Attempts To Green Computing

It remains a hot issue that how to develop enviroment work in a period of economic recovery. You can’t pick up the newspaper, turn on the television, or surf the Internet, without being bombarded by hot topics such as global warming, rising greenhouse gas emissions and the world’s energy crisis. Or we have to find new ways to manage the lifestyle in a low level of cost.
According to the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), computers account for a relatively large portion of our electrical consumption—about 2% nationwide. The growing use of computers has caused a dramatic increase in energy consumption, which puts negative pressure on the environment. Each year consumers (and businesses) purchase more computers and put them to use, but it’s not just the sheer number of computers that is driving energy consumption upward. The way that we use computers also adds to the increasing energy burden.
You’re doing your part to help out by recycling and carpooling, but did you know the the most effective ways to increase energy efficiency and reduce waste starts with your computer to improve energy management?
You can take the “green computing” initiative as the beginning of your enviromental voyage. Buy “Energy Star” compliant peripherals. Before you buy, check with the manufacturer or on the Energy Star web site. Enable power management features. Thanks to the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA), personal computer systems purchased today can be easy on energy. These “Energy Star” computers and monitors can be programmed to automatically “power-down” to a low power state when they are not being used. These efficiency gains can be achieved without any sacrifice in computing performance.
Access computer and monitor power management features for Windows. First check to see that your monitor is Energy Star compliant (see above). Open ‘Display’ in the Control Panel, go to the ‘Settings’ tab, click on ‘Advanced Properties’ and choose the ‘Monitor’ tab. Check ‘Monitor is Energy Star compliant’ box click ‘OK’. The recommended settings are 20 minutes for monitor sleep and 30 minutes for system sleep.
If screen saver images appear on your monitor for more than 5 minutes, you are wasting energy! Screen saver programs may save the phosphors in your monitor screen, but this is not really a concern with newer monitors, especially LCD screens. And they certainly don’t save energy. A blank screen saver is slightly better but even that only reduces monitor energy consumption by a few percent.
Don’t run all your equipments unless it is in need. You could swith off the laser printer, the sound plot etc. if you don’t need them. If practical, informally group your computer activities and try to do then during one or two parts of the day, leaving the computer off at other times.
After all the essential measures to greenize computing is the scientific progress. You could upload and download files of large amout in a flash time. The waste would be reduced to a minimum in electicity by improving the capacity of the CPU and LED.
It is also beneficial to the recycling of used computers. Globally over 35 million PC’s are thrown away ever year - yet there are many companies now recycling or reconditioning components or whole computers. Don’t throw it away. Your old computer might be worth something either to a dealer, a local school or a charity.

Related posts

• Too much food get you older (0)
• To Reuse And Recycle Books And Magazines (0)
• Summer life (0)
• Smart Meters in energy saving (1)
• Renewable Energy Against Economic Recession (0)

Tags: attempt, computer, energy, green, waste

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 18th, 2009 at 6:55 pm and is filed under findings in science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.