Entries tagged with environment - Channel 10

Dell’s New Studio Hybrid PCs

sarahintampa — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:01:00 GMT

At long last, the new “green” PCs that have been under development at Dell have finally arrived. The Dell Studio Hybrid PC is 80% smaller than the conventional desktop mini-tower while also using 70% less power than typical desktop PCs. Their small form factor lets them fit almost anywhere and the optional wireless keyboard and mouse help kill the clutter. The PCs are Energy Star 4.0 compliant (of course!)and can be customized with 6 interchangeable color sleeves or even a sleeve made of environmentally- friendly bamboo. Despite their small size, the Studio Hybrid still finds room for a CD/DVD drive, analog and digital sound ports, a gigabit networking port, and HDMI and DVI ports. The PCs start at $499 and go up depending on your customizations like selecting a Blu-Ray drive, more memory, or a larger hard drive.

Green Printing

sarahintampa — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:04:00 GMT

There's a new free edition of the popular GreenPrint software, called GreenPrint World Edition. The software, aimed at home users and non-profits, is designed to combat printing waste. The way the software works is by analyzing each page sent to a printer for extraneous content like banner ads, legal jargon, footnotes, or other unnecessary pages. These sections are highlighted in red for you to see before printing. If you want to print a page or section that has been detected as unnecessary, just double-click on it to include it in the document. You can also double-click on areas that are un-highlighted to prevent them from printing. According to the company, using GreenPrint can save you $90 per year and 1400 wasted pages. The software can also be used to create PDFs and it does reporting on the toner and paper savings you've accumulated by using it. GreenPrint World Edition is free by being ad-supported; to turn off the ads, you can upgrade to Home Premium Edition or for business use, there's an Enterprise Edition available. (via downloadsquad)

Green Awnings powering both your home and your plants

Laura — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 18:30:00 GMT

The environmental health clinic at NYU approaches health from an environmental point of view. That being said, we all know it is necessary for plant growth in order for humans to live. In this clip you will see how the health clinic has created Solar Cells, on something they call the Green Awning, that produce power in the form of LED lights that can power your home and feed your plants all at the same time.

5 Ways to Practice Green Computing

sarahintampa — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 21:23:00 GMT

There is a lot of interest in environmental responsibility these days: debates on global warming, hybrid cars, recycling, buying environmentally friendly products, conserving energy, reducing waste, etc., etc. Additionally, there has been a growing area of discussion on the subject of "green computing." What exactly is green computing? Mostly, it's the practice of using computing resources efficiently. With today's powerful systems, not to mention the myriads of peripheral devices, the home office is an area of the house where energy is wasted and lost. If you're interested in ways to reduce your power consumption, here are ways you can go "green" at home:

1. Buy "Energy Star" labeled monitors, desktops, laptops, and printers . The "Energy Star" devices can be programmed to "power-down" to a low power state when they are not in use, helping you save energy and run cooler which helps them last even longer. The Energy Star specification for computers was revised on October 20, 2006 and goes into effect July 20, 2007. The specification includes new performance requirements to qualify for the Energy Star rating for desktop and notebook computers, workstations, integrated computers, desktop-derived servers and game consoles. Now you can feel good about that upgrade!

2. Put laptops in "sleep" mode when not in use. The EPA has estimated that this reduces their energy use by 60 to 70 percent – and ultimately could save enough electricity each year to power Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, cut electric bills by $2 billion, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by the equivalent of 5 million cars.

3. Even better, turn OFF computers and other equipment when not in use. Despite the debate over whether it's better for your computer to be left on or shut off, the fact is it's better for the environment to shut it off. Trust me, your computer can handle it just fine; in fact, computers were designed to be turned off and back on!

4. E-cycle used computer equipment. Find a recycler in your area. Also, Staples, the office supply retailer, has now started a recycling program. They will accept any brands of used desktop and notebook computers, monitors, printers, fax machines and all-in-one devices with a fee of $10. Smaller items like keyboards, mice and speakers are free to drop off.

5. Buy the new "Smart Strip" power strip. The Smart Strip actually senses how much power your computer peripherals use. And when the Smart Strip senses that you've turned your computer off, it automatically shuts off your peripherals, too, preventing them from drawing an idle current, which is the current drawn even after equipment is shut off.

Speaking of going green, yesterday was the huge Live Earth event, a series of worldwide concerts to raise awareness about the global climate crisis. You can catch up on what you missed over at the Live Earth website, where they feature streaming videos from the concerts, photos, news, and more information about going green.

