Ways to Restore Old Machines to their Former Glory

Just because your computer is playing up doesn't mean it's time to throw it away. Toby Green discovers five easy and inexpensive ways to restore old machines to their former glory

There are following steps:

Smarten up your security

If you feel your computer slowing down, this could be a sign that it has been breached by malevolent forces. "One of the symptoms of becoming infected is that your system starts to go down," says Con Mallon, a director at Symantec, producer of Norton security software. "It has a split personality where it's doing the things you want it to, but it's also doing what the hacker or the malware writer wants it to."

Running a virus scan regularly should pick up any nasties, but run the updates program so it has the best chance of detecting every virus.

"Anyone using a Windows PC online should have an anti-virus tool, firewall and anti-spyware utility," says Allen. "You can get all three for nothing." He recommends AVG Free (free.avg.com ) or Avast (www.avast.com ) for anti-virus; the ZoneAlarm Free Firewall (you'll need to disable the Windows version); and, for an anti-spyware program, Ad-Aware Free (www.lavasoft.com ).

Boost your memory

The amount of memory your computer has isn't only about the number of photos or songs you can store on your hard disk. Alongside that you also have RAM (random access memory), which is used by your computer temporarily while it is running programs.

The more RAM you have, the more programs your computer can cope with running. "Adding more memory is one of the best ways to boost a PC's performance," says Allen. "The more memory, the better, although the standard versions of Windows XP and Vista have an upper limit of 3GB. www.crucial .com/uk and www.kingston.com/tools can tell you how much memory your PC can handle and what type to get."

Prices vary, but you could pay as little as £15 for 1GB of RAM – in terms of a minimum to aim for, Microsoft say Windows Vista can run on as little as 512 MB, while GB would provide optimum performance.

As well as being good value, extra memory is also easy to install yourself, though any computer store can do it for you. As long as you have the right memory for your motherboard, it should be a case of popping the old memory out and slotting the new memory in www.computeractive.co.uk has tutorials for desktops and laptops.

Let a program do it for you

There are a huge number of commercial programs that claim to clean your machine at the touch of a button. One area where they can help is the registry – where settings for everything in your computer are kept. It is so important to the running of your computer that you should never attempt to edit it yourself unless you're 110 per cent sure of what you're doing.

But some of the tasks that these programs do you may find you don't need. "System clean-up utilities are ten a penny and we've found that many of them simply automate tasks home users can perform," says Allen. Not all of them have to be paid for – Allen recommends CCleaner (snipurl.com/ ba4ln ), which includes a registry cleaner.

Before you buy or use any program do your research – with so many available you need to be confident that what you use won't damage your PC, so go for a big brand or something recommended by a reviews site you trust. Make sure your registry is backed-up before editing it, even if you're confident about the program you're using – Microsoft's Help and Support website (support.microsoft.com ) gives a step-by-step guide.

Call in the experts

If you don't have the time or confidence to mess with the inner workings of your computer you may decide to call in the experts. There are independent computer shops and numerous high-street stores you can bring your PC in to, while many offer home-visits.

Tim Fairs of TechGuys, the technology experts who offer their services in branches of PC World, says that such a service can give you peace of mind. "You get the plumber to come round or hire someone to service your car. I think the same these days is true of technology in that a lot of customers would much rather have someone else do the work than take the risk."

Of course, this all costs money and Allen believes it's often unnecessary. "Everyone should at least give it a try themselves before paying for a homevisit or in-store service."

However, if you are unsure in any way about what you're doing, always consult an expert first.

Source: independent.co.uk
Read more!

Features of Energy Efficient PC

A typical desktop computer, together with a monitor and printer, can consume as much electricity as five or six powerful incandescent household light bulbs.

If left running for long periods of time - or even 24 hours a day - a computer can easily cost you more in electrical bills than its original purchase price.

While you can use the power-saving features built in to today's operating systems to put a computer into a sleep mode when it's not being used or simply turn it off, many people don't.

Computers in Internet-connected households or in the workplace are frequently left running non-stop so that they're always available for research or play.

That's why it pays to look closely at how much electricity a computer is likely to use when you're on the hunt for a new machine or upgrading components within your existing one. Computers today run the gamut from power-sipping misers to unabashed energy hogs.

And it's not always clear from the packaging which one you're signing up for.

Notebooks

Notebook computers are built from the ground up to consume as little energy as possible - and therefore to save you money over desktop machines. Not all notebooks, though, are built with power- saving in mind. Models that are touted as 'desktop replacements' typically are built around the same components that appear in full- sized PCs, and they therefore consume as much electricity - and cost almost as much to operate.

Under the hood

Whether you're evaluating a notebook or a desktop computer, the components in it determine how miserly it is, so it pays to know something about the power needs of the parts that make up any computer you're evaluating.

Central processing units (CPUs) - the main chips around which PCs are built - often use more energy than other components. While most processors today go into a low-power mode when they're not being taxed heavily by the demands of software, the maximum power usage is telling.

Intel's flagship Core i7 processor, for example, requires 130W of power, and AMD's Phenom X4 Quad-Core uses 140W. Intel's Core 2 Quad chips use 95W, while most of the Core 2 Duo chips consume significantly less, at 65W. What this illustrates is clear: today's powerful processors are also power-hungry, and the more powerful chips consume significantly more electricity and will therefore be costlier to operate.

Processors designed specifically for notebook computers fare much better. Intel's high-end Core 2 Duo chips designed for notebooks, which generally run at 2.1 GHz or better, consume either 25W or 35W, depending upon model. The Core 2 Duo U7700, which runs slower at 1.33 GHz, needs only 10W of power, while AMD's Sempron for notebooks runs at 1 GHz and requires just 8W of power.

Video cards

Today's fastest processors are typically paired with today's beefiest graphics cards, which use so much electricity and throw offso much heat that dedicated fans are required to keep them cool.

The graphics cards from Nvidia and ATI, built for running today's games and 3D applications, can consume anywhere from 117W when idle to well over 300W under load. 'Under load' refers to the power draw of the cards when rendering complex objects or powering through a game, while 'idle' refers to the power required just to have the video card turned on.

