Greener Computing - Greenergle.com

[Jordan_29]

I think the whole issue about behaving greener with computers is very interesting. E.g. How many of you turn off computer when leaving the office? Or monitor when you are not around...

There is very good way to remind yourself about been greener called:
http://www.greenergle.com
Using that daily for all your Google searches will get you in the mood for sure :twisted:

Its not just pretty and comfotable to use it also encourages you to follow its 10 easy ways to save energy. Check the full list by using the link underneath the engine.

Not bothered... it tought I wouldnt either but this stuff grows on you - hopefully to most of you guys. Very scary to even think what the world would be like with this pace of consumption.

WWF - Living planet report says that we need 2 earth worth of recources by 2050 to accomodate our way of living... so maybe its good time to go Greenergle. :cool:

[jwenting]

my computers never get turned off, the powersurge when booting them accounts for several hours of keeping them running, and the increased wear and tear on components due to booting and shutting down as compared to keeping them running would degrade their lifespan seriously enough that any "savings" are undone.

WWF are out of their minds... As are pretty much all greenies.
They have a political agenda and don't mind corrupting facts to get their way.

Consider that people have been saying with "authority" for the last 50 years that we're going to run out of oil within a decade...

Yes, you shouldn't waste. But do know what you're "saving" when you're going to do something as most such "programs" are just ways to get to your money for no gain anywhere except to the people running said "program".

[Ancient Dragon]

I rarely turn my computer off at home, but I normally do turn my monitor off when I'm not using it. Not because I want to save planet earth but just being mindful of my electric bill, although I doubt it really makes much difference.

[happygeek]

This is just another one of those 'Black Google uses less display energy' scams - which actually earns the site operators a nice little bit of advertising revenue in the process of using additional power by piggy-backing an extra server into the Google search equation.

Avoid it. That would be my advice. Just use Google or your usual search engine of choice and the planet will die no more quickly.

[Jordan_29]

I Don't agree mate with your claim that this is another scam.

Firstly all those blackgoogles use google engine to search - so basically the search results are the same than by using the real one, eh? Secondly what comes to earning from PPC - I guess there is no harm done trying to earn some extra as long as the green message goes trough. How many ads you see on daniweb?

Then secondly Greenergle in my opinion stands out to its advance by trying to get people to do other stuff too to save energy. And yes saving energy means saving money too.. so everyone is happy :) You cannot deny that their 10 ways to save energy doesnt make sense!?

In one sense I agree that those other blackgoogles try to misslead people to use them just with missleading that black uses less energy in all monitors...what I have read is that on LCDs black actually uses 1kw more than white... so they really dont make that difference in trying to get people greener.

I have used computers since times of Commondore 64 and have to say that makes me sad to hear comments like jwenting's one... I always have turned off my computers for nights (if not needed) and my hardware has almost always lasted years and years. Keeping them on 24/7 surely will cause more "wearing out" than shutting down for night. Have you listened sometimes your Windows do grinding while its IDLE. It must be so healthy to your computer - NOOT. Please light me up if I am totally wrong. :?:

[happygeek]

Firstly all those blackgoogles use google engine to search - so basically the search results are the same than by using the real one, eh?

Yes. But if these people really cared about saving the planet, and really thought that energy consumption was the problem, then you might think the fact that they are contributing to this by running a server that isn't required might have occurred to them.

By which I mean that Google is already running its server farm, consuming power. This service, and others, are then taking the Google search and asking people to come to them instead of going straight to the source. By so doing they are factoring in an additional layer of power consumption via their own server, which is totally unnecessary as the user could have just gone straight to Google in the first place with less power consumption impact.

If you see what I mean. :)

Which leaves me with the only possible conclusion that they are really only in it for the advertising dollar and nothing more...

[hbk619]

E.g. How many of you turn off computer when leaving the office? Or monitor when you are not around...

me! always! I turn my brothers' pc off if he isnt using it, I turn the backlight off on my laptop if i'm going away for more than a minute - the monitor turns off after 5.

And its a black google with green text? f'n sweet.

[MidiMagic]

There are several flies in this environmental ointment:

- The computer itself uses very little power, compared to other devices in the house, unless it is actually in use. The disk drives use more power than anything else. The power supply wattage ratings includes a reserve for sudden instantaneous power usage.

- CRT monitors and printers are the big power draws with computers.

- Many employers require employees to leave their computers on at night. They set up software upgrades and virus scans to occur dutring this time, so they don't subtract from employee productivity.

- The biggest environmental problem caused by computers is the solid waste caused by the joint efforts of Microsoft and Intel to make computers "bigger and better" by requiring hardware and software upgrades every three years. If we could have a requirement that operating systems must never change, this problem would go away.

Some of the "power saving" advice spewed by the "save the earth" groups is ludicrous:

- They tell you to unplug your TV, VCR, and other electronic appliances when you aren't using thenm, because they draw tiny amounts of power to maintain settings. But they forget that such a device can require 15 minutes to half an hour for you to restore those settings before you can use it. It takes this much time if you have to restore radio or TV station settings. So the device draws more power during that period you plug it in and turn it on before you can use it than it would draw for a week if you leave it plugged in.

- They tell you to turn fluorescent lamps off when you nleave the room. This will save a small amount of energy, but cost you more money in replacement bulbs. The life of a fluorescent bulb is incorrectly stated on the package, because the stupid law requires an average life measured in hours. The life of a fluorescent lamp should be rated in number of times it is turned on. A fluorescent lamp lasts for between 6000 and 7000 starts. So you might save a tiny bit on power, but pay through the nose on bulb replacement.

