Sony Vaio become the 1000th PC to Snag Eco Label

A Sony Vaio has become the 1000th PC to snag the coveted EPEAT eco label. EPEAT, which stands for Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, is a US labelling scheme that was launched in July 2006 and rates computer products on their environmental impact.

The laptop to pass the one thousand mark was the Sony VGN-SR290PDB, a business machine with a 13.3-inch screen, 2.26GHz Intel Core Duo 2 processor and LED back light. It grabbed gold in EPEAT's three-tier rating system, and scored highly for minimising toxic materials and being designed for recycling.

"The EPEAT rating system provides a simple, credible way to measure 'green' when it comes to electronic products, and that has enabled thousands of purchasers to significantly reduce the environmental impact of their computing", said Jeff Omelchuck, EPEAT executive director.

Key criteria for the EPEAT scheme include reduction of toxic materials, energy efficiency and how easy a product is to recycle.

Source:pocket-lint.co.uk/news/news.phtml/19812/20836/1000th-computer-awarded-EPEAT-badge.phtml
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Green Batteries, Soon For HP Notebooks

If you are a laptop owner, you know how frustrating it is to run out of battery when you’re nowhere near an electrical socket. No matter how long your battery life is, it’s certainly never enough. Other issues involving batteries have been known to include overheating, igniting and even exploding. Also, even if your laptop’s battery last for 5 or 6 hours, with the Wireless adapter turned on while you’re watching a movie and browsing the Internet, you can stop smiling smugly – in about two years or so, your battery will lose most of its maximum capacity, and your computer will die on you while you’re in the middle of a Lost episode.

However, efforts are being made in this delicate area of technology, to ensure that laptop users worldwide can enjoy their computers to the fullest, without dragging a cord around with them. In 2005, researcher Christina Lampe-Onnerud founded Boston-Power Inc., a company that aims to develop lithium ion batteries that can keep their maximum capacity for three years, without losing a minute.

Of course, the implications of such a discovery and, consequently, of such production, distribution and use are not only important when it comes to the laptop users’ comfort, but are vital to the environment. With batteries acting like new for such a long period of time, fewer batteries will be wasted, and replacements won’t be as necessary as before – or at least, not as often.

One company that has shown interest in Boston-Power Inc.’s novel idea is the world’s largest manufacturer of computers, namely HP. The company has announced that users may purchase green batteries from Boston-Power Inc.’s Sonata line as an upgrade for some of HP’s computers, as soon as 2009.

Source:efluxmedia.com/news_Green_Batteries_Soon_For_HP_Notebooks_31043.html
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IBM, Harvard want your PC for solar power study

Scientists at Harvard University and IBM are hoping to harness the power of a million idle computers to develop a new, cheaper form of solar power that could revolutionize the green energy world.

Researchers have launched the project using IBM's World Community Grid, which taps into volunteers' computers across the globe to run calculations on a myriad of compounds -- potentially shortening a project that could take 22 years to just two years.

Harvard scientists are hoping the project will allow it to discover a combination of organic materials that can be used to manufacture plastic solar cells that are cheaper and more flexible than the silicon-based ones typically used to turn sunlight into electricity.

The technology could be used to coat windows, make backpacks or line blankets to produce electricity from the sun's rays.

Technology to make the plastic cells already exists, but they are not yet efficient enough to be rolled out in commercial products.

"It is not now cost efficient, although the materials are cheap because it's plastic," said Alan Aspuru-Guzik, a chemistry researcher at Harvard University.

The most efficient silicon-based photovoltaic solar cells convert about 20 percent of the sunlight that strikes them into electricity. For now, the organic cells can turn only about 5 percent of the sunlight into power -- half the level needed to make the low-cost cells a viable energy source.

The researchers plan to publish results of the work once they have discovered a possible combination of compounds.

TAPPING THE MATRIX

IBM developed its World Community Grid to advance research of humanitarian projects, such as fighting cancer, dengue fever and AIDS. The grid connects computers in homes or offices via the Internet with program on each machine to run calculations that feed back to the database.