Hard drives

Hard drives are on or at the ready almost always when a computer is powered up. So they're always drawing energy. As with other components in a computer, higher performing hard drives - those with rotational speeds of 10,000 revolutions per minute (rpm) or higher - consume the most electricity. To save money, look for hard drives - either desktop or notebook - that spin at 5400 or 7200 rpm. Western Digital's 'green' drives, for instance, spin at a variable rate to conserve energy, and they consume about 40 per cent less power than comparable non-green drives.

Solid State Disks (SSDs) are increasingly popular as replacements for hard drives, both in desktop and laptop computers. While many assume that SSDs consume less power than traditional spinning- platter models, recent tests have shown that their power usage is about the same.

Monitors

If you're still using an old cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor, ditch it. Its power requirements are probably twice that of a similar-sized LCD panel. Most LCDs use fluorescent back lights, which are energy efficient. What's more, when in sleep mode, many LCDs consume just 2W or less. Better yet, monitors are easy to turn off completely. Do that if you won't be using it for a while.

Final decisions

The bottom line is that the energy efficiency of any computer - and by extension the cost of running it - boils down to how much power the individual components consume. In today's world of mix- and- match PC purchasing or building, you have a great deal of control over how energy-efficient your computer will be when armed with the knowledge of how power-hungry its parts are.

Source: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/tech/features/article_1465958.php/Buying_an_energy-efficient_PC__Feature__
Read more!

Facebook New app Encourage Towards Green PC

Popular social networking website face book is now in Green Technology. Face book new application promises greener PC, which encourages to save environment as well as energy. It also encourage environmental and energy conservation. Many offer obvious advice like to use green technologies, save environment, use LED bulbs, but a new app offers to green up the PCs Face book members rely on to access the social networking site.

"Green Your PC," developed by Redwood City, Calif.-based SupportSoft, Inc., offers to help configure settings including your computer's monitor timeout, disk timeout and standby mode so that they comply with Energy Star and Carbonfund.org recommendations. Users can do this either by downloading a piece of SupportSoft software (an .exe file) that automatically performs the configurations or by following a tutorial written by SupportSoft that instructs users on how to change their PC's configurations themselves. So use green PC to save energy, save environment as well as money.

The app became available earlier this month for Facebook members using PCs (a Mac version is in the works). SupportSoft, a provider of third-party helpdesk services, got the idea for the app from a free service it's been offering its customers since last year. The company offers that service when customers call up with other information technology support needs, but Facebook opens up a much broader audience, which SupportSoft hopes "Green Your PC" will serve. (Previous ScientificAmerican.com coverage of Facebook apps has included one written for Burger King, which Facebook later disabled.)

"We're doing something that the majority of users don't know how to or don't think to do on their own," says Anthony Rodio, SupportSoft's executive vice president of worldwide operations. Rodio says he has no plans to offer the app through MySpace or any other social network.

It's unclear exactly what impact computer energy settings will have on the environment. But Carbonfund.org, a non-profit that advocates for renewable energy, estimates that if 100,000 computers and monitors reduced electricity use to the level set by the "Green Your PC" app, it would save more than 11 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions annually (roughly the same as emissions from burning 13,000 barrels of oil).

Source: http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=facebook-app-promises-greener-pcs-2009-03-17
Read more!

Donate Your Old Computer Equipment to A Good Cause

Donate Your Old Computer Equipment to A Good Cause. Why Recycle When You Can Re-Use?

We have to donate all electronic garbage so that it can be further recycle thus use it again for good purpose. By doing so we can save environment, earth as well money. So, take steps to save energy. Got any old computer equipment lying around? You could recycle it, or you could put it in the hands of someone who will get some good use out of it.

That's the idea behind Computers With Causes, a charity that accepts old computers from individuals and small business, refurbishes them, and gives them to people or organizations who need them.

This reduces e-waste, cuts down on clutter, and puts perfectly good electronics back to work where they can help change the world for the people or groups who receive them.

According to their website, "Computers with causes evaluates each and every donation on a case by case basis. Whenever financially beneficial, computers with causes will repair, refurbish, and properly prepare donated property for placement into an educational environment or other cause we support. The ultimate goal being to maximize the benefit of your donations both financially and through educational purposes to the communities in which we live."

Functioning computers will be put back to use in the community. Non-functioning computers can even be useful, as they'll get donated to schools to help teach computer repair.

Anything Computers With Causes receives that can't be used gets recycled, using what they call a "zero landfill" process.

Donations earn you tax deductions, and some donations can even earn you a free vacation!

Source: http://www.riverwired.com/blog/donate-your-old-computer-equipment-good-cause
Read more!

4 Green Technology Tips That Will Save You Money

Save energy. Save the environment. Save money. Sounds good, huh? Savvy use of technology can help you do all three.

These days it's not uncommon for laptops to serve desktop duty. But here's the rub: If you leave the battery inside the system 24/7, it'll keep drawing power, even when fully charged. That's not only a waste of energy and money, but also bad news for the battery: Constant charging will reduce its capacity to hold a charge and its overall longevity.

Fortunately, there's a fast and simple solution: Pull the battery out. Most notebooks can run off AC power when there's no battery present, so take the latter out of the equation. It'll stay in pristine condition and save you a kilowatt or two.

PCs and landfills go together like oil and water--or, more accurately, like mercury (which can leak out of computer circuitry) and groundwater. Unfortunately, more and more unwanted computers and monitors end up in landfills every year, and the environmental impact is considerable.

Before you consign your unwanted system to the dump, consider giving it new life. One option: Wipe the hard drive and install a Linux-based operating system like gOS, which has such modest system requirements, it makes even a six-year-old Pentium 4 feel like a modern Core 2 Duo. With that done, the system could go to a student, a tech-challenged senior, or anyone with basic computing needs.

Alternately, an aged PC plugged into a router can double as a fine file and/or print server for your home network (see "Get More Out of Your PC"). If you're willing to spring for a TV tuner, you can install free media-center software like Media Portal and turn the old girl into a DVR--no monthly TiVo fees required.

Bills that arrive via snail mail represent a massive waste of resources (paper, printing, hauling, postage) on both the biller's part and yours, if you're still mailing back written checks. Maybe security concerns kept you from switching to electronic bill-pay services early on, but financial institutions have had plenty of time to work out the kinks, so there's no excuse for continued use of paper checks, envelopes, and postage.