- They don't seem to understand that power is generated in blocks, not tiny increments to supply each tiny appliance that is connected or disconnected. The power company equipment can't adjust up or down in such fine increments. Instead, the power produced is usually several blocks above the actual draw, to handle any sudden extra loads that might be switched on. The portion of power not used is wasted. But if power companies did not produce this extra power, a power failure would occur if unexpect3ed large loads switched on.

-

[RwCC]

I rarely use Bold font when I'm writing design documents, the energy saving from that is enough to light up Blackpool Tower for a week :D

[happygeek]

Slightly off-topic, but what the heck. About 20 years a go a colleague of mine decided to play an April Fool gag in his column in a fanzine/newsletter we both contributed to called JAM (Just Amiga Monthly) here in the UK.

His article was about a velocity sensitive keyboard. Hit the keys harder for bold, really hard for underlined, that kind of thing. Was very funny, and very well written.

So well written that some lazy idiot columnist in New Computer Express, a weekly computer newspaper that had a pretty big market share back in the day, wrote it up as his own exclusive the following week. It was really funny, reading how he had exclusively tested the keyboard and could report back that it worked really well...

[EnderX]

- The biggest environmental problem caused by computers is the solid waste caused by the joint efforts of Microsoft and Intel to make computers "bigger and better" by requiring hardware and software upgrades every three years. If we could have a requirement that operating systems must never change, this problem would go away.

Or, find alternate solutions. I agree I'd rather not have to worry about an OS going near-obsolete within a short time of my purchasing it, but I've heard elsewhere that it's the hardware that determines the software; as hardware gets better, software will either have to take advantage of the newer improvements, or else become ineffecient. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but as I said, I have heard it before.

As an example of an alternate solution, I heard about an event in my area recently. The event went by the name of 'Ecycling day' if I recall correctly, and the whole point was to take the no-longer-wanted hardware people have cluttering their houses and try to get some use out of it. From what I understand, working systems were to be set aside for donation to local schools, possible salvagable parts reclaimed, etc. I'm not sure how well they actually did with this, as I understand the ecycling team was overwhelmed with people coming in and underwhelmed with volunteers, but it's a start. - They tell you to turn fluorescent lamps off when you nleave the room. This will save a small amount of energy, but cost you more money in replacement bulbs. The life of a fluorescent bulb is incorrectly stated on the package, because the stupid law requires an average life measured in hours. The life of a fluorescent lamp should be rated in number of times it is turned on. A fluorescent lamp lasts for between 6000 and 7000 starts. So you might save a tiny bit on power, but pay through the nose on bulb replacement.

But that's what theywant, isn't it? Save power and thereby save the planet, while making the eevil capitalists who're destroying the poor planet suffer in the wallet for it.

[jwenting]

an even bigger farce by the guys trying to make you use fluorescent light instead of incandescent is that the environmental impact of making and disposing of those fluorescents is far far higher than that of an equivalent hour/wattage of incandescent bulbs.
The heavy metal polution alone is enough that there's some talk in Europe to ban the things (while another working group is considering a ban on incandescent lights because there's fluorescent ones as an alternative, if both go through we're back to oil lamps and candles, romantic but hardly practical).

[EnderX]

We might also end up going back to arc lamps lining outdoor roadways. Although those wouldn't last too long; I'm sure they'd produce enough ozone that someone from one of those groups would get them banned too..

[jwenting]

yes, and oil lamps and candles produce soot which is carcinogenic so must also be banned.
The greens won't be happy until we're all naked, cowering in the darkness outside the caves they won't let us use because they belong to animals.

[tygerberg]

Always switch the pc off. Get angry if the lights are on and no ones in the room

[Jordan_29]

Just read survey of a british company about switching off your computer - It actually can save you 150pounds pure money if you switch off your devices. So if you some of you guys wanna be silly, funny and sarkastic you might consider going greener for the sake of GREEN (money).

[jwenting]

oh wow. The average company saves 150 pounds a year if everyone turns their computer off at night?
And they loose more than that per day from time lost because everyone has to wait 5-10 minutes for the things to get started in the morning...

[Jordan_29]

No mate a 150 pounds a year per/head/computer and monitor!!! The same research stated that a company could save nearly 1500pounds per employer every year (!! imagine multiplier to that...sick - with that money your company could put up a pretty impressive xmass party eh!? - in bahamas or get you a new computer every year :D ) just by switching off all devices that are not been used. Google E.on for details. Or GreenerGle ;)

And yeah I am sure that 5minutes will make huge difference...like we do anything productive in first 30mins anyway... also Windows OS works smoother after boot so the productivity with faster computer is a factor too if we start been wise asses here.

[Jordan_29]

Just read new info about using Greenergle.com or generally black desktop background in new led-based displays - The difference is HUGE! Black saves more than 50% comparing to white in that new technology... not sure if I remember right the figure but HUGE saving there...back in black... wearing black with black bg. and black sunglasses :D

[Lardmeister]

If you bought your computer in this century, it will go to power and monitor saving standby on its own. So what's the fuzz all about?

Did you ever ask one of the Greens that fly to Greens Meetings all over the world what they are thinking when they do all this flying? Where do they park their horse and carriage when they go to work?