THE WAY TO GO GREEN

TO SAVE WATER

Reduce water flow

• we all have the tendency to turn the water faucet at full force whenever we wash our hands or rinse the dishes.  In doing so, we use 40-50% more water than needed.  By turning the faucet down to slow down water flow, we can save quite a bit.
• saving the water not only saved you few bucks on the water bill, but it also save

         i) Energy needed to pump water up to your apartment and/or office water storage.

        ii) Energy and resources consumed to purify the water.

Use one touch or single handle faucets

Use one touch or single handle faucets that make it easy to turn the water on and off as needed.

         i) These faucets are cleaner alternative to the faucets with knobs that need to be            

            twisted.

        ii) No twisting the knobs with dirty hands or splashing water on the knob to wash off                           

            the soap lather.

       iii) Sensory faucets that turn on automatically when you move your hand, waste a lot    

            of water.  

The truth about hot shower

• Federal regulations state that shower heads should consume maximum 2.5 gallons per minute.  Newer shower heads that comply with this regulation consume about 7 to 8 gallons for a five minute shower.  Older showers don't comply with this regulation consume more than 20 gallons of water for a five minute shower.  Replace old shower heads with new low flow, high pressure water saving shower heads.
• Spend less time in shower

           i) In addition to consuming more energy to heat the water, hot shower make the    

              skin dry by washing off the natural oil produced by skin.

          ii) Dry skin can cause skin problem and make a person look older than her real age.

               A five to seven minute shower with moderately warm water is good for skin.

• Collect and reuse cold water

          i) When shower is turn on, initially the water is cold.  A gallon or two of cold water  

             can be collected every time the shower is turn on.  This water can be use for 

             other work where cold water is good enough like watering the plants or washing 

             the patio.

Fix leakages

• Faucets and water fixtures may be leaking because they are not fitted properly.  Sometimes, they may get worn out with use and start leaking.

          i) Even small drips of the few drops per minute from a faucet or a water pipe add
             up to hundreds of gallons in the long run.

         ii) Leakages are easy and cheap to fix and can save lot of water from being wasted.  

             

Wash full loads

• Dishwashers consume about 20 gallons of water per load.  Washers consume about 10 gallons of water per load.
• Starting a dishwasher to wash a handful of utensils or a washer for only a few clothes is a waste.  Wash full loads to make the best use of the water & electricity.

THE WAY TO GO GREEN... !!

GO GREEN AT OFFICE

Keep Recycle Bins Handy!

Is this scene familiar? People walking out of the meeting room & getting rid of print outs into the nearest garbage bins on their way out. Are these people not conscious about the environment? No. It is just so that they did not find any recycle bin handy!

Most people in professional environment are conscious about the need to recycle paper. They do recycle too, but not all the time. Reason - recycle bins are not very handy! Let’s make it easy for everyone to reach out to the recycle bins.

Make sure your meeting room has a recycle bin near EVERY exit. People have the tendency of dumping paper into the nearest bin they can find. Make sure they find the recycle bin first, on their way out, before they find any other.

Take the initiative to check all the meeting rooms on your floor, and inform the management if there aren't enough recycle bins around. The management would be more than glad to support your cause. Encourage your friends on other floors/departments to do the same.

Make sure there are recycle bins near every printer. This is where a lot of paper goes into nearest garbage bin. Best thing to do would be not to have any garbage bin near printers. Just have recycle bins! (Psst: The amount of paper that goes waste near the printer can very well fetch your manager his/her next bonus!)

Again, same applies to any fax machines, copier machines, etc. Have recycle bins around them, not garbage bins! If people want to throw garbage, let them go find the nearest garbage bin.

Make recycle bins handy for every cubicle. Eg: Two adjacent/opposite cubicles can share a recycle bin.

Train your cleaning staff

Now, if somebody does carelessly throw away potentially re-usable items into garbage bins, train the cleaning staff to turn them over into the recycle bins. Make them aware of the potential threats to the environment due to the items that are not bio-degradeable and benefits of re-cycling.

Printing green

If you think about this deeper...printing cautiously not only saves the energy needed to make paper or the energy needed to print, it also saves the printing ink and the energy needed to produce the ink.

Printing documents is something we do everyday. Few simple things we can follow to reduce usage of paper (and save acres of green lands).

Print only when necessary. If you can arrange for making presentations via a projector, do not print! Email the necessary documents to your colleagues later, for their reference.

Well, if you do need to print, then read on!

Printing only on one side of the paper is a real waste! Always print on BOTH SIDES. If you department does not have a printer than can do that, advice the management to get one. It can cut the department's paper costs & disposal costs straight into half!

Here is the information on how to configure you printer settings for two-sided or duplex printing.

Even if your department does not have printer that can print on both sides, you can still print 2 pages on same side of the paper. Though this may not be useful for any readable content, but is certainly useful when your presentation contains pictures or slides that are visible even when they are printed on half of the paper. Most of the times, your presentations can be printed with two slides per side without losing the clarity.