Banks do charge for online bill-pay service, but some will give it to you for free if you do enough business with them. If not, take a look at MyCheckFree, which lets you pay many major billers free of charge. Alternatively, set up automated bill pay with the many utilities and banks that will happily collect their monthly fees, credit card, and mortgage payments via direct withdrawal from your bank account.

Game controllers, kids' toys, digital cameras, and other electronics chew through batteries faster than beavers chew through balsa wood. Consequently, they chew through your wallet as well: A four-pack of Duracell AA batteries sells for around $6. Buy just one pack per month and you're out $72 a year.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/01/AR2009030102378.html
Read more!

Wonderful 3 G's: Google, GE and Green Energy

In a fear-filled 24-hour news cycle, it's necessary to break away from all that negativity and read about some positive news. As you know, there are some very smart people in our country doing some great things and we need to hear more about them...especially these days.

There are many green energy initiatives taking place. I recently read about a particularly interesting effort that I think you'll find interesting too. Did you know that Google is investing a lot of money - in the millions - to change the country’s energy infrastructure more into the likes of the Internet, making energy decentralized and distributed, and possibly saving you and I lots of money?

Partnered with GE in many green initiatives, the company envisions a smart electric grid that would be controlled and monitored by a vast computer network that would determine prices based on real-time supply and demand. If this happens, it will change the way that you and I use and pay for electricity.

For example: Suppose the hot and humid summer months in Georgia creates a spike in electricity usage, and therefore prices. Instead of automatically being hit with higher energy prices, you'll have a device with a user-friendly interface that allows you to click on an icon and power down several of your appliances. GE already has a smart-grid lab that's working out the details of such a scenario. Or how about having a wireless system in your home, car, etc., that would automatically shut down appliances and devices if prices hit certain preset levels? In addition to the above, there's hope that you'll be able to select your own energy plans that are more customized to your needs.

Google's motivation to reduce its energy costs is commendable. And after getting hit with some pretty high electric bills myself during the summer, I'll say I'm pretty giddy about such ideas. Maybe we can find ways to heal the planet and add a little more money in our wallets.

Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-2938-Atlanta-Web-Examiner~y2009m2d21-Hip-Hip-Hooray-for-the-Gs--Google-GE-and-Green-Energy
Read more!

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
Read more!

NDTV's Greenathon all Set to Take Off: Give Green

Taking forward its 'Open Up Tomorrow, Today' campaign to save our planet, NDTV supported by Toyota, will be telecasting a first of its kind 24-hour nonstop programming -THE GREENATHON- urging Indian citizens to take a pledge towards a greener tomorrow. The Greenathon starts across the NDTV network on the 7th of February 2009 at 7pm. The programming will showcase a series of on-the-ground activities such as round-the-clock clean up drives in Mumbai city and Yamuna Ghats in Delhi; a 24-hour marathon run by Milind Soman; a musical extravaganza by renowned Bollywood stars and simultaneous green activities taking place across the country.

The Greenathon will be inaugurated by Dr. R.K. Pachauri, Nobel-prize winner, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Director-General of TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute), and Dr. Prannoy Roy, Chairman, NDTV, while the 24-hour programming will be hosted by NDTV's Vikram Chandra and Preity Zinta, who is also the campaign ambassador. VJ Cyrus Broacha will keep viewers entertained for 24 hrs with his witty humour.

Give for Green

The Greenathon has raised over 2 crore for TERI's Lighting a Billion Lives campaign that aims at solar powering villages across the country. We thank you for your overwhelming support. The journey is not over yet..we will continue to strive for a better, cleaner environment. Donate for the cause and help bring the change.
To Donate

* Pay online: Find out how »
* SMS "[donate] [space] [amount]" to 56388
(For users in India only. Standard VAS charges apply).
* Send a cheque/dd in favour of 'The Energy and Resources Institute' payable at New Delhi, mail to Greenathon, NDTV, Archana Complex, GK 1, ND-48.
* Call 011-66176299, 18004194360 [Toll free]

Source:http://green.ndtv.com/greenathon.aspx
Read more!

Ways to Go Green and Save Green

Going green is all the rage for a lot of reasons. Although some of this green talk is hype, a lot of it is the real deal. There are a number of things that you can do in your business to easily and cheaply jump on the green bandwagon and saving your organization a few dollars at the same time you help reduce your impact on the planet.

Green desktops. Most PC vendors today have an option for more efficient power supplies in desktop PCs. These power supplies reduce heat waste in your computers and can help to lower your overall energy costs. For example, Dell's Studio Hybrid consumes only 26W when idle and 44W at full load. In contrast a typical desktop computer can consume two, three & four times this amount. At the same time, make sure that power management is enabled on desktop PCs so that power consumption is, for example, greatly reduced by turning off a monitor after 20 minutes of idling.

Go to the cloud for your desktop services. Does your small business have relatively simple needs limited to email, word processing, spreadsheets and Internet access? CherryPal offers a service that can reduce energy costs related to desktop computing by up to 98%! CherryPal's unique PC consumes just 2W of power, although you will still have to power a monitor separately as you do for another other PC. CherryPal desktop computers have very minimal software installed and rely on users making use of Internet resources, such as GoogleDocs, although an open source word processor is installed on the unit.

Virtualize. If you have any kind of significant server infrastructure in place in your organization and you haven't virtualized everything humanly possible, do it today. Stop reading right here, go virtualize your servers and then come back and pick up where you left off. Seriously - it's almost the easy if you use a product like PlateSpin, which automates the process of converting physical machines to virtual servers. With the number of options out there for virtualizing hardware, there is no reason at all anymore to default to a physical server support for anything, unless absolutely required due to hardware compatibility issues or sheer processing needs. Virtualizing your server hardware to fewer boxes will save you money both in hardware and in energy savings.

Ditch your phone system. If you're large enough to have your own phone system and it's reaching the end of its useful life, look for a replacement that uses less energy. We recently replaced our outdated phone switch with a unit that uses half the energy. Obviously, we didn't replace the system just to save energy as the cost/benefit would have been way off, but it's a nice benefit.

Force duplex printing. Do you printers have duplexing units that allow you to print on both sides of paper? If so, force the printers to print duplex by default.

