneous client environment. Client management suite technology can help by automating software distribution, patches, and general systems management. And some vendors — such as 1E, BigFix, LANDesk, and ScriptLogic — are even starting to offer PC power management capabilities. So if you’re struggling to justify budget, reallocate the dollars saved from PC power management to improving the ROI on client management suite investments.

5. Demonstrate your commitment greener business practices. While the primary motivation for Green IT is financial, the second most popular driver is to “doing the right thing for the environment.” And curbing the energy consumption of your PC environment in turn cuts emissions related to global climate change. To paraphrase the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, the average desktop PC wastes half of the energy it consumes and by turning on energy-saving features you can reduce your CO2 emissions by nearly half a ton.

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/forrester/?p=149
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Environmentally Friendly Green Media PC

The Green Media Centre PC is perfect for those wanting a PC based environmentally friendly Media Centre without the carbon footprint of a concert venue.
This beautifully designed PC will look perfectly at home in your entertainment centre. With a 250gb harddrive, 1 gb of ram, 8 USB ports(4 front, 4 rear) a powerful yet energy efficient AMD Dual Core Energy Efficient 2 x 1.9GHz processor, HDMI and remote control. This being the specifications of the 'budget' model.

The 'entertainer' model comes with more options for network, TV and Sound cards as well as a AMD Athlon X2 AM2 4400. This model also comes with a number of options for different case styling.So , we can save energy as well as money by using green PC.

Source: http://www.squidoo.com/Green-Computing#module8663802
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Some Important Tips For Buying Green PC

Green PC refers to the system where the equipments used are entirely environmental friendly. The main aspiration of Green IT is to diminish the use of harmful products while maximizing the efficiency of the system. The Green PC is an integral ingredient of Green IT. The concept of Green IT is not very new for the IT users, but still it has not been adapted by all. Many consumers are there who are willing to buy an environmental friendly machine, but they are not aware how to accomplish this. According to a recent survey, about 7 in 10 consumers say they are still willing to spend up to 20 percent more for "green" sustainable products. So, here I am going to provide a user guide to buy a green PC.

Processors and chipsets: A computer system is made up of mainly two ingredients – Processors and chipsets. Use of an efficient chipset can make your pc more environmental friendly. Some energy saving processors in the market are AMD Athlon 64 or Intel Core 2-series processor, the latest Athlon X2 and Core 2 stepping reduce power considerably over its earlier products. The latest processor series Plethora of Core 2 by Intel is another energy saving series, while some energy consuming processors are Netburst-era Pentium 4s and Athlon 64 X2s.

So, if you are going to buy a new processor, take care about the choice of processor.

Video cards: Another efficient way to conserve energy is with the use of integrated videos with motherboard. The use of separate video card consumes more energy. Motherboards spitting out integrated video via DVI or HDMI aren't that hard to find, so power-users with their massive LCDs don't have to suffer.

Generally, a video card is required for gaming purposes and foe decent 3D performance, but this dilemma can be overcome by using AMD Radeon HD 3850 processor as it draws only 13.5W energy when idle as compare to other processors like NVIDIA 8800 GT and NVIDIA G92.

Power supply: Power supplies are the component of a computer that supplies power to the rest of the parts in a computer system. The amount of power supply is directly proportional to the data installed. So, it is a smart option to store only required data in a computer and attach only required devices to it.

Computer size: Notebooks are less prone to waste energy, so they are called as the most power efficient as well. Secondly, they are made to run on battery and hence as a result saves energy most of the time. So, notebook users today can save more energy and can promote the concept of greenest computers well.

A general Guide for Green IT Solutions: Here, I am going to present a buyer guide for Green IT Solutions.

• Purchase EPEAT-registered computers and monitors. These are by definition qualified by Energy Star.

• Always purchase Energy Star qualified office equipment.

• Activate power management features on computers and monitors

• Avoid hazardous material

• Recycle it

Source: itvoir.com/portal/boxx/knowledgebase.asp?iid=1287&Cat=23
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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
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Artificial DNA = Green PCs?

Japanese boffins have created artificial DNA that could one day be part of green computers running on little or even no power. Datamonitor's Ruchi Mallya suggests the Univeristy of Toyama's research could bring to reality a computer that ditches traditional silicon and works on DNA instead.

