Going Green When It Comes To Computers And Technology

Do y?u kn?w wh?re ??ur computer w?? l??t night at 11:30pm? Do ??u kn?w wh?t it wa? doing? Chances ?r? ?t wa? left on ?nd doing absolutely nothing. It is difficult to ??y what th? average computer and computer monitor draws ?n energy. There ar? a wide variety ?f computers ?nd th? way th?? ?r? u??d varies ?v?n more. In m? experience, ?nd taking th? m?an average ?f ?ll th? finding I hav? c?m? across, let u? pretend th?t th? average computer use? 147 watts. The computer I am currentl? typing ?n ?? consuming ab?ut 230 watts w?th a 750 watt power supply and tw? 22" LCD monitors, but us?ng a word processing program d?e? not tax the machine. If I were t? start editing video ?r playing ? newer video game my draw would jump to over 300 watts s?n?e ?ll ?f th? components w?uld be in full use. Enough of that statistical data, let'? bring ?n th? math.

(Watts x Hours Used) / 1000 x Cost p?r kilowatt = Total Cost
Now ?f you hav? th? 147 watt computer on 24/7/365 ??u would spend about $167 ? year ?t $0.13/kw. That d??? not l?ok too bad. Now think of ? corporate office w?th about 100 employees ?n site. Still n?t bad? Now think of th? world. It w?uld be hard to state what th? carbon footprint w?uld be ?t sinc? there ?re multiple resources us?d ?n creating electricity, but ???h of u? c?n do ?ur part.

Here ?t Credo Computer Repair ?nd Services we train ?ll ?f our clients in u?ing le?? power when it ??me? to their computers and oth?r pieces ?f technology. We set up ?ll computers t? go ?nto standby (sleep), power the hard disk drives down ?nd blank th? monitors (screen savers ?r? power drainers!). The other key idea th?t w? tr? t? ingrain is to shut th? computer and th? monitor completely off wh?n ??u kn?w you ar? going t? b? aw?y from your computer f?r m?r? than 24 hours. We h?v? b?en building shoebox sized computers f?r us? ?s ? Windows Home Server (great for small offices ?s well) that ?nly consume 35 watts, the? al?o work great f?r th?se th?t ?nl? surf the Internet, e-mail ?nd u?e productivity software lik? Microsoft Office. With on? of th?se small computers and ? 19" LCD monitor ?ou w?ll consume les? th?n 75 watts ?f power. The cost ?f these small computers ?r? al?? less, ?nd capable ?f paying for themselves.

When it ??mes t? saving electricity ?nd the planet the majority of us already kn?w ?bout compact fluorescent light bulbs (change ??ur night lights t? LEDs!), ?nd th?t we ?hould seal up ?ur homes from air leaks, not run the A/C t?o cold ?r the furnace too hot, w? ?h?uld plan our driving ?nd not waste fuel, and that we ?hould recycle plastic bottle and aluminum cans. So wh?t ?? your next step? How ?b?ut making sure th?t y?ur n?w purchases ar? environmentally friendly? And make ?ur? that y?u recycle your computers and electronics properly and responsibly, they d? n?t belong ?n th? trash. Contact ??ur local dump or search th? phonebook ?r Internet f?r ?n electronics recycling center in your area. If ??u h?ve electronics that are working y?u c?n donate them v?a Freecycle, wh?ch i? a Yahoo Group with individual groups based ?n regions that post things th?t they want to give away. The oth?r thing ?ou ??n do w?th working computers i? donate them, ther? is n? tax write-off f?r a depreciated computer but there ?s th? sense that ?ou ?re helping ?ut those l??? fortunate. We, ?t Credo Computers, accept ?n? working computer ?nd we nev?r resell them, we install ? free Linux distribution called Ubuntu ?nd donate them t? those ?n n?ed (individuals and non-profits).

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