Consider recycled toner cartridges. This one is tricky as using the wrong vendor can ruin your printer and voice your warranty and there are a lot of scam artists out there. We've located a great recycled toner cartridge vendor local to Westminster College and we've had outstanding success... less toner waste goes to the landfill and we're saving a ton of money to boot. Do you research, get references and test!

Put your PCs on power strips. Even when they're not on, desktop PCs consume a small amount of electricity. By putting your PCs on power strips and asking your employees to turn their computers off at night by flipping the switch on the power strip, you'll eliminate this trickle of power. Be warned, however, that going down this road will also eliminate your ability to perform automatic nightly maintenance on desktop computers since they will be unable to receive any communication from the network.

Unplug the chargers. When your employees aren't charging their cell phones and other devices, ask them to unplug their chargers. Even when not actively charging anything, chargers do consume power.

Consider work-from-home arrangements. Do your employees perform work that must be handled from a central location or can they work from anywhere? If possible, consider allowing your employees to work from home and provide them with laptops. By doing this, you avoid having to have space for as many people; this is space that you have to light and heat. Further, your employees themselves will have less of an environmental impact since they won't be on the road as much.

From: http://www.itworld.com/green-it/62228/9-ways-go-green-and-save-green
Read more!

Samsung Developed Green Memory Chip

Samsung developed a green memory chip that consumes less energy,less power tapping into a growing demand for green energy-efficient servers.

Samsung claimed the world's highest-density dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chip - 4 gigabit (Gb) double data rate (DDR) 3 DRAM chip - which consumes 40 percent less power than conventional 2Gb DDR3 DRAM.

Like its predecessor, the 4 Gb DDR3 DRAM chip is manufactured based on fine and cost-efficient 50-nanometer level processing technology. But the new chip doubles storage capacity and supports a lower voltage of 1.33 V, which helps save energy.

Samsung is the world's top maker of DRAM, which is used for primary storage in PCs, servers and others.

The development came as energy efficiency is increasingly important in the IT sector and demand is growing for larger data storage among server and PC makers.

"For the new generation of green servers, the 4 Gb DDR3's high density, combined with its lower level of power consumption will not only provide a reduction in electricity bills, but also a cutback in installation fees, maintenance fees and repair fees involving power suppliers and heat-emitting equipment," Samsung said in a statement.

"Low power DRAM used to be just nice to have, but now it's a critical requirement from major PC/Server OEMs," Jung Tae-sung, senior vice president of Samsung said at a forum last month.

The new chip not only enables lower power use and higher density, but also faster speed.

It achieves transfer rates of 1.6 Gbps (gigabits per second) at 1.35 V, 20 percent faster than the current industry standard of 1.333 Gbps at 1.5V.

Samsung seeks to leverage its technological prowess to widen the gap with its rivals at a time when global memory chip makers are struggling with tumbling demand due to the global economic meltdown.

The 2 Gb-or-highter DDR3 DRAM will represent 3 percent of the total DRAM market in 2009 and 33 percent in 2011.

From: http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2009/01/30/200901300061.asp
Read more!

LED Lighting Lowers Operating Costs with an Eco-Friendly Solution

The cost of energy, energy security, and global warming have become primary topics driving the national agenda. While businesses attempt to curb their energy costs and limit their contributions to GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions, they have to accomplish these goals while remaining profitable enterprises. Business owners are now challenged to implement sustainable initiatives that also lower their operating costs.

Lighting's role in solving these challenges is significant. According to the Energy Information Association a department of the DOE, lighting accounts for 18% of all energy and 25% of all electricity consumed. U.S. buildings consume almost 40% of all energy produced, and lighting accounts for as much as 25% to 40% of the energy consumption in the commercial building sector. Since most electricity is generated from coal, lighting accounts for a large portion of current GHG emissions. The 2007 McKinsey Report states that converting commercial fluorescent lighting to LED offers 110 megatons of GHG abatement potential by 2030. For every ton of GHG abatement achieved with LED lighting there is a potential savings of $87 by 2030. In comparison, car hybridization offers only 90 megatons of abatement potential, and will cost $100 to $140 per ton. Improving lighting efficiency is one of the easiest ways for businesses to lower their energy costs, save money, and help the environment.

Of almost equal cost and perhaps greater "pain" than the energy bill, is the constant maintenance all traditional lighting requires. Depending on usage, LED lighting systems last over 5 times as long as fluorescent. Unlike residential installations where changing a light bulb is relatively easy, the cost of changing a bulb in many commercial building is substantial. Maintenance costs can soar into the $1000's for lamps in hard to reach places that require lifts and multi-person teams. Savings and productivity improvements from reduced maintenance have a positive impact on operating costs and profits.

The best way to save energy in any lighting system is to turn lights off. Motion and light level sensors can provide 50% to 75% additional reduction in energy consumption. Although energy savings from motion sensing can be realized with numerous lighting technologies, fluorescent bulb lifetime is reduced 25% to 50% under the constant on/off cycling. What good is saving energy if motion sensing drives maintenance costs up? Fortunately, LED lighting lifetimes are increased with motion and light level sensing. LEDs and be cycled on/off indefinitely without adverse affects. Additionally, LEDs can be dimmed, over the widest of ranges, and unlike fluorescent get more efficient as they get dimmer. Dimming and improved efficiency are great benefits for daylight harvesting (utilizing natural light during peak hours of sunlight while turning unnecessary interior lights off) applications.

A new and growing cost associated with fluorescent lighting is the legislated need to recycle bulbs. All fluorescent bulbs contain mercury which is a deadly neurotoxin. Even small amounts can have adverse effects and the EPA recommends immediate and thorough actions when a fluorescent bulb is broken. California has legislated that bulbs containing mercury must be disposed in a separate waste stream. The $1 to $2 cost of recycling fluorescent bulbs hurts profits and exposes personnel to serious health risks. With over 510 million fluorescent bulbs entering the US waste stream every year the potential recycling cost to American businesses is a staggering $1 Billion dollars. LED light fixtures contain no mercury and eliminate the costs and hazards associated with recycling.

Source: http://www.industryweek.com/articles/led_lighting_lowers_operating_costs_with_an_eco-friendly_solution_18227.aspx?SectionID=2
Read more!