"It's a way for people that have computers to do some good for the world," said IBM engineer Joe Jasinski.

With more than a million volunteers currently linked to the World Community Grid, IBM said it had created a network with a massive calculating capability that would rank it among the top 10 most powerful supercomputers in the world.

Source: reuters.com
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Webroot offers free security hardware recycling

IT security firm Webroot has teamed up with recycling company Centillion to launch a Go Green (PDF) campaign, which offers to recycle legacy security hardware for free when customers sign up to Webroot's software-as-a-service (Saas) offering.

The new programme is available to any customer who replaces a security appliance or an on-premise security system with a Webroot SaaS security product.

As part of the deal, the company will send the customer a prepaid shipping label to transport the hardware to the closest Centillion facility in the UK.

"When we realised that the tremendous success of security SaaS solutions would be making hardware-based security obsolete, we took steps to provide a socially responsible alternative for recycling this influx of electronic waste, " said Peter Watkins, chief executive at Webroot.

"The move to the SaaS model will greatly reduce the need for on-premise hardware, which will help lower the amount of electronic waste and conserve energy."

Once the hardware has been properly recycled, the customer will receive a certificate of authentication to help with compliance.

"The European WEEE Directive calls for businesses to dispose of electronic and electrical equipment efficiently and safely, and we are excited to be working with Webroot on its Go Green computer initiative to aid those companies to become compliant with EU legislation," said Craig Millward, sales and marketing director at Centillion.

Estimates from the US Environmental Protection Agency suggest that 2.25 million tons of TVs, mobile phones and computer products have already been discarded in the US. Only 18 per cent, or 414,000 tons, was collected for recycling, and the remaining 1.84 million tons was sent to landfill sites in the US and third world countries.

Source: vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2231848/webroot-offers-free-security
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Lenovo Introduces Two New ThinkCenter PCs

Lenovo today announced two new PCs, the ThinkCentre M58/58p and the ThinkCentre A57e, aimed at helping customers stretch their IT dollar.

The ThinkCentre M58/M58p is Lenovo’s greenest, most secure and most manageable ThinkCentre desktop PC yet with Power Manager1, a ThinkVantage technology that allows PC users to control their electricity consumption remotely, and available for the first time ever on a ThinkCentre PC.

The ThinkCentre A57e, targeted at emerging markets, is perfectly suited for first time users that want a highly reliable, simple-to-use PC with accompanying services. Continuing Lenovo’s heritage of producing highly reliable PCs, it delivers rock solid quality and convenience by incorporating the latest ThinkVantage Technologies productivity and management tools.

“The design goal for the ThinkCentre M58/M58p was to be the greenest, most secure, most manageable and quietest ThinkCentre ever and we’ve achieved it in this eco-friendly powerhouse,” said Ronnie Lee, Country General Manager, Lenovo Singapore and Brunei. “And to meet the needs of this region’s emerging market and first-time-user needs, the ThinkCentre A57e gives businesses an affordable, hassle-free desktop solution.”

Greater Control, Greater Savings with Remote Power Management: ThinkCentre M58/M58p

The ThinkCentre’s M58/M58p’s Power Manager allows customers to save energy and lower electricity costs by enabling system administrators to monitor and remotely control the amount of electricity used by all Power Manager enabled desktops in a PC fleet. For example, PCs can be programmed to shut down evenings or weekends. Through the use of Power Manager and Intel vPro technologies, the ThinkCentre M58p provides the user with the lowest total cost of ownership of any ThinkCentre.

Further solidifying the ThinkCentre M58/M58p as one of the industry’s leading green computing solutions is the gold status achieved from the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool organization, or EPEAT. Lenovo has a total of 24 ThinkCentre desktops that have become EPEAT Gold certified. EPEAT was created to provide a green standard for electronics purchases. The M58/M58p has also passed the stringent testing of GREENGUARD Environmental Institute, which probed for the presence of up to 2,000 potentially harmful contaminants, in addition to receiving the GREENGUARD Certification for Children & Schools, which takes into account children’s higher sensitivity to pollutants.

