Items tagged with environment
You probably thought you were done with brain-jarring algebra and trigonometry from your school days but that may not be the case, thanks to some legal lunacy out of California. New energy efficiency regulations, which went into effect on July 1st and may be adopted by five other US states, limit the amount of power desktop computers can draw in a year, based on their components and expandability. Due to this, PC manufacturers are scrambling, gamers are up in arms, and everyone is confused by the math at hand, but it is not as cut and dry as you would think. On July 26th, writer and content creator Marie Oakes spotted a new warning on Dell’s website under Alienware PCs, stating that “This...
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Environmental stewardship may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Apple, but it’s certainly becoming a large part of the company’s self-perception under CEO Tim Cook’s leadership. Today, Apple announced that it will soon build two data centers in Europe to support its online services in the region and claimed that both data centers will be powered by “100 percent renewable energy.” Apple has been adding jobs feverishly in Europe, with more than 2,000 employees coming on board this year, and seems likely to add more positions when the data centers open in 2017. Apple is planning one data center in Denmark’s central Jutland and the other in County Galway, Ireland. The centers...
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Last month, we got our first major preview of Apple's upcoming 'spaceship' campus in Cupertino thanks to an enterprising drone owner. While all we saw was basically an outline of things to come, it quickly became clear that once finished, this campus is going to be nothing short of staggering - both in size, and design. It could very well become a prized building respected the world over - and knowing Apple, that's no doubt the intention. As it turns out, the campus isn't only gargantuan, it's also very green. In a new live interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook, which helped open New York's Climate Week, it's shown that Apple cares greatly about climate change, as well as renewable energy. That probably...
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From a product release standpoint, we're still collectively waiting for Apple chief Tim Cook to make a splash and really knock our socks off. That's not to say he hasn't been a fine replacement for Steve Jobs -- Apple is still making an obscene amount of money, and Cook is more than willing to discuss how much friendlier his company is towards the environment compared to before he took over. In fact, if you're a shareholder who isn't on board with his green efforts, Cook would rather you dump your stock and invest elsewhere. Let's back up a quick second. Apple's efforts in renewable energy are commendable. According to Mashable, over three-quarters of the company's facilities around the world...
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Not that any of you bother to RTFM (Google it) anyway, but for what it's worth, Ubisoft is doing away with paper-based manuals and replacing them with in-game digital copies instead. The new initiative applies to games for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, starting with Shaun White Skateboarding this holiday 2010, Ubisoft said. "It's pretty cool that Ubisoft is making a conscious effort to go green with its new video game packaging," commented Olympic Gold Medalist Shaun White. "I'm excited for my new skateboarding game to come out and stoked that it will be the very first Ubisoft game to be part of their green packaging initiative." According to Ubisoft's internal research, producing one...
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We were pretty moved by DOW Chemical's recent "Human Element" campaign, and we're delighted to see yet another major American corporation going above and beyond the call of duty in order to better our planet. Ford, along with its utility partners, have announced that they are testing out one of the industry's first vehicle-to-electric grid communications and control systems, which enables electric vehicles to interface with the grid for optimal recharging. Put simply, this new approach enables the vehicle operator to program when to recharge the vehicle, for how long and at what utility rate. In other words, an operator could choose to charge only during off-peak hours when electricity is cheaper,...
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If you knew that giving up one of your precious electronics would help save the Earth, would you?Don't lie - a new survey claims fewer than half of Americans would give up their iPods. Specifically, only 42 percent would be willing to, according to the study, conducted by The Shelton Group.And Apple-haters shouldn't get too smug. iPod owners weren't even close to the worst offenders.In answer to the question, "If you thought these things were harming the environment, which of the following would you be willing to give up?" merely 6 percent of those polled would have been willing to give up all the devices mentioned: iPod - 42 percent Dishwasher - 38 percent Microwave - 28 percent Cellular phone...
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We knew that spam e-mails drained our time, resources, and productivity, but apparently spam is also contributing to global warming. Security-technology company, McAfee, and the technology-research company, ICF International, have just released a joint study that claims that the 62 trillion spam e-mails sent in 2008 generated approximately 33 terawatt hours (TWh) of energy per year. To put that in perspective, the study states that is the "equivalent to the electricity used in 2.4 million homes in the United States, with the same GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions as 3.1 million passenger cars using two billion United States gallons of gasoline." ICF claims that this adds up to the equivalent of...
