How To Create A Energy Efficient Computer
Wanting to make your computer faster without buying a new computer? Well there are several things you can do.
The first thing and best thing is to upgrade your memory. Before buying new memory check what kind of memory is in your computer/laptop so you don’t buy the wrong memory and also check your computers manual to see what the maximum size of memory your computer can handle. If you are unsure what memory you need try asking a someone that knows about computers or try a local computer shop. There are many places you can buy memory from places like local dealers to hundreds of online places like tigerdirect and newegg or E-bay.
Next you should get the latest patches, drivers, security updates from Microsoft or if you own a mac make sure that you run software update. Also make sure that you download other drivers that were not downloaded by Microsoft or Macintosh that you may need which can be downloaded directly from the manufactures web page. Next you should remove programs that you rarely use or never use by accessing add/remove programs by going to Start>Control Panel>Add or Remove Programs and also you should remove any unwanted files that are taking up unnecessary space. Next thing after downloading updates and removing unwanted items is to defrag your computer. If you have never defraged your computer in a long time it could take a few hours depending on your system and hard drive size. To accessing Defrag click Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmenter and choose the drive you want to defrag.
Next monitor should have the brightness on your monitor turned down all the way or down enough so you can still read what is on your monitor. If you are still using a CRT monitor you should go out and buy a Energy Star flat panel monitor and properly dispose of your CRT monitor at a nearby recycling program that takes CRT monitors (some places will take your CRT monitor for a small fee).
Also make sure that your computer is plugged into a outlet strip and make sure that you turn off the switch when not using the computer and turn it on when you do use your computer (Your computer still uses power when not turned on). Lastly if you use window 2000, XP or Vista your computer should be able to use hibernation. Hibernation makes your start up time drop dramatically and extends the hard drive life span. For more information on how to configure this XP users, Win 2000 users. For windows vista it should be already enabled by default (I’m unsure about hibernation in vista since I have never used vista).
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Food and Climate Change Connection by Charles on May 28th, 2008
What do Food and Climate Change have in common? Well if you look at this Cars=13% of all carbon emissions and Livestock=18% of all carbon emissions eating less meat or even going Vegetarian/Vegan is better than switching to a hybrid car and even better if you go vegan and own a hybrid!
About 5 months ago I went Vegan and have loved every last bit of it and I feel great being a vegan so I decided to create this post since it is "Green".
Recycling your Computer(s) by Charles on January 30th, 2008
Looking forward or wanting to get rid of one of your old computers? There are several ways you can do go get rid of your old computer(s) First you should know that everything electronic contains harmful chemicals and materials that can be recycled like glass, plastic, gold, copper, aluminum.
Labels are confusing and can be misleading... by Charles on January 1st, 2008
A few days a go I had found a article in Good Housekeeping which talked about what are these fancy names we put on products in the store like "natural" and "no CFC's" and what they really mean to the consumer.
Guest Editor Gareth Jones - Waste : Power to the consumer!
If you are anything like me, you’ll have read a plethora of books about the impending climatic catastrophe were facing, and will have worked out the difference with this disaster story, is that is all backed up by science. Joy!
It comes as no surprise then, that as consumers we’re getting angrier at those companies that talk green, but fail to live up to our expectations. My latest annoyance is the industry of excess packaging. Cling wrapped vegetables, biscuits that come in several wrappers, box after box, after box… Does the consumer really want so much waste?
The Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment argues that ‘Just because we can recycle most materials doesn’t mean we should. Some packaging is simply not worth recycling because it takes a disproportionate amount of energy to collect, clean and transport the materials’(1) . This argument can be turned around, what about all the energy and materials it takes to produce packaging in the first place? More plastic (which comes from oil), more paper, more ink. It’s a rather basic point of view but I personally believe that more packaging not only means a greater cost to the environment, but a greater financial cost to the consumer. The Recycling Consortium estimates that packaging waste constitutes approximately 24– 30% of household waste in the UK and represents £6.50 for each £50 spent (13% of the average shopping bill) (2).
At this point if you don’t really care too much about this issue, let me remind you about all those extra journeys forcing you to take this extra rubbish out to the bin. Not only are you paying more financially, but it’s also costing you more time as well.
I’ll tell you what else makes me angry - people that don’t pay the correct postage (stick with me on this, it will make sense in a moment). The day arrives when it looks like something interesting has arrived through the post (apart from further rubbish). You go to the post office to pay, and your hopes are dashed. They’ve got you again. More stuff you never wanted and you’ve paid for it again.
