Dell Becomes Carbon Free

Dell facilities world over are now carbon free.
The company told that they have achieved their goal; that was to achieve carbon free environment friendly facilities by 2008.
Dane Parker, its director for environment, health and safety, said Dell buys renewable energy — including wind, solar and methane gas — directly from utilities to fulfill one-fifth of its energy needs.

There is not enough green energy available for all of Dell's requirements, so for the other 80 percent, Dell buys regular "brown" power, Parker said, plus enough renewable energy credits to offset that power's carbon emissions. Those credits subsidize purchases of renewable energy by other organizations, in places where more green power is available.

The company also said it has cut its energy use with more efficient lighting, modern climate control systems and software that shuts off idle office computers after hours, for a savings of $3 million a year, or about 5 percent of its annual energy bill.

Dell isn't the first company to declare its operations carbon neutral, but it's the first global high-tech player to do so, said Stephen Stokes, a climate change and business analyst for AMR Research. "They do deserve some congratulations," Stokes said, noting that the company took steps beyond just buying energy credits.

"Even if you were the worst carbon emitter in the world, if you wrote a huge check ... you could claim to be carbon neutral," he said.

Dell, the world's second-largest computer company, also is ahead of No. 1 PC maker Hewlett-Packard Co. on this matter.

Edison:The Free Power Saving Software

Verdiem on Wednesday, released "Edison" a software that helps people design their own schedule of power saving modes for home or work use.
Verdiem's CEO, Kevin Klustner, is scheduled to highlight Edison and PC energy consumption during a conference call with Microsoft's chief environmental strategist, Robert Benard, and Intel's Lorie Wigle, president of the Climate Savers computing industry consortium.

Researchers have found that a computer can take up as much as 100watts to 250watts even when in screen saver mode.
Power saving softwares aren't new.There are loads of them whith loads of improvement needed.
So how does Edison kick in?
The Edison software doesn't completely shut a computer off but rather moves it to a "suspend" state, which uses less energy. Users can also schedule to shut down the screen and hard drive before going into suspend mode.

The tool lets users have work and home settings. It has a read-out of how much electricity you are saving, also translated into reductions in carbon dioxide emissions and dollar savings.

Estimates will vary widely, depending on electricity rates and type of computer, but Verdiem says the average savings is 410 kilowatt hours a year, or $36.50.