150 ENERGY EFFICIENT PC's TO BE WON PLUS ENERGY SAVING MONITORS FOR YOUR HOME

Following on from our fantastic green giveaway where we gave away 2 FREE energy efficient light bulbs to every Daily Mirror & Sunday Mirror reader...

Every day for the next 5 days E.ON, one the UK's leading energy companies, and the Daily Mirror are helping you to save money on your energy costs.

We're now giving away ONE HUNDRED AND FIFITY energy saving PC's with PC Powerdown and home energy saving monitors in our fabulous competition STARTING TODAY.

HUNDRED AND FIFTY readers will win one of these fantastic prizes, comprising

- Advent Eco PC. A unique PC designed to consume much less energy than a convential PC while still offering incredible performance it comes with an Intel® Core 2 Due processor, 160GB hard drive, 19" monitor and pre-loaded with Norton 360 all-in-one security
- PC Powerdown. A clever computer multi-plug that automatically switches off any equipment linked to your PC, such as a printer or scanner, when you shut down
- E.ON Home Energy Saving Monitor. This handy device will help you see the immediate effect of switching to your new low-energy bulbs and make other small changes which could save you money.

GET ENTERING NOW for your chance to win one of today's 30 ENERGY SAVING PC packages & Home Energy Saving Monitors.

PLUS there's another 30 packages to be won each day this week until FRIDAY.

E.ON If you are elderly, disabled or living on benefits you can call the Home Heat Helpline to access free home insulation, cheaper energy tariffs and practical advice on reducing your bills. Call 0800 33 66 99 or visit www.homeheathelpline.org.uk."

THE HOME HEAT HELPLINEE.ON is one of the UK's leading energy companies with over five million electricity and gas customers. They're working with us to help more people take control of their energy usage and save money on their bills.
For more information about E.ON, please visit eonenergy.com/giveaway

HOW TO ENTER

Correctly answer this question BEFORE MIDNIGHT TONIGHT for a chance to win :

Electric current is measured in _______
a) centimetres
b) metres
c) amperes

Competition

To enter online, you will need to open an account and register with click&buy to pay for online entry to the competition. You simply register once and then you can use your unique username and password to pay for all future Mirror competition entries. Your click&buy account can be settled later using direct debit, debit cards, credit cards or your BT phone bill. Please read the click&buy terms and conditions before opening an account.

For More info: http://www.mirror.co.uk/fun-games/competitions/2009/01/26/day-1-150-energy-efficient-pc-s-to-be-won-115875-21072754/
Read more!

AMD Launches More Energy Efficient Server Chips

AMD on Monday delivered latest installment of its 45 nanometer quad-core Opteron line–a high efficiency extension of its flagship server chips.AMD Launches More Energy Efficient Chips.

The company said that five Opteron HE processors are available in servers from HP and Rackable with Dell, Sun and others due later in the first quarter (statement, Techmeme). AMD outlined its plans for high efficiency Opterons when it launched its revamped server chip lineup last year.

AMD said its family of chips run at 55-watts with speeds between 2.1 GHz and 2.3 GHz. AMD reckons that the Opteron HE lineup can offer 20 percent lower idle power consumption.

The chipmaker also said that it has launched two quad-core Opteron SE processors that run at 2.8 GHz for high-performance data centers.

Like Intel, AMD has been struggling amid weak demand and paring costs. AMD reported a hefty fourth quarter loss, announced layoffs, sold non-core assets and has been cutting perks to save money. Its planned spin-off of its manufacturing unit will help AMD’s balance sheet, but the company’s resources can’t compare with Intel’s.

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=11625
Read more!

World's First Green Zero-Watt PC

Fujitsu Siemens (FSC) will shortly show off what it claims will be the world's first PC that consumes not a jot of power when it's placed in standby mode, the computer said today.



Dubbed the Zero-Watt PC, the machine can still be managed in a standby state by an IT department - despite consuming no power, FSC claimed.

It's keeping mum about how this is achieved, but it pledged to spill the beans at the CeBIT show, where the Zero-Watt PC will get its first public outing. CeBIT kicks off on 3 March in Hannover, Germany.



EU legislation demands that from 5 January 2010, new PCs and other electronics products must consume less than a Watt of power when placed in standby mode.

Source: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/20/fsc_green_pc/
Read more!

Energy efficient Green PCs

There are three reasons as to why any company would want to go Green—to save money, to earn money (through carbon credits) and due to government regulations. Although there are no government regulations in India that compel companies to think Green, companies are finding newer ways to reduce energy consumption on their own owing to their corporate social responsibility. The issue is one of sustainability rather than cost, although energy-efficient products help customers lower the cost of ownership and help meet the broader goal of protecting the environment. The focus on energy efficiency is to design a product that helps customers to decrease power consumed by the system and the system’s operating cost, which is long approach. Desktop PCs and workstations often consume huge amounts of energy that are overlooked by most organizations as they keep their ‘green’ focus limited to the data center. In many cases, organizations want to reduce power consumption of desktop PCs but are not too sure how to go about the same. There are myriad product offerings in the market to reduce the carbon footprint of desktops and workstations in an organization but it is important to understand what suits your organization the best.

Green PC initiatives

We see a greater emphasis on energy efficiencies in the desktop PC market. [The recent IDC ‘Go Green PC Power Play Study’ had some interesting statistics. The report found that the US federal government could save more than $82.4 million in energy costs—the equivalent of conserving more than 1.3 million barrels of oil in just one year—if its more than 10 million existing ENERGY STAR 3.0 PCs were updated to the new 4.0 standard.

Dell’s recently launched new line of commercial desktop solutions cut power consumption by up to 43%. A major trend is that we witnessing small form factor devices in the desktop space, where Dell’s offerings include the Optiplex 755, 740, 960 with the option of the ultra small form factor in the Optiplex 760.

Dell also launched two new models aimed at the business user. Pallab Talukdar, Director, Enterprise Business, Dell India explained, “The Latitude E-Series notebooks were designed after listening to the needs of nearly 4,000 businesses and IT professionals. The result is Dell’s thinnest, lightest and most powerful business notebooks ever and all-day computing with breakthrough battery life of up to 19 hours.”

“Dell in India is committed to bringing the same energy and commitment towards environment-friendly policies as in other parts of the world and continues to take the lead through its products, processes and policies,” Talukdar added.

