TechSoup Blog - GreenTech

5 Things You Can Do in 5 Minutes to Reduce Your Power Use – Part 4: Enhance Your Impact

Anna Jaeger — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:58:21 -0800

Enter our contest! Read this post, take two simple actions, and complete a quick survey!

This is the final post in a four-part series. Part 1 of this series listed the five actions we recommend that you take to reduce the power use of your computer. Part 2 and Part 3 explained in more detail how you could easily complete four cost-saving actions. This post explains the fifth and final action in this campaign — how you can multiply the positive impact you have had on the environment by getting others involved.

Softchoice found that 93% of PCs are still running Windows XP, which did not default to having power management turned on.

In Can Windows 7 make PCs Green? Todd Bishop writes, "With hundreds of millions of PCs draining batteries and tapping into power outlets around the world, even a small tweak in Microsoft Windows can influence global energy consumption."

With numbers like these, it is imperative that we convince as many people as possible to reduce their IT power use.

Save Energy: Unplug Abandoned Equipment

Anna Jaeger — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:42:25 -0800

One of our forum hosts, Dave Welp, suggested these quick, power-saving tips:

1. Look for abandoned telecom equipment like old modems and PBX; search for un-utilized or under-utilitized servers or computers used by former staff and volunteers.

2. Clean up your power strip: Look for plugs to those old calculators or speakers.

3. Electronics continue to consume electricity even when in an off state, so either turn them off at a power strip, or unplug them entirely.

More tips like these can be found on our energy reduction mini-tips page.

5 Things You Can Do in 5 Minutes to Reduce Your Power Use – Part 3: Hardware

Anna Jaeger — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:43:59 -0800

Enter our contest! Read this post, take two simple actions and complete a quick survey! Read on for more info.

Part 1 of this series listed the five actions we recommend that you take to reduce the power use of your computer. Part 2 explained in more detail, two cost-saving actions and tells you how to complete those two actions. This post, fills in the details about two more recommendations.

Upfront Cost, but Should Save You Money Within the Year

3. Order a smart power strip.

Light green: easy individual actions

These types of power strips automatically turn off your peripherals (monitor, speakers, desk lights) when you shut down your computer and generally consume only 1 watt while on. Plug your computer into the main (switching outlet) and then plug your monitor, speakers, printer or other accessories into the other outlets. When you shut down your computer, the peripherals will shut off automatically. These strips also have always on ports for items like a fax machine that would need to remain on after the computer is off.

5 Things You Can Do in 5 Minutes to Reduce Your Power Use – Part 2: Power Settings

Anna Jaeger — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:38:18 -0800

Enter our contest! Read this post, take two simple actions, and complete a quick survey! Read on for more info.

Part 1 of this series listed the 5 actions we recommend that you take to reduce the power use of your computer. This post (part 2) explains two of those actions in more detail and tells you how to complete these two actions. Parts 3 and 4 will offer more detail about how you can make the other three changes.

Reduce Your Energy Use at No Cost and Save Money Instantly

1. Set power management on your computer(s)

Light green: Easy Individual Actions

All major operating systems released in the past ten years come with power management built in, but not necessarily turned on. What is power management? It's the ability to set your computer and monitor to automatically go to sleep or shut down after a period of inactivity. Climate Savers Computing are the experts at this and have all the information you should need to accomplish this task. They even have step-by-step guides. We urge you to sign up for CSCI membership either as an individual or affiliate: it's free and it's a way to build momentum for IT energy conservation. They can keep you informed about the latest ways to reduce your IT footprint. They even have a wonderful, searchable list of energy-efficient hardware and software products that help with IT energy reduction.

5 Things You Can Do in 5 Minutes to Reduce Your Power Use – Part 1

Anna Jaeger — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:00:42 -0800

Welcome to TechSoup GreenTech's Unpower Yourself! campaign. We're having a contest to encourage you to reduce your computer's energy comsumption. Read this post, take two simple actions, complete a quick survey, and you'll be eligible to win!

Global warming is happening because of a buildup of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, most of them produced by power plants that burn fossil fuels to generate electricity. Information and communications technology consumes a good deal of electricity, much of which is wasted as heat, consumed by computers and monitors needlessly left on, or used to cool hardware that is not running efficiently.