The ThinkCentre M58/M58p is also the first ThinkCentre PC to support Hardware Password Manager (HPM), which allows for oversight of user, supervisory, BIOS and HDD passwords. HPM is available in April, 2009 and requires a separate software purchase. Previous ThinkCentre versions of a password manager only allowed for password management at the software level. Additionally, the user can disable/enable USB and PS2 ports for complete “security” peace of mind.

Available in three form factors – Tower, Small Form Factor and Ultra Small Form Factor – the ThinkCentre M58p offers top performance with Intel vPro processing technology: Intel Core2 Duo E8x00 or Core2 Quad Q9xx0. The ThinkCentre M58 offers the Intel Q45 chipset with ICH10-DO. The ThinkCentre M5/M58p is also quieter and cooler than any previous ThinkCentre: across all form factors, it is up to six decibels quieter than the ThinkCentre M57/M57p and the hard drive and the processor power module run six and eleven percent cooler, respectively, than the M57/M57p. Embracing new technology, the M58/M58p is the first ThinkCentre with onboard Displayport.

The ThinkCentre M58/M58p comes with a limited, three-year onsite warranty with next business day service. End of life disposal solutions round out Lenovo’s commitment to green computing and preserving the environment. By doing so, customers may be able to receive cash back to offset the costs of future PC purchases, further lowering their total cost of ownership.

Built for Emerging Markets: ThinkCentre A57e

The ThinkCentre A57e continues Lenovo’s heritage of making highly reliable PCs and delivers rock-solid quality and convenience to customers by incorporating the latest ThinkVantange Technologies including Rescue and Recovery with Express Repair for recovering many system issues in 2-3 minutes and System Update that automatically downloads the latest updates over the Internet.

It provides emerging-market and first-time users access to the latest Lenovo technology and award-wining service and support at an attractive price point.

The ThinkCentre A57e incorporates the latest Intel technology with the Intel ATOM processor and is ideal for first time buyers looking at empowering their business with affordable, hassle free desktop solutions. Lenovo’s ThinkCentre A57e inherits the ThinkCentre’s ease-of-use design and is built to international quality standards with a stainless steel chassis for greater durability

Preloaded Windows Operating System and Microsoft Office (Trial)/Adobe Reader makes A57e ready for daily business use out of box.

The ThinkCentre A57e is designed to perform in severe environments making it ideal for first time PC users and customers in emerging markets. The hardworking Lenovo A57e delivers secure and reliable word processing capabilities while delivering social networking, photo and video entertainment functions that make it an ideal all round PC. The A57e comes with 1 year onsite support with options for a 3-year upgrade.

Related Links:

Lenovo Introdcing Energy Efficient and Green PC

Lenovo to launch "Blue Sky" green PC

Source: hardwarezone.com/news/view.php?id=12259&cid=11
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Acer Bringing Greener 'always-on' PC to United Kingdom

Taiwanese computer giant Acer has teamed up with CyberLink and Intel to bring a computer to the UK that you can leave on without having to feel too guilty about the environment.

The problem with media streamers is that they are far from green because of the need to leave them powered up.

However, the collaboration between the three companies should allow the Acer Aspire M5700 desktop to give a greener solution – using Intel's Remote Wake Technology and CyberLink's Live Premium remote media access web service.

Unnecessary PC power consumption

"We are pleased that Acer and CyberLink are supporting Intel Remote Wake Technology on the new Aspire M5700 Consumer PC with Cyberlink Live software allowing consumers to have anytime access to their digital content from connected devices while reducing unnecessary PC power consumption," said Intel's mobile platforms group Marketing Director Joseph Van De Water.

"Intel Remote Wake Technology provides the keys to unlocking the digital lifestyle needs of the mainstream and multimedia PC user by providing perfect balance of access and energy efficiency."