Mallya says the DNA would work as the software and the enzymes would act as hardware. The green bit comes in from the DNA running on internal energy "produced during cellular reactions." The result would be a very low PC or even a laptop that didn't require batteries.

Sound far fetched? Mallya admits that "DNA computers will not be replacing today's standard PCs anytime soon" but is confident it could one day become reality.

While my SmartPlanet money is still on Al Gore saving the planet faster than DNA computers, a switch from silicon PCs to DNA ones could have one unexpected side effect: cheap solar panels.

Since most solar panel cells use silicon to convert the sun's energy into electricity, a fall in demand for computing silicon might dramatically cut the price of solar panels. And that *could* save the planet.

Source:smartplanet.com/news/tech/10001533/artificial-dna-green-pcs.htm
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Where can I find a 'green' computer?

Q: My old computer finally bit the dust and I am in the market for a replacement. Are there any particularly "green" computers for sale these days?

– Brian Smith, Nashua, N.H.

A:Thanks in part to pressure from non­profits like Greenpeace International – which has published quarterly versions of its landmark "Guide to Greener Electronics" since 2006 – computermakers now understand that consumers care about the environmental footprints of the products they use.

The latest version of Greenpeace's guide gives high marks to Toshiba, Lenovo, Sony, and Dell for increasing the recyclability of their computers and redu­cing toxic components and so-called "e-waste" (refuse from discarded electronic devices and components). The group also credits Apple, HP, and Fujitsu for making strides toward greener products and manufacturing processes, but adds that even top-ranked companies have lots of room for improvement on the environment.

PC Magazine recently assessed dozens of personal computers according to environmental standards it developed in-house based on energy efficiency, recyclability, and the toxicity of components. The publication also factored in various "green" certification schemes such as the US Environmental Protection Agency's Energy­­Star program, the European Union's Restriction of Haz­ardous Sub­stances directive, Taiwan's Green­mark, and the computer industry's own Electronic Products Environmental Asses­­sment Tool.

The top choices for green desktop computers, according to PC, are:

•Apple's Mac Mini

•Zonbu's Desktop Mini,

•HP Compaq's 2710p and dc7800

•Lenovo's ThinkCentre a61e

•Dell's OptiPlex 755

As for laptops, the greenest current models include:

•Dell's Latitude D630

•Everex Zonbu

•Fujitsu's LifeBook S6510

•Toshiba's Tecra A9-S9013

For green PC support call on 1-800-237-3901

Source: csmonitor.com/2008/0430/p14s01-sten.html
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Eco Button For Green PC Users

The Eco button is a simple hardware that increases the PC's efficiency while being idle.

At the push of this button, Eco button puts your PC system into a deeper-than-normal sleep mode that draws only as much power as when your computer and monitor are shut down.

Push the button again and the PC returns to wherever it left off while displaying the sleep-induced cash and carbon savings as well as your logo.

The device even keeps a cumulative total of the cash and carbon saved.

At the age of expensive electricity bills and more environment-aware users, the Eco button can be the perfect way to strike a balance, getting both increased efficiency and decrease those costly bills.

Source:maltastar.com/pages/msrv/msfullMagart.asp?an=18425
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Green PC - Dell Latitude D630

If you visit a financial district or attend a corporate conference, you're bound to find someone carrying around a Dell Latitude D630 - Green PC.

This lightweight business laptop competes with the Lenovo think pad T61 Wide screen and the HP Compaq 6910p; all three share similarities like a 14-inch wide screen, highly configurable Intel parts, and terrific battery life.

Since my last review of the D630, the unit has acquired several, not necessarily new, options worth talking about. Among them are a discrete graphics option for 3D-intensive purposes, solid-state drives for durability, and energy efficiency.

Source:pcmag.com
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Save Your Business...and Environment With Green PCs

The Age of Computers dawned with the ecologically friendly promise of a paperless office. That broken promise aside, the rapid advancement of computer technology has had a very nasty and unforeseen impact on the environment.

If saving the Earth's environment isn't your thing, perhaps saving your hard-earned money is. Going Green means using cleaner, safer, cooler computers, which means becoming more energy efficient, which saves money. We'll review a few green PC systems here, plus give you a checklist that will help you shop for other systems and upgrades.

