Sony Vaio Goes Green

Sony today took the wraps off four environmentally friendly Vaio notebooks.

The Graphic Splash Eco Edition notebooks, based on the Vaio FZ series, feature several eco-friendly features, including having easily recycled components, packaging made primarily of recycled materials, RoHS compliant components, free recycling and it is part of Sony’s rechargeable battery recycling program offered at Sony Style stores and participating retailers.

The laptops feature four “green” inspired case designs, Caribbean Water, Clay Earth, Spotted Life and Bloom. Suggested retails for the line start at $1,391 and Sony will donate 1 percent of each sale to For The Planet, an alliance of businesses committed to creating a healthier environment.

Another part of this launch has Sony offering a rebate on the purchase of any new Vaio notebook to consumers who trade in their old PC for recycling.
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Businesses can see cost benefits of green, says Fujitsu

Energy savings 'more than offset the higher cost of low-energy hardware', says CEO Businesses are beginning to understand the financial benefits of being green, according to the CEO of Europe’s largest PC manufacturer, Fujitsu Siemens.

At the company’s annual event in Munich, called VisIT 2007, Bernd Bischoff told Computerworld UK that firms now understood that the higher initial cost of much low-energy equipment was outweighed by the cost savings from cutting electricity usage.

He said that while being green was an attractive image for businesses to present, most arguments still came down to the bottom line and this was where green IT could be most attractive.

“A business might spend €300 (£200) more on an energy-efficient PC but recoup that in a year and a half on lower bills. And in a large business that could easily add up to hundreds of thousands of euros saved every two years" said Bischoff.

“And the savings from efficient datacentres can translate into millions of euros,” he added.

But Bischoff admitted that pressure from regulatory bodies, environmentally conscious shareholders and customers was also playing a part in convincing companies to demonstrate more respect for the environment.

“A lot of companies want to be a part of the green movement rather than outsiders,” he said.

“But some are just talking about it rather than doing it. Only when they do will they see the real savings.”

Fujitsu Siemens said 2007 would come to be known as the year where green IT finally took "centre stage” among businesses.

It said it was also committed to having a green business that used less wasteful production techniques and recycled 98% of materials. It said this included keeping the supply chain green by working with distributors to cut down excessive carbon emissions in transport.

“It’s for this reason that we produce in Germany, while most other people make PCs in Asia,” said Bischoff. “The environmental damage caused by excessive transportation, and the high cost of oil, far outweigh the benefits of cheaper production.”

src: http://www.computerworlduk.com/green-computing/ENV/BestPractice/news/index.cfm?newsid=6076

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Marvell intorduces Energy Efficient Laptops

Marvell Introduces Breakthrough Technology to Cut PC Energy Use and Help Reduce Carbon Footprint.

Marvell has announced new digital power technology to lower PC and notebook power consumption. The company supplies OEMS making PC and notebook power supplies.

Marvell spokesperson Linda Sanders said: "Overall the power savings could vary from 35 to 50 percent depending on how the computer is being used."

The new chips are DSPs (digital signal processors), which dynamically adapt power characteristics in real time for power supplies and power adapters for PCs and notebook computers, by better controlling the AC-DC current switching needed.

The digitalisation of power supplies has been talked about for some time.

Digital signal processing involves digitising an input analogue signal, such as a sound stream, modifying its digital profile in real time to produce a desired characteristic, such as enhanced bass notes, and then feeding the modified sound stream to a device, such as a loudspeaker, and producing a better outcome.

With Marvell's power factor correction (PFC) technology, incoming electric current to a PC or notebook has its profile modified through a DSP chip. It determines the amount of power required for users’ applications that keeps the peak current at the lowest level, improving energy efficiency.

It does this with an adaptive drive capability which intelligently adjusts the electricity supply profile to reduce power supply switching losses and also reduces electro-magnetic interference.

Voltage and current are brought into phase; they arrive in separate waves, wasting less energy than present technology. Sanders said: "Being out of phase generates a lot of heat as you may know if you've ever picked up your notebook adapter after it's been running awhile."

Adaptive current limits are also automatically adjusted for varying current threshold limits worldwide, which adds system protection and reliability.

