LocalCooling.com -Fight Global Warming From Your Desktop

[nam78_two]

Link:
http://www.localcooling.com/

I just found this site and I have only just downloaded the software on my lab computers. I usually just power-off my PC when I am not using it, but I think this would be a useful application for offices and workplaces where comps are left on for sustained periods.


From the site:

More than 30 billion kilowatt-hours of energy is wasted because many of us simply forget to shut down our computers when we’re not using them. If we could just improve the efficiency of how we use our PCs, the savings in energy costs would be over $3 billion! The CO2 emissions from just 15 computers are equivalent in energy terms to the gas consumption used by one car.

A barrel of oil contains 42 gallons and produces an average 556 kilowatt hours of electrical power. Now consider your computer. A good spec PC can use up to 200 watts per hour. If you have a CRT monitor, it adds a further 80 watts (TFT screens use less). So your system is consuming over 1 KWh of power for every four hours of normal use. If you leave your computer on 24/7, that’s the equivalent of a whole barrel of oil every 90 days! If you optimize your computer with LocalCooling and power down when you’re not using it you could extend this to over six months!

Remember, if you leave the PC on with just a screen saver on the CRT when you’re not using it, it’s STILL using up to 280 watts per hour of completely wasted power. Power that pumps out 1.5lbs of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere for every KWh. If left on for 24 hours that’s 9lbs of CO2 every day and 3,285lbs per year. That’s more than 1.6 tons of CO2 thrown up into the atmosphere just to keep your one single PC working.



Our goal is to introduce 100,000,000 PC users into the Local Cooling community. If just 100 million of us optimize the efficiency of our computers’ energy consumption, we could prevent over 300 billion kg of CO2 gas emissions, equivalent to over 1.8 billion gallons of oil, in just the first year alone. Take Part in Our Project to Spread the Word about LocalCooling

[Blue_Tires]

1. good idea

i had many a college roommate that NEVER EVER switched off the pc and monitor

[nam78_two]

2. Yup so did I

And it was the same with many of the huge computer labs at my school :-/. I went to the University of Michigan and it was one of the most wasteful campuses I have ever seen. The school didn't even do simple things like making double-sided printing the default setting, where the option existed. It would be nice if workplaces and schools would make being energy efficient more of a no-brainer so that there would be less needless waste :-|.

[Kiouni]

3. What about laptops?

The fact page doesn't say anything about laptops and that is all i have for a personal computer at home.

[Captain Angry]

4. The fact page talks about a machine that uses a 200W Power Supply.

Grab the power brick for your notebook PC. If it's a normal notebook, it will probably be 60-90W. A heavy duty notebook, or an older notebook could be 120-150W. One of the new super-duper notebooks with the massive screen can have 180W.

That should give you a basis for the numbers they're talking about.

[nam78_two]

5. You can use it for any machine running on XP

I don't know the no.s for laptops vs. desktops, but I will check.

[HornBuckler]

6. Built in on Windows XP/Vista

You can put the system on standby/turn off hard disks under screen saver options/power settings. It would be interesting to see if the wattage savings are significant from stock Windows options, but I doubt it.

[nam78_two]

8. I was wondering about that too.nt

[InkAddict]

7. Thanks for this - I'll try it! n/t