Leaving Mount Logan

Larry — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 21:28:00 GMT

I caught up with James Coleridge via satellite phone about the latest from the top of Mount Logan in the Yukon. James tells me about some of the set backs that the team has been dealing with, including over two weeks of very bad storms and a plane crash (no one was hurt). We talk about what it means to use technology from remote locations under extreme conditions, and how he keeps his batteries warm at night.

The team won't be able to make the summit this time. Three hours after this interview was recorded, they made the (wise) decision to start back down the mountain and head home. We'll catch up with James again when he's back in town.

Change a bulb, change everything.

Laura — Tue, 22 May 2007 20:40:00 GMT

Al Gores Academy Award Winning documentary about global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth" has exponentially heightened America's awareness about the state of our environment. The film is both frightening and motivational. I met with the producer of "An Inconvenient Truth", Lawrence Bender about his latest effort to help save the planet : 18seconds.org. On his site and in this interview you'll learn about some tiny changes we can all make in our daily lives that can drastically help preserve our planet. Watch this interview, visit 18seconds.org and spread the word.

Mount Logan Update: May 15, 2007

Larry — Tue, 15 May 2007 22:40:00 GMT

When I left the Mt. Logan expedition late last week, they were still waiting for the bad weather to lift to fly in to King’s Trench and begin the ascent. Right now, 8 people have made it to the glacier and setup camp. Five more are waiting for a ride; apparently a downdraft damaged the only plane that flies in and out on the Canadian side (yes, the one in the picture.) Meanwhile, the team is moving forward to camp 1 with about 500 pounds of food, watch them here on Live Maps.

As you can see on the map, the place they are moving across right now is one of the more dangerous areas on the mountain. To the south they have the danger of avalanche (all are wearing detectors, for what it’s worth) and to the north they have the danger of crevasses.

Michael Singer of Information Week asks where the Microsoft fans are. We're all over the place, but he can find a few of them right here. Wednesday night we gathered around and watched a slideshow of the days pictures with Windows Photo Gallery and then traded songs on our Zunes until dawn (is there a better way to share music without getting out of a warm tent?)

More updates, pictures, and video to follow.

Greenprint for the future: Dongtan, China

Jesse — Tue, 01 May 2007 18:49:00 GMT

In the current issue, Douglas McGray’s “Pop-Up Cities” for Wired Magazine could be the most interesting read on the newsstands. The story follows the progress of creating an environmentally friendly city for 500,000 people on a small island across from Shanghai. Designing a complete city from scratch is usually the sort of academic exercise that civic engineers and architects go through without any hope of implementing their ideas. However because China has both the space and the demand for such developments, the Eco-city of Dongtan will be one of the most watched projects of the next couple decades. More important than it’s built-from-scratch status though is how the lead architect Alejandro Gutierrez and his team from Arup are able to leverage what is now known from centuries of civic development. The article talks about the trends and insight about building density, energy usage, flood control, and environmental symbiosis. A truly educational read.

Photo credit: Arup / Wired Magazine

Tribewanted: Social networks meet tropical islands. Lost...on purpose

Jesse — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 14:36:29 GMT

We've spent our share of time on social network sites over the years. Friendster, Orkut, Myspace, all of which essentially brought us the same level of entertainment; toying around with a gagel of geeks in a race to get every member of the Spice Girls on our friends list. Thankfully someone has taken the online social network and added back the important part--the real world.

Tribewanted has begun over this past weekend (even though the site has been brewing for almost six months now). Members of this online community are citizens of Vorovo, the name given to an island the founders have leased from the government of Fiji. From the comfort of our keyboards we can vote on who will be our tribal leaders and construction projects. Then once we've cashed out our Lindens, it's off to the serene tropical paradise where everyone has the same avatar; grass skirts and sunscreen.

Free Geek - where PCs find new life

Adam — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 01:14:15 GMT

"Helping the needy get nerdy" is the motto at Free Geek, a non-profit PC recycling center. In this video we get to follow along with Tina as she tours the center through the whole process. From the PC being dropped off on the sidewalk, through the evaluation, harddrive smashing, re-building, and recycling. And keep an eye open for the future Classic Video Games museum, they even have a copy of Vanguard. I love that game. Please let Vanguard be the next game released on Xbox Live...

Links: Free Geek

High Tech Trash! What to do with that old monitor!

Tina — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 20:42:40 GMT

Elizabeth Grossman stops by to discuss her new book High Tech Trash! Did you know that we actually ship our tech trash to other countries? Monitors, PC's, keyboards, copy machines and cell phones. What do you do with your old PC? Well, I'm going to tell you and I think this segment is soooooooo important for everybody to watch because this affects us all. If anybody has additional info and links for this segment I would love for you to add them here. Thanks,

Tina

Links: ACCRC, Ban.Org, Great Tech Trash Article!, Green Guide