Post by flyjoe180 on Dec 8, 2007 14:44:20 GMT 12
Seeing as we are all aviation enthusiasts of sone description and we use computers, I thought this may be relevant and of interest to some.
Chances are three out of ten New Zealanders left a carbon footprint behind when they finished work this evening.
That is because many people leave the computer on when they leave the building.
It sounds harmless enough but some say it is costing our economy millions.
Aviation has long been the pin-up bad boy of carbon emissions, but a silent culprit is charging up the ranks of the world's most dangerous eco villains.
But it is not the ones we throw away that are the problem.
According to a British report, it is the computers we use every day that are as much to blame as planes for leaving carbon footprints.
Global Action Plan's report calculates there are now more than a billion computers on the planet and the associate carbon consequences of that number are huge.
A medium sized computer server has the same carbon footprint as gas guzzlers that do 5 kilometres per litre or 15 miles per gallon.
Worldwide, computers account for a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.
New Zealanders are among the worst perpetrators - just 28 percent of us turn off the computer when we leave work.
The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA), says that alone costs roughly $1.5 million worth of wasted energy every year.
IT consultant Robyn Kamira says that it is time for a pop-up offer.
"I think there is a role ... for government to incentivise that with tax incentives as the UK report has suggested. I also think there is an opportunity for the government to model that behaviour," says Kamira.
The EECA says it is just a myth that turning your computer on and off all the time can harm it.
A New Zealand study found that on average computers can handle around 500,000 start ups before they break down.
We just need to switch our habits.
www.tv3.co.nz/News/ScienceTechnologyNews/Story/tabid/412/articleID/41053/cat/73/Default.aspx
Chances are three out of ten New Zealanders left a carbon footprint behind when they finished work this evening.
That is because many people leave the computer on when they leave the building.
It sounds harmless enough but some say it is costing our economy millions.
Aviation has long been the pin-up bad boy of carbon emissions, but a silent culprit is charging up the ranks of the world's most dangerous eco villains.
But it is not the ones we throw away that are the problem.
According to a British report, it is the computers we use every day that are as much to blame as planes for leaving carbon footprints.
Global Action Plan's report calculates there are now more than a billion computers on the planet and the associate carbon consequences of that number are huge.
A medium sized computer server has the same carbon footprint as gas guzzlers that do 5 kilometres per litre or 15 miles per gallon.
Worldwide, computers account for a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.
New Zealanders are among the worst perpetrators - just 28 percent of us turn off the computer when we leave work.
The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA), says that alone costs roughly $1.5 million worth of wasted energy every year.
IT consultant Robyn Kamira says that it is time for a pop-up offer.
"I think there is a role ... for government to incentivise that with tax incentives as the UK report has suggested. I also think there is an opportunity for the government to model that behaviour," says Kamira.
The EECA says it is just a myth that turning your computer on and off all the time can harm it.
A New Zealand study found that on average computers can handle around 500,000 start ups before they break down.
We just need to switch our habits.
www.tv3.co.nz/News/ScienceTechnologyNews/Story/tabid/412/articleID/41053/cat/73/Default.aspx
