When we think about green building and green living, it's natural for our thoughts to settle on natural products and materials -- straw bales, organic cotton, hemp, bamboo. But what about those things that we fill our homes with -- TVs, video game consoles, microwaves, phones, computers? They all use electricity; they're all made of some sort of synthetic material; and most of us can't live without one or two of them.
Luckily, today, even PlayStations are starting to look a little bit greener. In his post on the PlayStation 3, EcoGeek explains that Sony is just about to release a new version of the console that uses much less energy, although, he endorses Nintendo's Wii as your greenest video gaming option.
And, computers? Well, first off: Now we have greener ways to search the web. Use Blackle (a Google product) for all your web browsing. The search engine saves energy by employing a black screen. How much could that possibly add up to? Check Blackle's running count of Watt hours saved.
Companies like Dell and HP are also working hard at developing earth-friendly and easily-recyclable computers. Meanwhile, EcoGeek (the guy you should go to for all your green gadget news) is pretty excited about a $200 Linux Machine that will be sold by Wal-Mart this holiday season. It "sips" power, he says.
And how about cell phones? Well, Steve Jobs claimed to be greening Apple's operations, but Greenpeace tagged the iPhone as patently ungreen because of hazardous chemicals (phthalates) in the PVC plastic coating of the headphone cables.
However, commenters at Engadget raised an interesting question. Isn't it "greener" to have one piece of plastic that serves as a phone, mp3 player, handheld computer, and PDA rather than 4 or 5 separate gadgets?
What do you think?
Bookmark/Search this post with:
Using a high-efficiency
Using a high-efficiency power supply in your desktop PC is a great way to cut power consumption. PC Power & Cooling, Seasonic, etc. make 80 PLUS certified (80%+ efficiency) power supplies. Cheaper power supplies are 70% efficient or worse and dump much more waste heat into your environment.
Both Sony and Microsoft are switching their game consoles to chips built with 65nm (nanometer) fabrication. I don't know how to identify the new XBox360's, when they're available.
AMD has been working hard on reducing power consumption for years. They were the first to put notebook-style power management into desktop chips with their Athlon 64 line. Competition from AMD forced Intel to abandon their atrociously wasteful Pentium 4 line. AMD recently gambled, successfully, with moving their next-generation video card chips to 55nm fabrication. The new AMD/ATI Radeon 3800 series, to be launched on the 19th, burns dramatically less power than its 80nm predecessor.
I don't think that using Blackle will actually save power, at least not on the LCD monitor you should be using, but turning down the brightness level of your monitor will. It will probably be easier on your eyes too.
great tips
thanks TJ
- maxmsf