GreenTechies

Interesting real-life report from ExtremeTech’s Loyd Case…

Going Solar: The Install

…where he describes the experience of converting his home to run mostly on solar power.

PC Magazine’s title was good enough to get me to read this article

8 Geeky Ways to Save Gas

The only thing that struck me as odd about this tech geek oriented article was that it did not suggest switching to a gas-friendlier geek-appealing hybrid or bio-diesel car.

The gas saving myths discussed in this article are:

• Fill your tank early in the day
• Replace air filters for better mileage
• Buy fuel additives
• Turn of air conditioner and roll down windows

Auto advances make gas advice moot

Rolling down the windows probably probably disrupts the car’s aerodynamic properties. But, you would think cranking down the air conditioner would provide the car more power (esp. uphill).

Just found this site today…

OpenEco.org

It describes itself as: …free, easy-to-use tools to help participants assess, track, and compare energy performance, share proven best practices to reduce greenhousegas (GHG) emissions, and encourage sustainable innovation.

According to this CNET item…

Dell hits server efficiency targets a year early

…a Dell server power supply is now 92% efficient when a server is at 50% load. This efficient power supply is not available in their current server lineup yet though.

Both of these URLs lead you to the Microsoft Environment web site…

http://www.microsoft.com/environment/

http://www.microsoft.com/green/

I wonder how green the site itself is? It would be interesting to learn if Microsoft took any special effort to green the hardware and other aspects of this particular site.

Surprising info in this PC World article…

Which Gadgets Gobble the Most Power?

News.com reports that…
 
Best Buy to recycle electronics free

This is not nationwide, however. According to the article, it is limited some (not all?) stores in Baltimore, San Francisco, and Minnesota (the whole state?).

Best Buy Recycling information page

Just read this article in USA Today…

Report ranks metro areas on pollution

Honolulu had the lowest CO emission. But, surprise, LA-Long Beach-Santa Ana ranked #2 in the lowest CO emission list.

Just read about a new proposed data center metric called Corporate Average Data Efficiency (CADE) in this Information Week article…

McKinsey: Measure Data Center Efficiency Like Car Fuel Efficiency

The article says that this metric… combines both IT and facilities costs to monitor energy use, and create “energy czar” positions to manage energy efficiency.

From MSNBC…

The ‘green’ way to dump electronic junk

The article provides tips and actual web links (unlike CMP Techweb which always forces me to search for things they mention) to site providing information about reselling, donation, recycling, and other green practices for electronic junk disposal.

ZDNet reacts to Gartners’ Windows’ sky is falling commentary with an article titled…

Windows is a glacier and glaciers don’t melt overnight

But, according to CNN…

Lake in Chile empties from melting glacier
Melting ice in southern Chile caused a glacial lake to swell and then empty suddenly, sending a “tsunami” rolling through a river, a scientist said Thursday.

So, I guess anything is possible.