I hate excess packaging and recently I found a way to channel all my annoyances into something constructive. I’ve found a way to turn those coy consumer woes into costs for the industry.
Conveniently many companies put their address on produce packaging so you can complain if you are dissatisfied. Save up your junk mail envelopes, get yourself a nice batch of penny stamps, and the next time you get something from the shop that has more layers of packaging than the skin of an onion, place it in that used envelope, and send it back to the company with a penny stamp on the front. Personally I like to write something on the front like ‘We want less waste’. The resulting factor? The company has to pay to get their waste back and you feel satisfied that you’ve stuck your two fingers up at a system we never wanted in the first place. Most important of all, hopefully the company gets the message.
I know it’s not the most pressing environmental issue, and I know that there are a whole swathe of other things much more constructive to reduce your impact on the environment, but it sure does make me feel good.
Just remember, consumers are the masters in any consumption society.
(1) INCPEN, The Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment Waste Management Factsheet, http://www.incpen.org/pages/userdata/incp/wastemanFS.pdf 16 Jan 2008
(2)The Recycling Consortium, www.recyclingconsortium.org.uk
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Recycling your Computer(s)
Looking forward or wanting to get rid of one of your old computers? There are several ways you can do go get rid of your old computer(s) First you should know that everything electronic contains harmful chemicals and materials that can be recycled like glass, plastic, gold, copper, aluminum. Now to properly dispose of your computer you will need to bring it to many places that will recycle recyclable parts and dispose of the harmful chemicals carefully. There are many ways to properly dispose of your computer.
One way you can recycle your computer is to ask where you had bought your computer and see if they have a recycling program and sometimes they may only take your old computer when you buy a new computer from them.
Next see if a company like Dell or HP has a free recycling program or see if you can recycle your computer with them when you buy a new computer. Also I know Apple has a recycling program when you buy a new computer from them and you can recycle your old computer and when you buy a new ipod you can recycle all of your old ipods and cell phones for free.
Next you can try going to your local recycling center and ask if they have a recycling program for computers and or other electronics most of the time they should have a recycling program but it varies in different towns or see if there is a recycling program in a nearby city that would take it.
If the first few didn’t work or if your computer is still usable you can do one of these two. You can advertise your computer/electronics in the buy and sell/newspaper. Or you can donate it to a local school, shelter, organization and you will know your computer will be used for a good cause and a lot of the time you may even get a tax deduction for donating your computer.
There may be many other ways to recycle your computer but when you do recycle your computer you may have to pay a small free or sometimes it may cost you nothing.
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Food and Climate Change Connection by Charles on May 28th, 2008
What do Food and Climate Change have in common? Well if you look at this Cars=13% of all carbon emissions and Livestock=18% of all carbon emissions eating less meat or even going Vegetarian/Vegan is better than switching to a hybrid car and even better if you go vegan and own a hybrid!
About 5 months ago I went Vegan and have loved every last bit of it and I feel great being a vegan so I decided to create this post since it is "Green".
How To Create A Energy Efficient Computer by Charles on March 20th, 2008
Wanting to make your computer faster without buying a new computer? Well there are several things you can do.
Labels are confusing and can be misleading... by Charles on January 1st, 2008
A few days a go I had found a article in Good Housekeeping which talked about what are these fancy names we put on products in the store like "natural" and "no CFC's" and what they really mean to the consumer.
Consume Less
Recently I had been sent a e-mail with a link to this wonderful video that explained that as consumers most of us don’t see or see too little of what the big picture has to tell us about what the real cost of what it takes to produce a product in terms of money, content and pollution to create and make a item we see in a store.
There are five steps in the process of creating product. First there is extraction of natural resources next comes the process of production made from the natural resources, chemicals etc. then comes distribution at your local stores which leads people to consume or buy a product and finally the disposal of the product. This short video digs deeper into these five steps in making and distributing from life to death of a product. The short movie with Annie Leonard is about 20 minutes long which you can see at The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard also on their web page you can watch, download the video which is about 55mb in size, or you can even buy a DVD with this video for $10. I recommend this video for everyone to watch especially for the real consumers that keep buying products more than what the average person may buy in a given month or year. Spread the word about this video it may even get you thinking about what you even buy for the holidays, birthdays party’s or even things you buy for your own self.
