29 Apr 09 Turn Your Office Into An Environmentally Friendly Zone

With all the talk of global warming, most of us are looking for ways that we can reduce our own carbon footprint. You know, that one we’ve been stamping across the face of the earth for our entire lives. Although most people don’t take the time, there are plenty of ways that you can easily do that, and also greatly reduce the negative effect you’re having on the environment. Essentially just by changing your workstation into a more eco-friendly set-up, you‘re already taking a huge step in the right direction. And the first thing you’ll want to keep in mind while setting up either your home workstation or your office, is in looking for products that meet common green technology standards.

First off you want computers and monitors with easy to replace parts and accessories. That way if something breaks down you can easily replace and repair the computer parts, and save that PC for longer. The longer you can get your PC to function at the top level, the longer it’s not rotting in a landfill polluting the environment more than it already is in your office.

Also try and find as much refurbished technology as possible, as this is simple recycling in itself. That way you’re still purchasing quality items for your office, but also reusing someone else’s unwanted technology. Anything that keeps trash from building up is a positive move to make, and the earth will thank you for it in her own way.

When outfitting your office or home workstation with furniture, you want to look for products that contain recycled steel, plastic, and wood. That way no new trees or resources need to be exhausted for something as humble as your desk or chair. Which is also why, like with the technology, you want to find refurbished products if at all possible. Refurbished is as good as new, and much better for mother earth.

Also remember to do the important energy saving techniques that benefit even existing workstations that may not exactly conform to eco-friendly standards in their current condition. Such as changing the settings on your computer so that the machine will automatically go to sleep when not in use, therefore expending much less energy. Or if you don’t use your computer for much else than work, you could also use the energy settings to change how much processor power you use at any one time. If you don’t need all of your processor’s power to accomplish your tasks, you may as well save the energy that’s wasted from extra speed that you don’t need.

Use natural light as much as possible by opening the shades on your windows, instead of using artificial light all day. This will greatly change the amount of power you waste by not having lights running that you don’t need.

Print only when absolutely necessary. It’s the information age, there’s almost nothing you can’t transmit electronically, so help save a tree by making sure you don’t waste massive excesses of paper for documents you don’t really need to print. But then, when you do need to print and eventually run out of ink, refill the cartridge instead of buying a new one. That will greatly reduce the amount of plastic you’re throwing away, and plastic isn’t exactly biodegradable, so again, you’ll be greatly helping the environment by wasting less.

And saving the environment is after all, the name of the game, at least until we have the technology to relocate to another habitable planet in this galaxy or the next. But at this point and time, that’s just out of our reach, so just to be safe, be as green as possible for the time being. Don’t forget, conserving energy conserves cash you don’t have to shell out on your electrical bill.

Tags: Carbon Footprint, Computer Parts, Desk Chair, Eco Friendly, Environmentally Friendly, Face Of The Earth, Furniture, Green Technology, Home Workstation, Landfill, Monitors, Mother Earth, Office Workstation, Recycling, Step In The Right Direction, Technology Standards, Trash, Trees, Workstations

Filed in Business Ideas with 0 Comments

15 Mar 09 Techie Advice | Go Green Technology!

As much as technology is great for using the internet, running a personal business, or just being socially knowledgeable in this day and age, many IT professionals do not consider the ecological drawbacks of their industry. Little by little, however, inventions are coming out in the market that can change this. If you want to get an idea of what is out there, here are two energy efficient pieces of technology:

MSI has an eco-friendly MSI Wind Nettop CS120. The size of this desktop PC hard drive is about 11.1 x 9.45 x 2.56 inches, while including a slot-load DVD burner, an Intel Atom 230 1.6GHz processor, a 160GB hard-drive and a 1GB of DDR2 SODIMM memory. This desktop PC is reported to save about 90% on energy costs!
Marvell Technologies has a plug in computer that is about the size of an adapter! It is called the SheevaPlug and it also saves on 90% of electricity use. It has a 1.2GHz processor, 512MB of DRAM and 512MB of flash memory storage. It connects to the world-wide web through Gigabit Ethernet or through a USB port. For all you Linux fans, this mini-computer support Linux 2.6 distributions. For $99 this turn you into a green techie in no time. Considering the amount of plastic that it takes to build a regular sized computer, energy efficiency is not its only highlight!

These two are not as eye-catching as the technology projects featured on the Greener Gadgets Design Competition website. The SheevaPlug reminds me of Blink, a photocell controller for outlets. I know, I know! Blink isn’t a mini-computer for your entertainment needs. But it sure acts like one by giving users the opportunity to program their media centers, security programs, or even their lighting and housing temperatures. Basically, Blink blinks. Its infrared photocell acts like an eye that reacts to natural light. Its “eyelid” adjusts to what it “sees”. I could really use a product like this that would reduce the large amount of energy I waste after writing these blog posts!

However, my all time favorite “Go Green!” technology is the ASUS Bamboo laptop. This is something you have to see to believe! It reminds me of the old “woodie” cars of the 1950s. The ASUS touchpad for this laptop is bamboo themed too. I wonder though if Bamboo laptops will be as popular when they have a hefty price tag of more than $3,000? Maybe they’ll have a cheaper bamboo desktop in the future. They already have a bamboo mouse!

Tags: 160gb Hard Drive, Array, Competition Website, Computer Support, Design Competition, Desktop Pc, Energy Costs, Energy Efficiency, Flash Memory Storage, Green Technology, Inventions, Mini Computer, Nettop, Personal Business, Photocell Controller, Security Programs, Sized Computer, Sodimm Memory, Support Linux, Technology Projects, Usb Port

Filed in General, Technology with 0 Comments

29 Apr 09 Turn Your Office Into An Environmentally Friendly Zone

15 Mar 09 Techie Advice | Go Green Technology!

Translator

Recent Posts

IT List Favorites

Categories

Gossimer Press Releases

Gossimer Promotions and Announcements