Reviewing documents or reviewing code

You probably have a pile of papers on your desk that have been printed on only one side. More often than not, somebody will send you documents that you need to review or a piece of code that you need to review. If you are planning to do your reviews on your way back home or on your way to office next day, you can make use of the blank side of the paper to print the code! Re-insert those unused papers back into the printer & print. Make sure to remove any unused ones back from the paper feed.

Slightly reducing the size of the font of the document you are printing for review, can also help reduce number of pages you may need to print. Now there, don’t kill yourself. Make sure you can read the document comfortably with the font you have chosen. Take good care of your eyes!

Lastly, if you do print, do not forget to recycle!            

Say no to disposable Styrofoam cups!

Fact: Styrofoam cups/plates are NOT recyclable.

Fact: Styrofoam cups/plates do not decompose.

Is there a need to say any more? US disposes of 15 billion cups every year. Just think about the non-bio-degradeable refuse produced. Many offices provide styrofoam cups for drinking water/coffee at the pantry. Don’t you think that trend ought to stop?

Here's what we can do to help.

Bring your own mugs/cups.

So it turns out you have to wash your own mugs.

Spending a minute to wash your cup is better than leaving a non-decomposing eye sore that is going to stick around forever. An added incentive is you can personalize your mug with your favourite pictures or photos of your loved ones. Click here to search for personalized mugs.

Reduce usage of use-and-throw plastic items. Couple of tough metal spoons (and may be a knife) in your office drawers can be good enough weapons to keep your over-bearing neighbour from bothering you.

Why use AND throw (and cause overflowing garbage bins and 500 years of agony?), when you have the option not to use in the first place!

Due to the environmental hazard posed by the styrofoam products, most manufacturers have switched to a corn-based product that looks, feels, and insulates just like styrofoam, but is completely recyclable and biodegradable.

Lights Out!

Electricity is one of the most commonly misused forms of energy. A country can save millions of dollars worth of electicity, if its citizens are a bit more self-disciplined. Think of the amount of electricity we waste every year. And think of the poor urban inhabitants, who are unfortunate enough not to recieve any. Can you live without electricity? No. But we can certainly live without wasting some!

Lights in the Meeting Rooms.

This goes without saying. Something your Mom should have told you the first day of your job. Turn off those darned lights in the meeting room when nobody is using it! What a waste!

Hate to see people still leaving the lights in the meeting room on. Somebody got make this a part of the induction programs.

Lights in the common areas like pantry/smoking areas.

Same goes with the lights in such common areas where friends gather to chat/gossip.

Monitors

Turning those monitors off when not in use, can help a great deal. And its easier than switching off your computers, isn't it? But hang on, you can still turn off your computers at the end of your day.

Computers

Turn off computers before you leave for the day (or ATLEAST, every weekend).

Though these cant-live-without-them machines consume very less energy in idle state, hundreds of machines running simultaneously add up to a lot of wasted energy! Take 5 mins off at the end of your busy day to turn off your machines, before you scurry off to home. You only need them up, after about 12 hours and you can save 12 hours worth of energy! Do this & encourage your colleagues to do so. After about 6 months, your company would have saved enough money to give you a raise!

Even in the idle state, the machines generate heat due to the electric supply they are hooked up to. This adds up to heating up of your surroundings. Turning machines off saves this heat from being escaped and keeps your surroundings cool!

Is "switching-off" enough?"

OK. If switching-off not enough,. Several electric devices continue consuming energy even when they are supposedly "switched-off". So, better still, let's take it to the next level - just unplug them when not in use. Go that extra mile! 

Use Natural Light

Do it meeting rooms in your office or your living room. Make use of natural light whenever you can. Nobody sends you a hefty bill for it! Do not waste electricity when natural light is available. Just raise those blinds.

 If you have put on the air-conditioning, it is more efficient to lower the blinds to keep your room cool. Sunlight may raise the temperature of your room.

Commuting to office

If you live within walking distance of your office, walk to work! Give yourself that exercise.

If it is too long a walk, ride a bike to work. Advantages - best way to get in shape while commuting, money saved on gas, no parking hassles, less pollution.

If riding a bike is not an option, try to car pool with a co-worker. Don't see anyone around who can carpool with you? Several websites provide carpool listings to bring together people interested in carpooling.

If you happen to live in a city with well connected public transport system, take advantage of it. Avoid the hassle of traffic, enjoy a book or movie while commuting or even a nap!

Use your vehicle only if you must. Stay healthy!

THE WAY TO GO GREEN... !!

GO GREEN AT HOME

Reduce Usage

Often we buy new things because we like them when we see them in stores. We already have those things at home and they are in working condition. After we buy the new stuff, we dispose off the old ones. If we can't fight the urge to shop, we can make sure that the useable things that we have, do not go waste, apply them elsewhere where they are needed and can be useful.

Reuse

Reduce the usage of disposable items. Buy things that are reusable. You'll find that in the long run, they are more cost efficient. Use your imagination to reuse as many things as you can.

Resell

Items that are gently used and in working condition can be sold on websites like eBay and Craigslist. You can make cash for yourself and save some money for others.

Donate

Another good option that is hassle free and still makes money for you is donating. You can claim tax deductions for donating old clothes & shoes, books, toys, houseware and furniture.