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It might be difficult to believe, but 17 different mobile phone manufacturers and mobile service providers all agree on something that will actually make your mobile life a little easier in the coming years. Unfortunately, it is nothing as earth shattering as agreeing on a standard mobile operating system or reducing handset or service costs industry-wide, but more of a gesture of convenience, energy efficiency, and less environmental impact: they have all agreed to adopt a "universal charging solution for mobile phones" by January 1, 2012.One of the problems that this initiative aims to address is that many phones come with a proprietary charger that can only be used with that specific unit--this...
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Samsung has just introduced a product that Al Gore should love. Actually, anyone who cares about the environment and wants to wear their "green" concern on their sleeve--or in this case, in their hand or next to their ear--should find Samsung's new solar-powered, "Blue Earth" touch-screen phone an appealing way to stay connected in style, while producing less climate-damaging CO2 in the process. The Blue Earth phone includes a solar-charging panel on its backside, which Samsung claims "can generate enough electronic power to call anytime anywhere." While this sounds promising, Samsung has yet to release the precise specifications and details of the phone, such as how long the panel needs to charge,...
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ZOTAC Goes Green at CeBIT 2009See new low-power ZOTAC components and demo systems at CeBit 2009HONG KONG – Feb. 11, 2009 – ZOTAC International, an award-winning manufacturer of graphics cards and motherboards, invites attendees of the 2009 CeBit show in Hannover, Germany to visit the ZOTAC booth and think green. ZOTAC will have eco-friendly demonstration systems with low-power consumption that deliver competitive performance at the ZOTAC booth. “It’s time to think green and do as much as we can to preserve the environment. With new low-power ZOTAC components, building a green PC is easier than ever and you can go green without sacrificing performance,” said Carsten Berger, marketing director,...
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The news was all over the blogosphere this weekend: Doing two web searches on Google creates enough carbon dioxide to boil a kettle.It was based on an article in the Times of London (and so now the kettle of tea comparison make sense), which reported on a Harvard researcher's study of the environmental impact of computing.The energy used to complete a search was explained thusly:... its search engine generates high levels of CO2 because of the way it operates. When you type in a Google search for, say, “energy saving tips”, your request doesn’t go to just one server. It goes to several competing against each other. It may even be sent to servers thousands of miles apart. Google’s infrastructure...
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Force feedback has become commonplace in today's game controllers. To many, the simulated forces create a more realistic game-play environment. A group of scientists at the University of Tokyo in Japan are on working on a new technology that can potentially allow force feedback-type sensations and controller input without the need of a joystick or other physical input device at all--all feedback sensations and input could be done simply in "mid air." The scientists, Takayuki Iwamoto, Mari Tatezono, Takayuki Hoshi, and Hiroyuki Shinoda, have developed what they call an "Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display." Tactile feedback in "3D free space" is not necessarily a new concept: in the abstract for...
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Last month CinemaNow conducted a survey on its Website about consumers' viewing habits. One of the more entertaining tidbits to come from the survey was that the majority of those surveyed thought that of all the actors who played Batman, Christian Bale looked the best in his Batman outfit. Keep this in mind, because we'll be coming back to Christian Bale's Batman outfit in a bit... The main finding from the survey, however, that CinemaNow really wants to publicize is:"94 percent of Americans believe that they make a bigger contribution to the environment by downloading a movie online versus renting or buying at a video store."(By the way, we're not just speculating here that this was CinemaNow's...
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Antec Introduces Green Power Supply to Prevent Environmental Blues FREMONT, CA -- (MARKET WIRE)-- November 14, 2006 -- Antec, Inc., the leading global brand of high-performance computer components for the PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself markets, is now shipping EarthWatts, its most environmentally friendly power supply unit (PSU) yet. EarthWatts allows system builders to do their part for the environment by reducing the amount of energy consumed by computers. The unit allows for this in three vital ways. First, EarthWatts is certified to be 80 PLUS(R) compliant, the newest standard for power supply energy efficiency. The 80 PLUS specification requires computer and server PSUs to be at least 80%...
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