Teaming for Technology Colorado

Earlier this month (April 22, 2008), we celebrated Earth Day. From this holiday, there has been a great amount of talk around making everything in our lives greener. Politics aside, staying green will help you save money whether or not it will save the earth.

When you leave your computer, have your monitor turn off (suspend) after only a few minutes pass. Avoid using the power button, because turning on and off the monitor takes more power than taking it out of its “suspend” mode.

Computers can generally be left on, unless being left for several days at a time. A computer should be running the World Community Grid which uses the computer to help solve complex scientific problems when you are not using it yourself. You can also have your computer go into a sleep mode.

Sleep mode is energy saving. “The EPA has estimated that providing computers with “sleep mode” 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.” From: http://ecenter.colorado.edu/energy/projects/green_computing.html

Refill your ink and toner cartridges or buy remanufactured cartridges. The amount of plastic and other chemicals put into landfills from ink and toner cartridges is astounding. You will save money and not fill the landfill.

Avoid unnecessary printing because it costs extra money and it wastes paper. Reading things on the screen can be hard, but printing large documents for future reading is wasteful of the paper and the ink. Printing with your black cartridge is always more cost effective than printing with your color cartridge, so always change your document to black and white if it is not detrimental to the document.

Make sure your computer is Energy Star Compliant. The EPA has created the Energy Star Program to help manufacturers make their computers work to a specific standard of energy efficiency.

Recycle your computers rather than throwing them out. If you represent a business, it is against the law to dispose of computers. There are many places to recycle computers. If it was purchased within the last three years and you are in the Denver area, for example, Denver DataMan can help you donate it for a tax deductible contribution.