HP’s initiative in Green PCs keeps Indian conditions in mind. Deepti Dang, Head of Marketing-Commercial and SMB, Personal Systems Group, HP India said, “We have a design center called IDC or the India Design Center and the basic objective of this center are to make products for India that suit Indian conditions—products that consume less power and give better productivity keeping global warming in mind.”

One of the products developed at the HP India Design Centre is called the Mini DT or the HP Compaq dx2009. This business PC is a high-performance machine that has the ability to withstand harsh Indian working conditions. It has a small form factor and is ideal for organizations, which struggle with challenges such as space limitations, data security and power consumption, especially in the ITES sector.

Lenovo also offers various desktops and notebook PCs that are targeted at reducing energy consumption. The company recently announced the launch of the ThinkCentre A62 in the Indian market. It is a cost-effective, environmentally responsible and manageable desktop PC, which provides enterprise and SMB customers with improved TCO throughout a longer PC lifecycle. Additionally it uses up to 40% less electricity than its ThinkCentre predecessor due to the efficiency of the new AMD 15W CPU, the Athlon 2650e, which is available on select models. The system is GREENGUARD and EPEAT Gold certified, ENERGY STAR 4.0 rated, and has as an option, the ‘Green’ fingerprint keyboard made of 35% post consumer recycled material.

On the notebook front, the new ThinkPad T Series from Lenovo has improved energy efficiency by more than 25% over previous T Series models. Hardware improvements such as LCD Backlight Displays and SSDs use less battery power and generate less heat. Switchable graphics let users move to lower quality graphics when they need to maximize battery life. Addition, when there is no activity, the optical disk drive and audio auto switch to a low power state. Coupled with software enhancements such as the new Green Power Scheme, Battery Stretch, and ThinkPad Energy Saver technology, the ThinkPad T Series lets users get the most out of their mobile computing time. Battery stretch is a new feature that allows temporary selections in extreme situations to extend battery life beyond what regular Power Manager Settings might produce. With this easy interface, users can, for example, minimize the display refresh rate or disable certain wireless communications devices to help preserve the power users need to finish their work unplugged.

“In the current scenario, all over the world corporates are turning towards innovative solutions to lower their power costs,” said Vinay Shetty, Product Manager, Components Business, ASUS (India). He continued for example, our Eee Box is a conventional desktop that runs only on 20 Watts of power, which results in 90% power saving as compared to a normal desktop.

Green components

Now that we have seen some of the initiatives and offering from major PC vendors, let us try to understand how they achieve this low power envelope. Following are some of the components that most vendors target to cut energy consumption.

* Monitor: Apart for a number of other benefits that LCDs offer over CRTs, power consumption is of prime concern. A CRT consumes about 60-80 Watts for a 15-inch model to almost 70 to 150 Watt for 17 and 19 inch models whereas an LCD monitor’s power consumption is only about 25 Watts. A backlit LCD helps reduce energy consumption for notebooks.
* Storage media: While HDDs remain the most sought after media for storage on PCs, SDDs are gradually becoming popular. An SSD reduces the power consumption by 50% when compared to a conventional Hard Disk Drive. SSDs do not heat up, reducing the power that is required to cool a PC. Although SSDs are a common option for notebooks, even a few desktops offer SSDs for storage. However, due to extremely high prices of SSDs, this technology might see higher adoption in the notebook space, where its durability and quick boot advantages make more of an impact, when compared to desktops. Many organizations and individuals who need the benefits of using an SSD do not mind the additional expense.
* Cooling: There are varieties of fans that go inside a PC to prevent it from heating up. The function of a traditional air fan is both, to take in fresh air and at the same time expel hot air from the CPU cabinet. Fans with variable speeds can largely reduce the power consumption, considering the fact that average CPU utilization levels are below 20% in both desktops as well as notebooks.
* Processor: With the shrinking of the x86 micro-architecture and emergence of multi-core processors, power consumption is also taking a dip. A shift towards 45 nm micro-architecture has helped reduce the power envelope for both desktops and notebooks. Ensuring that you are using the latest make of processor can further help in reducing power consumption.

Source: http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20090119/greenit02.shtml
Read more!

How green is your Google search?

That time you are spending on Google has its price for the planet. But how big that price is a little less clear.

The buzz started with this headline Sunday morning in the Times of London: "Revealed: the environmental impact of Google searches - Physicist Alex Wissner-Gross says that performing two Google searches uses up as much energy as boiling the kettle for a cup of tea".

But of course, it's not that simple. The story cites an upcoming paper by Wissner-Gross, an M.I.T grad with a Ph.D. from Harvard, on the energy consumption of web sites for some of its numbers, and then apparently factors in things like running your computer to get their number.

Wissner-Gross also calculated the CO2 emissions caused by individual use of the internet. His research indicates that viewing a simple web page generates about 0.02g of CO2 per second. This rises tenfold to about 0.2g of CO2 a second when viewing a website with complex images, animations or videos.

So guess who wasn't happy? Maybe, (break out the Church Lady voice here, people), Google? Urs Holzle responded late Sunday night on the company's official blog - saying that by their estimates, a Google search requires the same amount of energy that your body burns in 10 seconds - and in terms of greenhouse gases it is about 0.2 grams of CO2 produced.

That's about a thousandth of the greenhouse gas produced by driving your car one kilometer, according to Holzle.

And Jason Kincaid on TechCrunch notes that producing a book creates around 2500 grams of CO2, and that by some estimates building a cheeseburger is 3600 grams.

He also notes that if that Google search keeps you from driving to the library, we all win.

So is it 0.2 grams? 7 grams? Well, here's the punchline. In interviews, Wissner-Gross says he never mentions Google by name in his research! "Our work has nothing to do with Google," he told Tech News World. "Our focus was exclusively on the Web overall, and we found that it takes on average about 20 milligrams of CO2 per second to visit a Web site."

He did tell Tech News World that the Times quoted him correctly in the story as saying, "A Google search has a definite environmental impact" and "Google operates huge data centers around the world that consume a great deal of power," he confirmed.

"I don't think anybody would disagree with those statements," Wissner-Gross said. "Everything online has a definite environmental impact. I think everybody can agree on that, including Google."

So ultimately - two facts. First, we're all in this together - Google has every reason to seek out alternative ways to efficiantly run its data centers for speed and energy efficiency. And second - everything you do online leaves a carbon footprint.