Marvell-based notebook adapters are approximately one-third smaller and lighter than current notebook adapters. This is because the new components can replace up to 20 individual parts used currently and so simplify power supply design as well as increasing power efficiency.

Sanders said: "Notebook and desktop PC vendors source power supplies from other vendors rather than building them directly. We are working with several power supply vendors who are based in Asia." In effect: "We're working with all the leading PC vendors as we supply a range of components including storage, networking and Wi-Fi chips."

Larry Qua, chairman and CEO at Ionics EMS, a supplier of IT power equipment to computer manufacturers, said: “With more functionality integrated onto a single chip, we can build our power supplies with fewer components thus saving cost and reducing design and manufacturing complexity. We are using Marvell’s chips to build energy-efficient notebook adapters as well as power supplies for applications such as flat-screen TVs and printers.”

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that there are more than 10 billion AC-DC power supplies used in computing, telecommunications, and consumer electronics world-wide. According to the EPA, more efficient power supply designs could significantly reduce US energy use, saving nearly $3 billion and about 24 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

The US Energy Star rating system for PCs mandates that AC power efficiency has to reach 80 percent. By reducing the proportion of wasted energy at the power input stage the rest of a computer's components have less individual work to do to increase the computer's overall power efficiency.

Marvell's 88EM8041 controller chip for notebook adapters and 88EM8011 controller chip for desktop power supplies are in production now with volume ramp anticipated for Q1’08.

src: http://www.techworld.com/green-it/news/index.cfm?newsID=10566&pagtype=all
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How Green is your Mac?

There’s a lot of talk about going green these days, even from Mr. Jobs himself, so I thought I’d show you a few easy ways to cut down on the amount of energy your Mac uses. These steps can easily be followed by any Mac user; in fact, the same concepts can be applied to PCs running Microsoft Windows. These tips will not only save you electricity and paper, but also could help your computer last longer.

Screen Savings

First go to the “Energy Saver” section of System Preferences. In the second drop down box you can simply choose “Better Energy Savings” and the sliders below will shift to be more conservative about how your computer uses resources.



Your display will turn off after 5 minutes, so it shouldn’t interfere with your work, but will also start saving energy soon after you walk away. Also, the actual computer itself doesn’t doze off for another 5 minutes, so a quick flick of the mouse and the computer is instantly wide awake within a full 10 minutes of inactivity. Another point to note is that you should put your hard disk(s) to sleep when possible (check that little box on the bottom). Not only will this save energy, but it will also help your hard drive last longer. One caveat though, is that if you often come back to your computer soon after the HD shuts down, this could actually have an adverse affect when it it started and stopped frequently.

One disadvantage to this plan is illustrated by the bright yellow “!” caution symbol; you won’t have any time to display a fancy screen saver in the 5 minutes you leave your screen on. If you really like your screen saver, you could have it go for the 5 minutes before your whole computer goes to sleep, but the display is a big electricity hog, so have it turned off as soon as possible.


Unlimited Paper in a Paperless World

Have you ever printed a several-page document and thought about all the extra paper wasted? One good way to save paper is by choosing a smaller font, to minimize the number of pages needed. Also, you can choose to print in black and white, or lower the ink volume to conserve your pricey ink cartridges.




General Tips

* Turn off your Mac if you’re not using it for a few days
* Always recycle your electronics
* Don’t turn your Mac on and off every night, this wastes more energy than having it sleep for those hours
* Turn off Bluetooth and WiFi if you aren’t using them. This goes a long way in getting better battery life as well
* Email rather than Fax

src: http://macapper.com/2007/11/03/how-green-is-your-mac/

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Dell Tells Business How To Become Greener

As energy prices rise and the use of technology guzzles power supply, Dell today urged small and medium businesses (SMBs) to be more environmentally responsible and energy efficient while saving money in the process. Rather than being a cost to the business which is a worry of many SMBs, there are, according to the PC maker, green business practices that can help businesses save money.

Erin Nelson, Director, Marketing for Small and Medium Business division, Dell UK, said: “As a result of rising energy prices and global environmental concerns, green business practices are a hot topic in today’s marketplace. If correctly implemented, these practices can lead to significant cost savings and increased profitability. As such, embracing environmentally responsible practices often makes smart business sense.”