"Protect the Earth"

Obviously, leaving anything on is less energy efficient than turning it off, but Acer believe it is important that people who are likely to keep their machines powered up can take advantage of technology to minimise the impact.

"Acer is proud to work with Intel and Cyberlink to protect the Earth through Acer's Aspire M5700 desktop computer, said Acer's Allen Jong.

"By our joint efforts, users may access and enjoy their multimedia from anywhere, anytime.

"Moreover, this technology solution enables the user to play an active role in protecting our environment by reducing carbon dioxide and unnecessary electric usage."

Source: techradar.com/news/computing/acer-bringing-greener-always-on-pc-to-uk-490038
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Intel, HP Strengthen Green Computing Campaigns

Reaffirming their commitment to green computing, Intel and HP announced planet-saving initiatives at the "Greenergy" forum, a slight twist from the Synergy event that the two have been jointly organizing since 1997.

"There's been a lot of talk about efforts (that) everybody's doing, steps they are undertaking in terms of greening," said Ricky Banaag, Intel Technology Philippines Inc. country manager, who explained that Intel's approach to "eco-technology" is driven through four pillars: sustainable manufacturing, energy-efficient performance, design for the environment, and policy and industry.

According to Banaag, Intel has long been working on reducing the environmental impact of the company's operations through various initiatives like: solid waste and consumer recycling to reduce e-waste, packaging reductions of 16-40 percent which decreased number of shipments and fuel consumption, and the pursuit of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for fabrication plants and buildings, among many others.

In the next five years, Banaag said Intel has the following environmental goals: to reduce absolute global warming gas footprint by 2012 from 2007 levels; reduce energy consumption per chip 5 percent per year from 2007 through 2012; ensure that Intel products maintain energy efficiency for the next two product generations; reduce water use per chip by 2012 from 2007 levels; reduce generation of chemical waste per chip by 10 percent by 2012 from 2007 levels; and recycle 80 percent of chemical and solid waste generated per year.

Banaag also shared that Intel, along with Google and the World Wildlife Fund, has been actively promoting the Climate Savers Computing Initiative which aims to improve computing energy efficiency by 50 percent (by collectively saving $5.5 billion in energy costs) as well as to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions by 54 million tons per year.

Meanwhile, HP has been just as busy with similar greening initiatives both internally and in the products that they come up with as they see more customers, especially enterprise consumers, are actually also beginning to look at what companies like HP are currently doing to promote greening.

Aside from its reduced energy consumption and recycling initiatives, HP has been coming up with flat panel displays instead of cathode ray tube (CRT) screens since the former are said to use less material and energy. The company has also been renewing its inkjet packaging and pouring in investments on energy-efficient product lines like the HP server processors, desk jet printers, laser jet printers, blade PCs, xw6400 workstation, and its servers and storage.

HP Philippines managing director David Tan shared that HP has collaborated with Dreamworks Animation in coming up with the Halo studio--a network of rooms that lets HP employees meet with colleagues from across the globe by providing life-size, real-time, eye-to-eye conferencing with no delay. According to Tan, use of the Halo studio in global HP offices has led to productivity gains and huge travel cost savings. Asked whether the HP office in the Philippines shall have a Halo studio set up as well, Tan said the Philippines is one of the countries recommended to install Halo, most likely by next year.

HP has also embarked on the "Planet Partners Program" which offers to take back end-of-life HP and non-HP computing equipment like PCs, handhelds, notebooks, servers, printers, etcetera, for recycling. According to Tan, HP has, in fact, recycled more than 250 million HP print cartridges worldwide since the inception of the Planet Partners program in 1991.

In the future, Tan says HP will continue to "green" its operations by reducing their combined product and operations energy use and associated greenhouse gases (GHGs) by 25 percent in 2010 and recover 2 billion pounds of computing and printing equipment by 2010.

Source: cio.in/news/viewArticle/ARTICLEID=5800014
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