7 Ways to Reduce your Computer-ecological Footprint at Work

Posted on August 29, 2007
Filed Under Sustainable Technology |

“What the hell is Computer-ecological?” you say?

I use this term to refer to an ecological footprint, which can be affected by technology based outcomes. Here are 7 ways you can reduce your footprint, so as to save on resources which can be used by those in the future:

1. Put your computer to sleep mode when you aren’t using it! When your computer sleeps (”standby”) the the computer uses 1-6 watts, while the monitor uses next to nothing. In fact, if you see a colleague LOCKING their computer instead of putting into standby mode, just flip-down their laptop and put it into standby mode for them. Heck, do it behind their back!
2. Run your computer on battery mode when you can, and only switch to Power (A/C) Mode when you need to charge it!
3. If you are working on a Desktop computer, put in a request for a Laptop Computer instead! Laptop computers use about 15-45 watts, where as a desktop computer uses anywhere between 65 watts to 250 watts!
4. If you are using a laptop, use the laptop screen as much as possible - don’t use an external CRT or LCD monitor! Approximately 50 to 80 watts are used up by large (17? or higher) screens.
5. An A4 piece of paper has two sides. Make use of both when printing in the office. Also, use Draft mode to save Ink tone, and use colour printing minimally!
6. Switch your screensaver from “fancy-pants-colourful-screen-animations” to a mode which allows the computer to go into standby or hibernate mode. Screensavers don’t really save much energy at all. They aim to “save” screen pixels, and that’s all really.
7. And lastly, don’t work late into the early hours of the morning! If you really need to do so, go work from home. Encourage other late workers as well, to not work late. Whilst many offices have automatic sensor lights for night-time workers, the truth is - these lights shouldn’t be on at all. Turning off lights = saving electricity for all.

However I must comment that computers only account for a fraction of energy that other appliances use. Although it may seem like it, people tend to forget the other things that are left on ALL day: Air conditioning, refrigeration, lighting, among many others. Make sure that if you do purchase / or run any of the above items, acquire energy efficient appliances. The more stars the better.

Purchasing energy efficient machines may cost you an arm and a leg more than the usual in the short term, but if you don’t go for that option, it is going to cost the planet much more in the long term.

Technorati Tags: environment, computer, technology, ecological footprint, saving_electricity

Popularity: 2% [?]

Comments