Recycle

Recycle everything you can. for example:- Paper, Tin, Cans, Plastic......

If you get a news paper everyday, you probably have a ton of paper to recycle every week. Don't forget to recycle these old news papers. Same goes for magazines too.

If your community does not have a recycle bin, insist on having one. Or else find out the nearest community that has one. Recycle these items on your way to work/grocery store.

With new and affordable electronic items launching everyday, we have a whole lot of electronic junk. Do not trash those old laptops, computers, mobile phones, iPods and MP3 players. With increased environmental awareness, recycling electronics is getting easier. Many websites pay for the shipping and give you cash if the item is of any value. If not, they recycle it responsibly. Some electronic items can be turned into cash, even if they are broken. Click here to search for where to sell electronic junk for cash.

WHAT SHOULD WE DO TO SUPPORT GREEN COMPUTING

Green computing is essential to protect , our children, our health, and our future. It can also save money.  Unfortunately, the technology we embraced with open arms does not agree with our human needs in important ways, and no one checked very carefully. Computing today is not "green". It's "black". See below for more on this.  Technology that agrees with and supports human needs (one of which is to preserve a healthy Earth so it can sustain us) is green technology.  Happily, the twin parts of the problem (the technology and our behavior in using it) can both be changed.

The "black computing" problem is having some terrible effects:

·         Energy use of all those computers running on electricity and generating greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide is a real concern, but is only one part of a big picture.

·         Intensely poisonous dissolved metals are moving into our local water supplies,

·         Residues of toxic cleaning products (made necessary by the toxic materials in electronics) are also poisonous in our water, and are leaking throughout widely in the environment, causing fierce damage.

·         These poisons, such as flame retardants, evaporate from computers into the air of offices and homes and accumulate in our bodies over time.

·         The U.S EPA does not even require that most of these be tested for toxic effects, but children and adults are damaged.

·         The effects of just these air-born poisons are to change human behavior, disrupt endocrine (hormone) function, irreparably damage reproductive systems and cause thyroid disease. This likely more we just have not discovered yet. A small decrease in thyroid hormone levels can produce cognitive impairment in children, including lowered IQ. ADHD, hyperactivity, autism, and mental retardation all are possible linked to the poisons in computers.

·         The garbage and waste we produce in disposing of computers and electronics is poisonous, is a huge danger, and going unrecognized most of the time.

·         A damaged ability to sleep well results from large amounts of looking at illuminated screens (i.e. as currently built in computer monitors, cell phones, video game units, televisions, etc.), especially within a few hours of bed time. How much exposure is needed seems to vary with the individual. Children seem sensitive to their patterns of sleep, still being formed through their teens, being disrupted later in life.  Damage to the development of the nervous systems of children when they use illuminated screens only moderately. (This applies to children at least until age 12. Reference will be posted soon.)

·         Cancer risk from this same exposure to illuminated screens described above.

·         Radiation from computers and monitors is damaging to people and can be mitigated. In Europe, computer monitors cannot be built that exceed a certain amount of radiation. In the USA there is no government standard for monitors or related equipment.

THE IMPORTANCE TO KNOW GREEN COMPUTING

Electricity usage accounted for by computers and electronic gadgets is soaring. If left unchecked recent strides in power savings will be lost. Even though many items have become more efficient over time the recent demand for electronics and their use has skyrocketed. This increase in power usage can impact greenhouse gas emissions and power supply needs. There is also a huge increase in electronic waste (e-waste) that needs to managed in order to keep the environment clean and safe. Green computing is important because it is helping to minimize the energy used in computing by educating consumers on efficient ways to keep power usage low, by creating more economic electronics, and by encouraging safe and complete recycling. Green computing even includes changing government policy to encourage recycling and lowering energy use by individuals and businesses.

WHAT IS GREEN COMPUTING???

Green computing is the environmentally responsible use of computers and related resources. Such practices include the implementation of energy-efficient central processing units (CPU), servers and peripherals as well as reduced resource consumption and proper disposal of electronic waste (e-waste).

One of the earliest initiatives toward green computing in the United States was the voluntary labeling program known as Energy Star. It was conceived by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1992 to promote energy efficiency in hardware of all kinds. The Energy Star label became a common sight, especially in notebook computers and displays. Similar programs have been adopted in Europe and Asia.

Government regulation, however well-intentioned, is only part of an overall green computing philosophy. The work habits of computer users and businesses can be modified to minimize adverse impact on the global environment. Here are some steps that can be taken:-

• Power down the CPU and all peripherals during extended periods of inactivity.
• Try to to do computer-related tasks during contiguous, intensive blocks of time, leaving, hardware off at other times.
• Use liquid-crystal-display(LCD) monitors rather than cathode-ray-tube(CRT) monitors.
• Use notebook computers rather than desktop computer whenever possible.
• Use the power-management features to turn off hard drives and displays after several minutes of inactivity.
• Minimize the use of paper and properly recycle waste paper.
• Dispose of e-waste according to federal, state and local regulations.
• Employ alternative energy sources for computing workstations, servers, networks and data centers

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