Everybody has a computer today. They’re like wristwatches or televisions. But how much does your computer use contribute to greenhouse gasses and their global warming effect? You might be surprised!

Conservative estimates rank computer usage right up there with the airline industry for its harmful effect on the atmosphere, making it responsible for up to 2% of the total problem. To put your mind at ease, that doesn’t mean your household PC is all that nasty. That figure includes all the industrial server farms, government supercomputers, and college networks. Unfortunately, there are a lot more of them than you might think. Even your average grocery store has a server room somewhere in it to run the “back office” (accounts receivable and inventory control) and “front office” (cash registers and checkout system) components of its operation.

So how much damage does your average PC do? Running one 8 hours per day, five days a week, fifty weeks a year will use 400 kilowatt hours or 180,800 grams of carbon dioxide (452 grams – just shy of a pound – per hour X 2,000 hours). That sounds like a lot but when you consider that a home PC accounts for less than ten percent of the average home’s energy bill (according to MR. Electricty AKA Michael Bluejay of Michaelbluejay.com) it’s not that big of a number in the overall picture. Your water heater, furnace, and refrigerator are much bigger carbon offenders.

But as my mother always used to say “every little bit helps.” So here are some ways to go greener and keep your high-speed digital lifestyle to which you’ve become accustomed.

(more…)

The people who are stuck in their caves that still won’t convert to compact flourescent bulbs (CFL’s) because of some silly, antiquated excuse have one less argument they can make against the energy savings.  Hybrid CFL’s designed by GE now come to full light instantly after being turned on.

I’ve got CFL’s all over my house, including outside.  When I flip a switch to look outside, it’s as if the lights weren’t even on.  Not anymore.  That’s one point for CFL’s, climate skeptics: 0.

The bulb is in the shape of a “regular” incandescent bulb, which may also convert some of the weirdo holdouts.  Inside that outer shell is the familiar CFL coil, and inside that is a small halogen unit, capable of emitting instant, bright light.  As the CFL portion of the bulb warms up and shows it’s full light, the halogen turns off to save power.

Unnecessary innovation?  Perhaps.  But if it converts a few lazy, apathetic people, it’s worth it.  The bulbs are supposed to last around 8,000 hours.  That’s 1,000 times more than an old incandescent bulb and about the same as a standard incandescent.

There’s one more benefit to these bulbs, the contain less mercury than a standard CFL.  About half as much.  This is another hangup for some slow-to-convert folks, that they don’t want to bother disposing of CFL’s properly because they contain mercury.  As I see it, there is no “disposal”.  As a popular bumper sticker reads: “Throw it away? There is no ‘away’.”  This means you are producing waste regardless of the type of bulb you’re using.  Even so, for every CFL you throw away, you could be throwing away 1,000 incandescent bulbs.  You do the math and figure out which is worse.

Hybrid bulbs will come in 60 and 75 watt capacities and sell for around $6.  Not a bad deal considering that equates to around $500 in incandescent bulbs.

At Hippie Magazine, we like to report on the coolest green innovations, not just green news.  Have you ever received a package in the mail or brought home something from the store and been shocked to find a a box full of styrofoam?  It’s not easy to dispose of and can take up an entire garbage bag.  Not to mention, you know it is just going to sit in a landfill for decades if not centuries.

Very few companies opt to offer biodegradable packing material such as that made from cornstarch (they decompose in water) or recycled crinkle paper.  So we’re left with horrible chemicals that last forever.  A completely unnecessary evil.

(more…)

EarthTalk® is a weekly environmental column made available to our readers from the editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: I work for an office equipment company selling copiers, fax machines, computers and printers. Each year new models come out making old ones obsolete. As a result, we have loads of trade-ins with nowhere to go. What can we do with this old equipment? – Jeff P., Worcester, MA

Electronic waste, or “e-waste” as it’s called, is a growing problem in the United States and abroad, as obsolete or broken computers and other electronic equipment are taking up increasingly precious amounts of landfill space and potentially leaking hazardous substances into surrounding ecosystems.

(more…)