Buying a New System

The average computer lasts 3 years, so odds are you'll be in the market for a new PC pretty soon. Unless you're upgrading parts or building your own green computer (see below), you'll want to keep an eye out for what's inside the newest PCs.

HP Compaq is offering two new green PCs. There's the tiny HP Compaq dc7800 Ultra-slim Desktop PC with SSD ($1,258), and the bare bones model dc5800 ($579). Both feature energy-efficient hardware as well as software, resulting in faster boot-ups, as-needed power consumption, and timely auto shutdowns. These Energy Star compliant machines produce less heat, reducing cooling energy by 15-30%. They use half as much electricity to run, and up to 75% less energy in sleep mode. Use of lead-free components further enhances their "greenness."

Going even further, Lenovo is offering 42 different PC models approved by EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool), a set of standards set by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Lenovo's A 61e ThinkCentre is one of the greenest PCs in the world. The desktop is small and light, and 90% of its components are recyclable. The AMD dual core Athlon 64X2 processor uses less than half the energy of a standard CPU, living up to its cool and quiet claims. Available imminently in North America, it could start in the $400 range before upgrades.

Green Habits

Develop some simple habits to enhance your PC greenness. Screen savers don't save energy, so go to your PC's power management utility and set your screen to turn off after 5 minutes of inactivity, and for your hard drive to spin down (hibernate, sleep, suspend) after 10 minutes of inactivity. Turn off your PC if you're not using it. For more on how to reduce the power consumption of your PC, read our article "Reduce Your PC's Power and Operating Costs: Tweak Windows Power Settings."

Always recycle. Replacing computers and components with greener technology still leaves you with the responsibility to dispose of your old technology responsibly. HP Compaq and Lenovo, as well as many local landfills and entrepreneurial ventures are making it easier to dispose of these machines properly. They will break down the components, recycle what they can, and dispose if the rest in ways that protect the environment.

Green Components

The greener PC systems use lead-free components and avoid the four main power hogs: CRT monitors, energy-wasting power supplies, souped-up graphics cards, and inefficient CPUs. Here's what you should look for:

* The biggest environmental offender in a PC system is the CRT monitor - those old heavy cathode ray tube monitors. Most are full of deadly lead, mercury, barium, cadmium and phosphorous. Similar sized flat LCD screens burn half as much energy and are free of the exotic toxins.
* PC power supplies used to run full tilt whether or not they needed to. A new initiative called the 80 Plus Program certifies lead-free power supplies designed to deliver only the power called for at the moment.
* High performance graphics cards can actually draw more than three times the power of a CRT monitor. Gaming may be fun, but it's an environment killer.
* CPUs are traditional power-drainers. Still, Intel's latest Core 2 Duo E6700 processor and AMD's X2 series processors use less energy yet run faster than their Pentium D class of chips. VIA's latest processors can use up to 80% less energy.
* New variable speed CPU fans are available that work only as hard as necessary to keep your CPU cool. Additional heat sink features increase efficiency.
* Seagate and Samsung are the forerunners in developing SATA hard drives that are lead-free and energy efficient, with single instead of multiple platters to decrease the eventual discarded hazardous waste.
* Intel has a lead-free DG965SS microATX motherboard, which consumes less power and eliminates the need for graphics and sound expansion cards because they're already integrated into the board.
* Sony is leading the way with lead-free DVD/CD drives.
* Avoid getting too much RAM - even the lead-free variety. You may never need the extra module, and avoiding it keeps energy waste down.

Bottom Line

When shopping for green PCs or upgrade components, look for lead-free circuitry, "80 Plus" certified power supplies, variable CPU fans with heat sinks, LCD monitors, and in general don't buy more capability than you need. EPEAT approval and Energy Star compliance are also good signs. Be sure to recycle your old PCs and components. You'll save money. And, oh yeah, you'll save the planet.

Source:pcworld.ca/
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Tips to Maximizing Performance in the Green Computing Trend

With attention shifting from strictly performance to performance with energy efficiency, performance-saving measures are needed now more than ever.

Below are the some tips to maximizing performance:-

1. De fragment hard drives: A primary and extremely common barrier to performance is disk file fragmentation, in which files are split into pieces (fragments) in order to maximize disk space. Regular defragmentation is vital and is performed at most computer sites. With today's enormous disk capacities and file sizes, however, attention must also be paid to the defragmentation technology. Scheduled defragmentation, in most cases, can no longer keep up with ever-escalating fragmentation rates, and sites would find greater benefit from a defragmenter which runs constantly and automatically, in the background, with no impact on system resources.