Source: http://www.necn.com/Boston/SciTech/2009/01/13/How-green-is-your-Google/1231852857.html
Read more!

Green Tips to Make Eco-easy Office: Go Green and Save Energy

With the current focus on increased environmental sustainability, conservation is quickly gaining momentum as a business necessity. Many companies are selecting green products to decrease their own impacts on the environment while saving money and resources. So, how can you and your office make green choices and make a difference? Here are some easy tips:

1. Learn the Lingo - Plenty of eco-alternatives exist, from textiles and fabrics to wood substitutes and hemp, and it is important to know your options. For example, Staples offers paper supplies made from sugar cane waste. The final product, available in notebooks, memo pads and filler paper, feels just like regular paper.

2. Love the Labels - When purchasing computers and office equipment, look for the ENERGY STAR(r) label, which identifies products that are more energy efficient than comparable products. These items can reduce the cost to power your office space or home office by up to 80 percent. For paper and wood items, check for the Recycled and Forest Stewardship Council logos.

3. Use a "Green" Screen - For a better, clearer computer picture, use an LCD monitor. Older monitors contain lead and other toxic heavy metals and can be hard on the eyes. And don't forget to set your power management settings to put your monitor and/or computer to sleep after 10-15 minutes of inactivity. You'll help save money by using green PC as well as by reducing electricity use.

4. Make a Sticky Statement - Addicted to sticky notes? No worries. Use sticky notes made from recycled paper and enjoy the same great quality. Also look to "right size" your sticky notes to save paper and money.

5. Write with "Green" ink - Many pens and highlighters are available with refillable barrels and non-toxic ink, and some pens also contain recycled content. These eco-preferable essentials make brainstorming a more eco-friendly activity.

6. Print Smart - While many businesses now include a "Please consider the environment before printing" disclaimer in their emails, printing documents is sometimes unavoidable. When printing cannot be avoided, look to double side print and copy, only print or copy the pages you need, and use eco-preferable papers. Opt for 30 to 100 percent post-consumer recycled printing paper, available in individual reams, as well as in bulk volume for offices.

7. Trend set with "Green Décor" - New eco-friendly bulletin boards are now available, which are made from 100 percent recycled rubber and are much more durable than traditional cork. Also look for natural and fast growing sisal, bamboo, and other plant fibers for rugs and other desk accessories.

8. Recycle Old Office Technology - Companies often upgrade technology for their employees without considering what to do with the old ones. Staples offers everyday, in-store recycling for a wide range of technology products through its EcoEasy recycling program. There are also trade-in events at Staples stores throughout the year, where customers can upgrade and recycle old technology.


Related: Important Tips For Buying Green PC

Source:http://www.northfloridanewsdaily.com/News/2008/1229/business_news/184.html
Read more!

Tips on how to save money, energy and the planet

Dreaming of a green Christmas

With a little bit of effort - maybe much less than you thought - you and your family can enjoy the holiday and help save the planet at the same time.

Holiday lights

Save money and energy by switching your old strands of incandescent holiday lights with newer light emitting diode holiday lights, which also are safer.

Plus, LEDs stay cool to the touch so they will not burn the tree or a child's fingers.

And, during the day shut off your holiday lights. It saves energy, and it allows your lights to last longer.

Wrapping

"Think about Christmas morning - you get done, and you have all these garbage bags full of trash," said Susan Angel, a green events planner from Boise.

The biggest thing someone can do to green their holiday, Angel said, is to do away with traditional wrapping paper and packaging, which often cannot be recycled.

Last year she made gift bags out of fabric.

"They are so easy to sew - three seams and a hem with a piece a ribbon," she said.

"If you are not real crafty, consider pillow cases tied with a ribbon." Other options include cloth or reusable gift or tote bags or wrapping gifts in usable items like dish towels or scarves. And try old newspapers, magazine pages, paper bags or old maps.

Last-minute shopping

Need to run to the mall one more time? BYOB; that's bring your own bag. Take your own cloth shopping bag and turn down clerks' offers of plastic bags.

Trees

Fake holiday trees are not environmentally friendly. Most are made in China from petroleum-based plastic and are not biodegradable, so they will sit in landfills for decades.

For a "greener" holiday tree consider a live, uncut tree, which can be replanted in your yard after the holidays.

Living Christmas trees can be purchased at some retail lots, choose-and-cut farms and some nurseries and garden centers.

The trees require a little extra attention. They need to acclimate for a couple of days in a garage or enclosed porch before being brought indoors, where they should not remain for more than one week. Then they should be gradually reintroduced to colder outdoor temperatures before being planted.

Fresh-cut Christmas trees from tree farms are a better choice than trees harvested from the wild.

Most fresh-cut Christmas trees now come from tree farms, so deforestation isn't an issue.

Additionally, Christmas tree farms keep large swaths of land from being developed. When the trees grow, they emit oxygen into the air.

When a cut holiday tree is past its glory, it can be recycled into mulch.

If you want to recycle your tree, do not use tinsel or spray it with fake snow, as tinsel and white trees cannot be recycled.

Gadgets

Here's a good rule for when your fancy new Christmas present replaces last year's electronics: If the gadget still works, donate it. If it is broken or antiquated, recycle it. But whatever you do, don't throw it in the trash.

E-waste is a growing environmental and public health concern as the world becomes more wired and companies introduce new products at a faster pace.

Discarded computers, televisions, cell phones, radios, batteries, cameras and other electronic gadgets contain a stew of toxic metals and chemicals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, brominated flame retardants and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.

The average cathode ray tube, found in green computer monitors, televisions and other electronic devices, contains up to 8 pounds of lead, which can leach into the ground and contaminate groundwater.

Old cell phones can be dropped off at Staples office supply stores for recycling.

And don't forget the batteries. Buy rechargeable batteries to accompany your electronic gifts, and consider giving a battery charger as well.

Related Post: Ways to go green with the remnants of your Christmas

Source: http://ydr.inyork.com/ci_11290435
Read more!

10 Ways Your PC Can Save You Money in the Bad Economy

As daily reports confirm, we're now officially in the longest recession since the 1940s, with consumer spending down for the first time since 1991. Whether you're one of the many people that want to avoid the cost of an unnecessary computer purchase and to continue using their old machine or you just managed to buy that dreamt-of newest model, the good news is you can follow these 10 easy steps outlined by the green PC tune-up experts at iolo technologies to make your system - old or new - go a long way in the bad economy.