“But being environmentally smart in the office extends beyond switching to energy efficient light-bulbs and turning off heating when it is not in use,” continued Nelson, Dell UK. “Knowing where to begin to reduce carbon footprint can be daunting, particularly for small businesses so Dell has put together some easy to implement top tips to help businesses.”

Tips from Dell:-

- Consider power management software. It can remotely switch PCs off and on and automatically saves any documents open on the screen. PCs can be set to come on in the mornings, ready for when employees get into the office.

- Default printers to print double sided and do the same for photocopies; this reduces the amount of paper used.

- Consider virtual working methods which allow employees to work from home and utilise ‘hot desks’ when in the office. This can cut down the amount of office space and furniture required and the energy used.

- Invest in server consolidation and virtualisation technologies that are not only more energy efficient but also make better use of existing hardware.

- Invest in power efficient products. Many servers on today’s market for example, consume up to 25 per cent less energy than previous generations and many computers use up to 70 per cent less power than previous models.

- Recycle or donate end-of-life computer equipment. There are a number of services available to businesses that offer safe and environmentally acceptable IT disposal solutions. Additionally, the EU has introduced the Waste Electrical and Electronic.

- Equipment (WEEE) Directive, which means that manufacturers of electrical goods will be responsible for the safe disposal of their products, even after they are sold.

src: http://www.carbonfree.co.uk/cf/news/wk44-07-0003.htm
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Wal-Mart Gets $200 "Green" PC

Of all the retailers out there, Wal-Mart probably wouldn't rate high on environmentalists' lists of green retailers. But,that's where you're going to have to go if you want to get your hands on a new self-titled "green" PC that will cost just $199.

The Everex TC2502 gPC is a low-powered and limited-spec desktop computer that runs a version of Linux called Ubuntu rather than the much more popular Windows or Mac operating system. Ubuntu is a free operating system that looks and feels much like the competition, but doesn't offer the compatibility that even a Macintosh can offer to the ubiquitous Windows PC.

Linux has gained a lot of popularity over the past few years, finding itself installed in all sorts of devices. And, there are software applications out there for the operating system that will do everything you can do on a PC, including opening and reading files from most of the applications in Microsoft's Office suite. However, Office itself is not available, nor are most games. But given the seriously lightweight nature of the specs for this machine, you'd be hard-pressed to get any modern games to run anyway.

Those lightweight specs lead to reduced power consumption -- hence the "g" in the gPC name -- which is obviously aimed at the eco-mindful consumer.

As Engadget points out, however, this computer is rather wasteful in other regards. Internally, the system uses miniaturized components to help reduce power consumption and cost, but ironically the manufacturer throws them all into a big, plastic, non-biodegradeable full-sized case. Apparently this is due to Wal-Mart research that indicates its customers consider a larger PC to be a more powerful one, a notion that will make smart shoppers everywhere shake their heads.
Src: http://www.switched.com/2007/11/01/wal-mart-gets-200-green-pc/
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Dell Helps Consumers Support Green Technology with New Energy Star 4.0 Desktop

To further extend their bid to become the "greenest" technology company on Earth, Dell has announced a new desktop for consumers that is Energy Star 4.0-compliant.

The new PC from Dell, the Inspiron 531, is powered by an 80 percent efficient power supply and specially configured to switch to a low power sleep state after 15 minutes of inactivity.

The PC, which meets Energy Star 4.0 requirements, also comes with a forest-friendly, paperless owner's manual.

According to a company news release, consumers who use an energy-efficient desktop such as their latest offering, together with a flat panel monitor will, over the course of four years, reduce C02 emissions by approximately the same amount as not driving a car for eight weeks.

The Inspiron 531 is now available to all US customers at a starting price of $369.00.

"We are committed to providing consumers a choice that helps protect the environment without sacrificing the performance needed to maintain a rich, high-definition digital experience." said Karen Plotkin, director of consumer desktop marketing in a statement to the press. "Consumers using this energy-efficient Inspiron 531 can reduce their carbon footprint while also reducing their electric bills."
src: http://www.tmcnet.com/green/articles/13580-dell-helps-consumers-support-green-technology-with-new.htm

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