More than half the electricity used by IT is outside the data center and it is very easy for you to make small changes that will have a significant positive impact on both the environment and your wallet. It's not always easy to get a significant number of individuals to take these easy actions, but we can reach more people with your help.

Here are five things you can do quickly to decrease your IT energy use:

Save Energy: Turn Off Your Screen Saver

Anna Jaeger — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:19:40 -0700

According to the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, "Don't use a screen saver. Screen savers are not necessary on [most] modern monitors and studies show they actually consume more energy than allowing the monitor to dim when it's not in use."

Instead turn on the power management features built into your computer. Power management is what allows your monitor to automatically turn off or puts your computer to sleep after a period of inactivity. You can find step-by-step instructions for most computers at Climate Savers Computing. Look in the right hand column to find the operating system that you are using.

Free Webinar: Green Tech Tips from Microsoft

Kami Griffiths — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:37:22 -0700

On Wednesday, November 4 TechSoup Talks! will be conducting two webinars that highlight specific Microsoft programs or services useful to nonprofits and libraries.

This webinar, with environmental experts from Microsoft, will be broken into two 45-minute parts; one for small organizations and one for large organizations. These will help you learn how to reduce the environmental impact of your information technology and how to effectively use IT to improve your organizations' efficiency.

How Windows 7 Can Help You Green Your Nonprofit or Library

Anna Jaeger — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:32:09 -0700

In these tough economic times, there are a few relatively easy steps you can take to reduce waste in your IT systems. These measures will not only make your systems more efficient; they'll also save money and reduce your impact on the environment.

Why is it important to reduce your computer power use? Power plants are the largest source of CO2 emissions in the US, creating approximately 40% of emissions. Of course computers get their power from the power grid, but did you know that computers waste nearly half the energy they pull from the wall as heat?

Starting this month, most new PCs will have Microsoft’s new Windows 7 operating system on them. Windows 7 is much more advanced in power conservation than its predecessors, both for end users and for IT administrators. The new operating system makes it easier both to reduce power consumption and to minimize hardware obsolescence.

For those who want to try the software, TechSoup already carries Windows 7 upgrades for nonprofits and libraries; even those that have already made a Microsoft request this year can order.

How Nonprofits Can Positively Impact Climate Change on Blog Action Day 2009

Anna Jaeger — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:36:24 -0700

The Energy Information Administration, the US government's official source for energy statistics, reported that in 2006, electricity generation alone was responsible for 40 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in the US. If we want to have a positive impact on climate change, then, we need to do two things:

Change how we produce that energy (In the electric power sector, coal accounts for 83 percent of the CO2 emissions.) and
Lower the amount of electricity we consume.

Unless your nonprofit or library is also running a power plant, I suspect you can do little other than lobbying your representatives to affect number 1; however, you have it within your power (pun intended) to reduce your energy use.

One of the most effective things most individual users can do is to set the power management features on your computers. These features are the ones that automatically turn off your monitor and put your computer to sleep.

Right now, before even finishing this blog entry, I urge you to go and check your power settings. On a Windows machine, open the Start menu, select Control Panels, and open Power Options. On a Mac, open the Apple menu, choose System Preferences, and select Energy Saver. Configure both the settings for when your computer is plugged in and when it's running on battery. Climate Savers Computing and TechSoup's GreenTech suggest the settings below, but you'll need to find the exact numbers that are right for you.

Blog Action Day: COP15 and You

Elliot Harmon — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:34:04 -0700

As a part of Blog Action Day 2009, bloggers around the world are being asked to think and write about climate change.

I often have to hold back a cringe when I hear discussion of climate change and other environmental issues. It's not that I don't try to do my part: I haven't owned a car in five years, I walk nearly everywhere I go, and I buy mostly locally-grown food. But I have trouble shaking the feeling that compared to the massive governmental and infrastructural decisions ostensibly made on my behalf, these meager steps do little more than help me feel smug. I have a lot of trouble reconciling the U.S. corporate sector's apparent embrace of environmental talking points with our conspicuous absence from the Kyoto Protocol.

This December, the United Nations will host a conference on climate change. Many outcomes and non-outcomes could result, but the goal is to establish a new climate change agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol in 2012. Right now, there's something of a stand-off happening between richer and poorer countries, and many feel that the United States is giving the rest of the world the difficult choice between no agreement and an agreement that would be economically ruinous for the developing world.