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100 Ways To Save The Planet Video
GreenGirlsGlobal have written about the free 100 Ways to Save The Planet eBook which was written by Adam over at our usual website. As not everyone likes to read we’ve turned it into a video. It’s (hopefully) a reasonably short, nice, relaxing watch and another way to get the message out there. Please feel free to send it to anyone and everyone. The link is: http://www.revver.com/watch/501547/.
Not everyone will agree with the points made and some of them are vague and loose as we couldn’t fit more text on there (and have the ebook anyway), so it would be great to hear your comments and any feedback that you have.
Due to feedback we already have from the eBook, we’re now working on the next generation of the 100 Ways which will be followed up by a new, improved version of the eBook in the months to come - there’s no end to the ways you can go green!
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A tissue of lies?
Toilet paper is one of those things we generally can’t ‘live’ without. We all buy it and I’m sure those of us who choose to buy a recycled toilet/tissue paper have often happily purchased Nouvelle. Safe in the knowledge that you are doing your bit.
Afterall it has a Woodland Trust badge on it and everything - it must be OK? Surely…
Well, sadly the reality is far more murky. Nouvelle is produced by Georgia Pacific and according to the WWF Report on how companies source fibres for tissue paper they don’t fair so well. For example “Land rights conflicts, forest destruction, irresponsible plantations management and illegal harvesting of timber are key issues associated with many of these forest regions”.
To learn more about the specifics of the tissue industry reports go to the WWF website, the information there is much more in-depth than I want to go into in this post and makes for an enlightening read.
But there is more to this story.
Georgia Pacific is owned by Koch industries and those of you out there that already know Koch industries will understand why this information might lead you to change brands. Surprisingly a lot of consumers have probably never heard of Koch even though they are the largest privately owned company in the world - no, really.
Dig a little deeper.
As ever, the Internet is your friend and you can find out a lot of information on your own - here are a couple of interesting links - both of which are from the U.S Department of Justice:
Koch Industries Indicted For Environmental Crimes At Refinery
Koch Industries To Pay Record Fine For Oil Spills In Six States
Wow! and we are just getting warmed up, these guys have been busy for sure. I don’t think I need to go much further - you get what I’m getting at.
The alternatives.
Getting back to toilet paper then, there are alternatives that do come from managed sources. According to the WWF report, looking for the FSC logo on packaging will help as this is the only standard they recognise as assurance that “If virgin fibres are used they need to come from forests managed to the highest environmental and social standards”.
SCA Tissue produce the Naturalle brand in the UK which is 100% recycled and available to UK consumers.
More information on recycled brands here.
Hopefully the WWF will have a new report soon and we will see if anything has changed in the world of tissue and toilet paper. As we effectively flush or trash 270,000 trees per day this is no place for toilet humour.
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Guest Editor: Pascal Gillon - The amazing EZ eco tips for us, guys
So, how do we help the environment without to think that we will lose some of our comfort and doing it without headaches?
Simple!
ENERGY/WATER SAVINGS:
Turn off any light you do not use.
Turn off all stand buy machines that you do not use at night (TV, computers for example).
Use rechargeable batteries (you WILL save a lot of money at the end).
Use fluorescent light-bulbs everywhere you can in your house.
Cook things a few items at the same time: use the steam alone too, when boiling food and put the cover on after having turned the gas/electrics of the cooker off.
Save water by taking more showers than baths. Wash full loads of washing up and laundry (with cold rinse at least for the latter).
FUEL SAVINGS:
Do NOT race off in your car when you are stopped at a traffic light and it turns from a red light to green. Just ease off.
Close all windows when you are on a motorway.
Do a few errands in one go, instead of a few trips a day.
Use the bus, tube even train each time you can.
Walk whenever you can (and that is good for your heart to).
ITEMS/MONEY/TIME SAVINGS:
Buy “as new”: each time you can. A car is a car. Second hands can be quite cheaper and reliable.
For books, audio visual items, apparels and more, buy as new (used) or very good from, for example, amazon.co.uk
Shop in charity shops:
- Prices are quite competitive.
- It is like buying an item that you do, by using it again, recycle.
- You can find collectables for a bargain.
Buy food in bulk and freeze what you can. (you save space and packaging too)
Buy organic whenever you can
Buy local products when you can.
RE-GIVING TO EARTH/PEOPLE:
Recycle what you can, re use what you can, give what you can and only as the last resort, throw away things.
Use e mailing a lot, you save paper. If you send a gift, re use packaging and boxes too.
Volunteer if you can : smiles, hugs, thanks DO make you stronger and more complete as a man.
And that is it: within two or three weeks, that should be in place in your life and it becomes habit
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