This blog has been updated with the correct default kilowatt-per-hour rate.
Sometimes it's the little things that count, especially when it comes to your carbon footprint.
When it comes to PC usage, those little things include turning off your computer when you're not using it. Enter Verdiem, with its free download called Edison, which it is offering to consumers to help with their PC power management at home.
(Credit:
Verdiem)
Verdiem has a similar product for large enterprise customers--and they of course charge for it. But Edison is free, and available at the company Web site, or from Microsoft.com/environment. Microsoft and The Climate Savers Initiative are both supporting the launch of Edison.
There are more than 1 billion PCs in the world, and each is responsible for an average of 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions every year, says Allison Cornia, Verdiem's vice president of marketing, adding, "Most people are really unaware how much energy PCs are wasting, and we want to draw a lot of attention to that."
I tried it out, and it seems easy enough. Download and register the program, and a window pops up. A series of tabs helps you customize your settings. Choose your peak work and non-work hours, and when you want Edison to save more or less power.
Using the "save more" setting while you're working will power down your display and hard drive after 5 minutes, and suspend your PC after 10. "Save less" means your display will be powered down after 30, your hard drive after 45, and never suspends your computer. There are several settings between those extremes as well.
But the part where you actually feel like you're making a difference is under the "Estimated Annual Savings" section. Once you plug in what your local power company charges for kilowatts per hour, Edison calculates money and energy saved per year, as well as how much carbon dioxide is not being emitted. After having Edison installed for roughly 4 hours, at the default $0.089 kW/hr, I'd be on track to save $30.85 this year in energy costs, 346.68 kW/hr, and 472.52 pounds of CO2.
It's Windows-only for now, but Verdiem says it will add an OS X-compatible version depending on whether Mac users show interest.
Updated 2:05 p.m. PT: Dell PR provided us with a photo.
How apropos: On Earth Day, a PC company says it's going to make a greener PC.
The yet-to-be-named ultra-small green consumer desktop PC.
(Credit: Dell)We already know Dell wants to be the greenest company on the planet, or in the solar system, or something. So as part of his remarks to the Fortune Brainstorm: Green conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Chief Executive Michael Dell previewed a desktop PC aimed at consumers.
The PC will be 81 percent smaller and will use 70 percent less energy than one of Dell's mini-tower desktops. And the packaging will be totally recycled. Though there's no name for the PC and no pictures (a Dell representative insisted they didn't just come up with the idea on the flight from Austin to LAX, and in fact have been working on it for "a while") the desktop is supposed to be available by the end of the year.
Dell is targeting consumers first with this energy-efficient desktop, which is notable since the company normally rolls out green initiatives on business machines first.
Click here for more Earth Day tech news.
Updated December 3 to include more information about pricing.
The Silicon Valley PC company that made a splash earlier this year with its tiny, energy-efficient desktop has set its sights on the mobility market.
Zonbu announced Wednesday it will sell a Zonbu Notebook and service beginning in early 2008. Like the Zonbu Mini that came out this past summer, the notebook will run on the Zonbu OS, and is rated highly by the Green Electronics Council for its energy efficiency. The key concept behind Zonbu is its service. "People shouldn't have to be their own IT administrators," says Gregoire Gentil, Zonbu's chief executive.
The $279 Zonbu notebook PC
(Credit: Zonbu)The price tag on the notebook--which is manufactured by Everex, another Silicon Valley PC maker--is $279. While that seems awfully low, there is also a $15-per-month subscription fee, which is supposed to save owners the headache of maintaining their own PC. The service includes 20 software applications; free, automatic updates; online storage; remote file access and file sharing; automated backup; online tech support; and hardware replacement in case of damage.
Update: It's worth pointing out however, that purchasing just the notebook costs $479. Buying a 1-year service plan, at $15 per month, will lower the price to $379 for the laptop. But it also means you'll pay a year's worth of fees at $180, which brings the notebook's actual cost to $559. Paying $15 for two years will get the base price to $279, so in that case the total will be $639.
Unlike the Zonbu Mini desktop, there's not much that's "mini" about the notebook. It has a 15.4-inch screen, 512MB of memory, an optical drive, three USB 2.0 ports, and weighs just over 5 pounds. There is only a 60GB hard drive, but online storage is included in the service.
Though it's not officially available until early next year, adventurous types can order one now from Zonbu's Web site with a beta version of the software. The company says when the final version is available, the software will automatically update.
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