2. Increase memory: Today's operating systems and applications are, in common parlance, resource hogs, and they'll take as much memory as you throw at them. Hence, it is always worthwhile and will always boost performance to increase memory to the maximum allowed for a particular machine.

3. Make sure anti-virus and anti-spyware programs are installed, running and up-to-date. Viruses and especially spyware can work insidiously, unseen inside a computer, drastically hindering performance. Of course, if not caught, viruses can do much worse than hinder performance, so it behooves everyone to insure reliable anti-virus and anti-spyware programs are installed and running.

4. Reduce number of running programs. Checking over servers and especially user systems, how important is it that all those programs are running? Any running program will be chipping away at precious system resources, especially CPU and memory. It behooves computer sites to implement policies and restrictions on applications to be run, and to periodically check running applications to see how necessary they really are.

5. Install faster hard drives: Another sometimes unseen hindrance to performance is hard drive speed. Although the hard drive is still the weakest link in terms of speed, gaining all possible speed from drives, especially those most frequently accessed, can assist in the fight for better performance.

Green PC, Green Products, Save Energy, Recycle PC

Source:tmcnet.com/usubmit/2008/01/31/3242641.htm
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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/
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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
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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
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Lenovo PCs Get Green Thumbs-Up

Lenovo says that its line of ThinkPad notebooks, ThinkCentre desktops and ThinkVision monitors have received high ratings from EPEAT, a procurement tool funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to help purchasers evaluate PCs based on environmental attributes.

The EPEAT tool indicates that Lenovo not only met "green computer" standards, but also met requirements beyond the baseline measurements of environmentally safe PCs. A total of 42 Lenovo PCs were rated by EPEAT, indicating the breadth of environmentally friendly products available from Lenovo.

The ThinkPad notebooks and ThinkCentre desktops received an overall "EPEAT Silver" rating, indicating that Lenovo PCs met all criteria for healthy environmental performance, plus implemented optional activities beyond the minimum requirements.

Criteria that Lenovo met include manufacturing PCs with reduced levels of cadmium, lead and mercury to better protect human health and the environment. Lenovo PCs are also energy efficient, which reduces emissions of climate changing greenhouse gases. Lenovo also offers safe recycling options for the products.

EPEAT also highlighted that Lenovo has demonstrated a corporate environmental policy consistent with ISO 14001, the standard from International Organization for Standardization that sets guidelines for businesses to improve environmental management, and has managed the provision of product take-back service and auditing of recycling vendors.

"Lenovo consistently meets or exceeds applicable environmental regulations globally, and our environmental policy requires us to develop, manufacture, and market products that are energy efficient, protect the environment, and can be reused, recycled or disposed of safely," said Deepak Advani, chief marketing officer for Lenovo. "Representatives from state and local government, the electronics industry, manufacturers, academia environmentalists, and purchasers, developed the EPEAT tool, and we see it as a useful tool for the measurement of PC environmental performance."

Lenovo sets environmental goals for locations and products annually. These objectives and targets are established and driven in association with the management of significant environmental aspects. Lenovo's goals for 2007 cover recycling, energy consumption, and paper usage for manufacturing sites. For products, Lenovo's goals focus on energy efficiency, design for recycling and reuse, use of recycled materials and environmentally preferable finishes, among others.

"Lenovo's EPEAT Silver products demonstrate their commitment to protecting the environment," said Jeff Omelchuck, executive director of EPEAT. "As a voluntary performance standard, EPEAT is a powerful tool for purchasers and creates a clear set of rules for the manufacturers to follow to meet the environmental demands of customers."

Source: chinacsr.com/2006/09/19/743-lenovo-pcs-get-green-thumbs-up/
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U.S. to Require Agencies to Buy Green PCs, Monitors

The U.S. 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 Dec. 26, and they are accepting comments on the proposal through Feb. 25. The new rule formalizes the use within the government of the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, 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, Ore. 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 said. 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 that is being extended to servers by the Environmental Protection Agency.
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Greener Computing Tips from Lifehacker

Lifehacker have come up with a list of 10 straightforward but effective energy saving tweaks all computer users can try.

