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Firm encourages ‘green computing’ to save money

By: dmc-admin//February 16, 2009//

Firm encourages ‘green computing’ to save money

By: dmc-admin//February 16, 2009//

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Not everyone has embraced the green movement, nor do they accept global warming as fact. But, whether you drive a Prius or a Hummer, you should give “green computing” a try — because beyond its benefits for the environment, it can also save you money.

Green computing seeks to use a computer at peak efficiency and in an environmentally-friendly manner. It means reducing its energy consumption and, ultimately, disposing of it responsibly.

If you Google “green computing,” you’ll find a plethora of resources on the topic, some of which are incredibly complex. I avoided them. For this article, I’m keeping it simple, and I relied heavily on the Web page of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Green Bay attorney Jodi L. Arndt, who concentrates in environmental law, has been urging her firm to make greener decisions whenever possible, including when it comes to technology.

For starters, her medium-sized firm, Liebmann, Conway, Olejniczak & Jerry S.C., leases all its technology, including computers, printers and photocopiers, and they look for the ENERGY STAR (http://www.energystar.gov/) rating from the EPA. ENERGY STAR is familiar to anyone who has purchased an appliance over the last 20 years or so. It means the product has an energy-efficient design. Computers started getting these ratings just a few years ago. If you go to the ENERGY STAR Web site, you can check if your current or prospective computer gets the rating.

In addition, at Liebmann Conway, they’ve gotten rid of the CRT monitors, replacing them LCDs that use considerably less energy. Laptops are also recommended over desktop PCs, because they use less energy.

Moreover, Arndt is constantly turning her computer off when she’s not using it. Beyond powering down when going home at night, she also turns it off for lunch or any extended breaks. If you have a desktop, at the very least, you should power down the monitor if you know you won’t be using it for a while, she says. Laptop cords should be unplugged when not in use, she notes, and power strips for computers, printers and wireless routers should be turned off at day’s end.

Many myths about computers persist from bygone days, such as that it takes more energy to turn a computer off and then reboot, rather than to simply leave it running, and that a computer’s lifespan was diminished with each on/off cycle. Not so with today’s technology, where computers are designed to handle at least 40,000 on/off cycles.

Next, they’re in the process at Liebmann Conway of setting every computer’s “power management features” for maximum energy efficiency. The EPA recommends setting a computer to enter “system standby” or “hibernate” after 30 to 60 minutes of inactivity.

To save even more, set monitors to enter sleep mode after five to 20 minutes of inactivity.

On my laptop, it took less than 30 seconds to do this. I just clicked on start, then Control Panel, then Power Options. Another option, and one that was even easier, is to go to the ENERGY STAR Web page and click on Office Equipment, then Computers, and then Power Management. There you’ll see Open Source software and the “EZ Wizard Tool.” I downloaded it in seconds, and it automatically changed my power settings.

If you’re skeptical about whether this really saves you any money, the EPA offers a number of case studies, including one from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, where it’s estimated they save $20 per PC monitor annually by setting them to go to sleep after 20 minutes. In addition, they installed EZ GPO software, available (once again) on the ENERY STAR Web site, to set the system standby idle timer to 20 minutes on each computer. All told, it’s estimated they save $50 annually on every computer, or about $9,000 total.

Arndt says that her 18-lawyer firm uses about 60 computers. If the UW-Oshkosh estimate of $50 per computer is correct, they’re saving roughly $3,000. She guesses it’s more in the neighborhood of $5,000, which is a tidy sum by most people’s standards — probably yours, if you like to read a column about cheap stuff for lawyers. More importantly to her, they’re being good stewards of the earth.

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