HOT AND GREEN

Fortunately, it is not only individuals but also corporates who have taken up the call to manufacture products that have significantly lower adverse effects on the environment. Hewlett- Packard, for one, has come out with what it says are green computers. Says Nitin Choudhary: 8220;The IT industry is working towards adopting a system called Green Computing and innovating products along this line.8221; Choudhary, director, commercial products, HP India, says this means focusing on three aspects: choosing a more environment-responsible product; using it most effectively; and disposing of it in an eco-friendly manner.

First things first. Eco-friendliness starts with the casing of a device itself. When choosing a computer, remember that the external feature such as a magnesium alloy casing is better than a plastic one. At a time when e-waste is a growing environmental concern, it is a consolation that magnesium enclosures are easier to recycle.So if you are choosing HP machines, go in for HP Compaq 2510P Notebook PC and HP Compaq 2710P Tablet PC.

Then, the innards. An efficient PC has an internal design that produces little heat. There are two sides to this. Not only does an energy-efficient computer minimise the transformation of electricity into heat, but production of less heat also ensures that additional cooling costs can be decreased. 8220;There is a lot of heat that is generated and lost during the conversion process from alternate current to direct current,8221; explains Choudhary.

While power supply in India is AC 220V, the internal power supply unit of a computer requires DC 5v-12v. The conversion from one to the other results in heat and magnetic radiation. The better the PC, the better the conversion rate8212;i.e. it generates more DC power, less heat. Among the HP products with higher power conversion are the DC-class models such as the ultra slim dc 7800, which has an efficiency of 80 per cent which means 80 per cent of the AC power is converted to the needed DC current. Other DS-class models have efficiency in the 60-70 per cent range. 8220;A thousand PCs with 80 per cent efficiency can save the equivalent in CO2 emissions generated by the burning of over 4,500 gallons of gasoline,8221; says Choudhary.

Like most things, the efficiency of computers too are rated. To be acknowledged as environment-responsible products, all products have to be Energy Star compliant or and Restriction of Hazardous Substance RoHS compliant. The United States Environment Protection Agency-funded Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool EPEAT is the standard system for evaluating, certifying and registering green computers, based on its efficiency parameters.

8220;EPEAT approved hardware means that its maintenance is reduced, the hardware8217;s life is extended and the recycling of the computer is easier,8221; says Choudhary, whose HP Compaq dc5750 won the FOSE award for energy efficiency and has been given a Gold EPEAT listing the highest among three, gold, silver and bronze.

The other feature that one could consider for advanced power management is the use of mercury-free panels. HP commercial LCD flat panel monitors and HP notebooks with illumi-lite display8212;their ambient backlight eliminates the amount of hazardous materials used8212;are examples.

But the process of Green Computing isn8217;t complete without the efficient disposal and recycling of the electronic waste8212;which includes all the internal and external parts of a computer. While disposal means discarding the various elements of a computer8212;plastic, metal, magnets8212;in a prescribed manner, recycling is sorting out the components of the PC that can be re-used. HP Workstations claim to be 90 per cent recyclable by weight since they are made from materials that can be recycled. These include metals and alloys as opposed to non-recyclable materials such as plastics. The company8217;s desktops are similarly designed with bromine-free external plastics and tool-less chassis for easy disassembly and recycling at end of life.

And more is being done. The globally active 8216;Disposal Program8217; will be initiated in India soon. This, says Choudhary, 8220;will have us going back to consumers and taking the bulk of their PCs to be disposed of in the most eco-friendly manner in collaboration with another agency8221;. And while HP doesn8217;t incorporate any recycled components in its new products, the agencies they tie up with, as part of the 8216;Responsible Take-Back8217;, will use any of the re-usable elements of the PC.

ECO ASSISTANCE
With more than 660,000,000 PCs in the world today, personal digital devices are fast emerging as significant contributors to global warming. And the trend of keeping desktops switched on 24/7 has only attributed to a wastage of as much as 30 billion kilowatt-hours of energy. Translate that and it means approximately 45 billion pounds of carbon emissions. Is there some way out?

With an initiative called Green PC Tool, iYogi8212; a three-year-old direct to consumer computer support service8212;will help consumers operate their PC in a more environmentally friendly manner. 8220;It is an automated technological platform that facilitates the change in settings of the computer depending on the usage,8221; says Uday Challu, CEO, iYogi. So while the desktops have to be switched on and off while not in use in standby mode, a computer uses as much power as in use, this toolbar once downloaded uses technology to automate and combine the features of a laptop that allows the machine to go into hibernation mode. Among other things, Green PC Tool switches off the desktop8217;s power automatically.

While the Green PC tool helps you customise the configuration of the PC depending on the behaviour and usage pattern of the computer, it also quantifies a computer8217;s energy consumption and the carbon savings for individuals and/or subscribers.

The manual service of Green PC is already available. The setting options vary from organised stand-by and turn off or hibernation mode to wake on alarm, restore on a/c power loss and resume on functions. The automated service tool8212;which will even adjust your settings by default after observing the behaviour pattern of the PC usage8212;will be available in a month8217;s time and will come for free.

This is how it helps the environment: as it assesses the PC in terms of the CPU voltage, CPU frequency and compatible processors, the implementation of the appropriate setting is directed towards maximising the system8217;s energy use. When the consumption of power by a machine is reduced, the amount of resources such as the fossil fuel which are used up to generate that power will go down. 8220;While this is a long term effect, we are looking at making this a public domain, almost like a community where people can not only see how much energy they are able to save and compare it with other users, but also share expertise in other eco-friendly ways of using these systems,8221; adds Challu.

iYogi also helps the user understand the various factors while purchasing a green computer: effects of the size of the computer, the operating system, the power supply unit and the processor. It also hopes to spread other efficient practices such as safe disposal and recycling of computer components. 8220;Instead of the computers being dumped in the garage, the domain created will look at having experts share the correct way to dispose of the computers and the safe disposal of hazardous components such as silicon and battery,8221; says Challu.