The tips below can help keep your machine performing like the day you bought it. They will also help you save on energy, repair and recycling costs - perhaps enabling you to take advantage of some of this season's unexpected travel specials and finally go on that Caribbean vacation instead of spending money on expensive computer service and upgrades.

RAM memory - with these three steps, you'll soon forget you needed extra memory.

1. Remove unnecessary Windows startup programs.

Many software programs will load unnecessary portions of themselves during startup eating up both memory and processor power.

How to: Use System Mechanic with its vast knowledge base of startup programs to safely recommend and automatically remove unnecessary memory wasting startup programs.

2. Defragment your memory.

Memory fragmentation occurs over time as memory is allocated and released by programs. When RAM becomes highly fragmented and Windows runs out of free memory, programs do not have enough resources to function properly. Programs may not open or may run slower and frequently crash. Defragment your RAM and you'll liberate enough memory to save you from buying an upgrade.

How to: Use System Mechanic to automatically defrag and rescue wasted memory

3. Clean, compact and defragment the registry.

Inaccurate registry references frequently cause computer crashes and lock-ups, while a scattered and bloated registry wastes system memory and slows down Windows processing. With a cleaned-up and defragmented registry, programs will load faster and you'll be able to run more items at the same time, without the extra RAM.

How to: Use System Mechanic to clean up, compact and defragment your registry and gain back all that wasted RAM memory


Hard drive - with two easy steps, you'll save on buying a new one.

4. Defragment the hard drive.

As you create, delete, and download files, your computer cannot store data as one unit and instead will split it up and store pieces in various drive locations. A fragmented hard drive has a large amount of such scattered data and can significantly slow PC performance. Files take longer to open and programs take longer to start. Defragment the drive and you'll accomplish these common tasks faster without buying a bigger drive.

How to: Use System Mechanic to automatically keep your hard drives defragmented. System Mechanic will even defragment core Windows System files, boosting performance well beyond the capability of the Windows built-in defrag tool.

5. Clean up clutter.

Over time, your hard drive steadily accumulates gobs of unnecessary files - old downloads, temporary internet cache, etc. Clean it up and you can recover gigabytes of hard drive space without spending time and money needlessly searching for a larger replacement drive.
How to: Use System Mechanic to automatically keep your PC free of clutter and your hard drive running at maximum capacity.


Energy use - follow these steps and you'll see your energy bill shrink.

6. Turn off the screensaver.

Research reveals that 53 percent of computer users never turn off their machine or turn it off only before they call it a day. The Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program touts figures estimating that people can save $25 to $75 in energy costs a year by merely turning off their screensaver.

How to: Go to Control Panel / Display / Screensaver and turn off the screensaver.

7. Tune up your PC.

A tuned up computer uses less energy by allocating its resources more effectively. Tune up your PC and you'll be able to run programs faster, accomplish more, and dramatically reduce your energy bill at the same time.

How to: Use System Mechanic, with more than 40 advanced tools and a range of options to satisfy both novice and expert users, to automatically tune-up your machine.

8. Monitor the devices around your PC.

The various peripherals that are plugged directly into your computer use extra energy. Wireless mice and keyboards are expensive and require regular purchases of new batteries.

How to: Unplug peripherals when not in use and opt for wired mice and keyboards instead of wireless ones.


Everything else - regularly tune up your PC and you'll save on much more than just the component upgrades.

9. Perform comprehensive regular tune-up and maintenance and save money on expensive support calls and Service Center visits.

Service center visits and tech support calls can often be costly, time consuming and stressful. The good news is most of them can be avoided because the majority of Windows problems can be easily fixed by a software tune-up.

How to: Use System Mechanic's patent-pending ActiveCare technology to keep your computer automatically tuned-up.

10. Tune up your PC instead of throwing it out and you'll save on recycling costs too.

You wouldn't throw out your car if it started running a little slower and a simple tune-up would restore power, so avoid the same mistake with your PC when System Mechanic can easily and inexpensively bring it back to like-new performance. A study performed in 2001 showed that approximately half of 500 million computers discarded in the US were actually in good working order; their slowness named among the top reasons they were discarded. Before you decide to toss your trusted machine, consider the fact that disposing of your PC in an environmentally responsible way can be expensive. Even when you think you've recycled it, your old PC might end up being sold to third world countries, where underpaid employees will be exposed to hazardous substances in search for the precious metals contained in its parts. Limit the pollution, waste and your expenses by regularly tuning up your PC and thus extending its life well beyond the currently brief national 30-month average.

Related: Tips To Make Computer More Green

Source: prweb.com/releases/iolo_technologies/save_money/prweb1769194.htm
Read more!

World's First Eco-Computer Produced in Ireland

The world's first biodegradable computer, the iameco, has been manufactured in Dublin from bio-degradable wood panels made from waste products in the lumber and pulp industry.

During a visit to the company by Ireland's Minister for Science and Innovation, Jimmy Devins, the inventors of iameco, MicroPro Computers Ltd, said they could implant the seeds of native-tree species into the wood panels.

The minister's visit coincided with the announcement of details of a new Enterprise Ireland Green Technology Support for businesses.

"Our business is built around green technologies and using them to produce healthier, more energy-efficient and cheaper computers that have less impact on the environment," said Paul Maher, chief of MicroPro.

He added: "One advantage of iameco is that when the components are buried in landfill the wood gets wet, breaks down and new plants begin to grow from old computers."

In addition to the iameco computer, which uses one third less energy than conventional computers, the biodegradable wood can also be used to manufacture the computer monitor casing, keyboard and mouse.

Commenting on the success of iameco, Devins said: "The iameco computer story is a true example of innovation at work. Not only have MicroPro Computers developed a new, profitable product range but consumers now have the option of buying an environment Eco friendly computer or TV."

He added: "Enterprise Ireland's GreenTech Support can help companies find ways to reduce air pollution and effluents, conserve water and save energy in the workplace as well as come up with new environmentally friendly products."

Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/Hardware/Worlds_first_eco-computer_produced_in_Ireland/articleshow/3835796.cms
Read more!