Many people think green IT as just a passing phase or a short lived fancy but if one were to step out of today and be transported 50 years into the future, it would be would be easier to comprehend the importance of such an initiative. Technology is one of mankind's greatest achievements but what is technology actually made of? Chemicals, heavy metals, synthetic materials ... which begs the question, where do these go once you're finished with them? How much power are they consuming? And finally, how does one manage the negative impact of technology on the environment?
Last week, we learned why green IT is important, but today we would like bring you some interesting and simple ways how you could practice green IT. It could be just as trivial as turning off your computer when it's not in use. Whether you switch off your computer when you are sleeping, at lunch or at dinner, when in meetings or even during certain duration's of the the weekend, over a year you could potentially save as much energy as it takes:
to run a clock radio for 1,392 weeks
to make 9,280 bags of microwave popcorn
to wash 464 loads of washing
to use your blow dryer for 5,568 hours
to vacuum for 464 hours
to produce 3,480 plastic bags
to run your microwave 24 hours a day for a week
to boil your kettle for 24 hours a day for 268 days
And that's just by exercising restraint on one type of technology. Now add other machines such as TV's, game consoles or even using a laptop instead of a computer (laptops only use 190 kW of electricity a year on average),the resulting energy and money saved would be considerable. You could even contribute directly to green IT by developing constructive practices like turning devices off at the power point or setting your computer / laptop to sleep after 15 minutes of inactivity. Remember, just like charity, we believe that green IT too begins at home.
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