First, just turn it off. Shut down when you're not using the computer - easy but many of us are guilty of leaving our machines on in the background all day.

Secondly, spin down your hard drive: "Set your computer to put your hard drive to sleep when it's not in use. This will extend the life of your drive as well as save energy."

Thirdly, remove all those pesky "energy vampires". Unplug anything that isn't actively in need of charging or being used. Think phones that are already charged and iPods already full of juice.

Also, try exploring those power saving settings that every modern computer system uses.

Also, try a smart power switch. These turn off all peripherals automatically when the main CPU is switched off. Try the Intelliplug.

Another tip: Check to see what programs run automatically when your computer starts up and ditch any that aren't necessary. Does it really need to constantly hunt down Bluetooth devices? Is there any point in searching for a wireless network when you're far away from any possible source?

Like the "energy vampires" you can also be merciless in unplugging your peripherals. Are you using your scanner right now? If not, turn it off. The same goes for printers, cameras even wireless routers.

If you use several different computers (say a Mac, one running Linux and another with standard Windows) these days there's no need to run all three. With modern programs that allow you to run all these systems on a single computer you no longer need to leave several computers running.

On a desktop it's your monitor that drains the most power, so try adjusting the settings so it's just a little less bright.

Source:hippyshopper.com/2007/07/greener_computi.html
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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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British Government Turns Green

Public sector bodies in the UK will soon be forced to reduce their carbon footprints under new environmental legislation passed this year.

ICT has poor "green" credentials but public sector bodies in the UK will soon be forced to reduce their carbon footprints under new environmental legislation passed this year. And agency heads were warned to get their skates on in drawing up new green strategies at a recent conference, with sustainability now an imperative.

Chris Head, principal associate of the Society of IT Management (Socitm) told delegates at Headstar's recent conference, Techno-Footprint: ICT and Sustainability in the Public Sector, ICT managers and project managers must immediately begin drawing up strategies to reduce ICT energy use and heat emissions; reduce and manage ICT waste; embrace flexible and mobile working to cut transport requirements; and use technology systems to reduce other emissions and waste.

According to Dan Jellinek's e-Government Bulletin the event was used as the launch-pad for Socitm's new report Green ICT? Current research into the environmental impact of ICT. The report urges greater citizen take-up of online services as a way to cut agencies' carbon footprints.

"The Climate Change Act is going to have an impact on the UK public sector very soon, alongside EU directives on energy use," Head said. "Someone is going to be coming round and asking how much energy you use - and you don't want to be caught out as the villain."

Head told the conference it is the usage phase of the ICT life cycle that has the largest impact on carbon use, with servers and desktop PCs gobbling up energy.

"Computers use 10-20 times more carbon per unit weight than a fridge to manufacture, and then you use them for three or four years and throw them away," he said.

"Factories that make computer chips, for example, use huge amounts of noxious chemicals and huge amounts of water to wash the chemicals away.

"There can be precious little difference in purchase price between two computers, but enormous difference in carbon emissions used in manufacture."

He also said figures from the British Computer Society figures show data centres were "horrifically inefficient".

Meanwhile UK government research to be published next month suggests greater citizen take-up of online services could slash public bodies' carbon footprints. Carried out by consultants Best Foot Forward for the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), and based on data supplied by Sunderland City Council, the study showed carbon savings from online service provision greatly outweigh the losses from ICT use.

Peter Blair, head of e-government take-up at DCLG, told the conference using e-government to share services, reduce duplication, cut waste and reduce travel could significantly reduce government ICT's impact on the environment.

"Each minute spent driving to the Town Hall uses more than 20 times the energy of a minute spent transacting on the Internet. And there is amazing demand for online services if you get it right -- in Hackney, 81 percent of parents and carers applied for secondary school places online."

Overall, the research shows that annual reductions of CO2 emissions averaging 28 percent can be obtained by moving services online in five areas: planning, schools, registrar's services, environmental services and council tax, he said. Work is now being carried out to use national figures on school applications, council tax payments and other sources to scale up the projections and extrapolate to a figure for potential national savings, Blair told E-Government Bulletin.

Source: www.cio.com.au/index.php/id;1300344377
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