Living eco-consciously and other fun stuff!
Category : Household
At 8.30 PM on Saturday 26 March 2011, lights will switch off around the globe for Earth Hour.
This year, when the lights go back on, think about what you can change in your daily life that will benefit the planet. To share your stories, thoughts and ideas and to get inspiration from what others are doing. So share what you’re going to do and they’ll tell the world.
Together our actions add up.
Category : Household
check out this video on energy efficient light bulbs from EcoStiletto
Go Change A Lightbulb from EcoStiletto on Vimeo.
Did you realize that you could save up to $75 a year by utilizing the Energy Star EZ Wizard Tool to put you computer to sleep when you’re not using it? Ok, my opinion is TURN THE DARN THING OFF when you’re not using it!!!! But, if this is for some reason virtually impossible for you….like you just can’t bear to wait the 3-5 minutes for your computer to boot back up again…then you NEED to use Energy Star.
Category : Household, International
The Earth Hour website has posted some neat before and after photos from Saturday night’s Earth Hour 2010. Check them out!
Category : International
This is so clever! The US should take note! Barcelona is one of my absolute favorite cities – I’m so happy to see them being so innovative!
Category : Household
see…it does make a difference to turn off your computer at the end of the day!
Science & Technology (electronics)
“In the U.S. alone, over $2.8 billion of PC power is being wasted every year.”
We’ve written many times about easy power management strategies for computers. Whether it is for your computer at home or for thousands of computers in an office building, there’s no reason not to take advantage of power-saving settings. Everybody wins: you get a smaller electricity bill, and less pollution is produced by power plants. The most recent example of putting this in practice comes from Ford. By centrally controlling the power settings on the company’s computers, they are saving an estimated $1.2 million annually and keeping between 16,000 and 25,000 metric tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere.
This is Basic, All Companies Should Do the Same
In the past, up to 60% of Ford employees using computers didn’t shut down their computers at the end of the day (I wouldn’t be surprised if something very similar is happening at lots of companies without a clear policy about IT energy efficiency).
The cost savings and reduced carbon footprint are obtained by developing “Power Profiles” for each PC in the company. With its power profile enabled, each PC monitors its usage patterns and determines when it can be turned off. If the user is working late, he or she will be alerted of the approaching power down and given the opportunity to delay it. In addition, the PC is able to detect when a Microsoft Office product is active and is able to save open documents before shutting down in case the user is not present.
According to 1E Inc, the company that helped Ford with this project, “In the U.S. alone, over $2.8 billion of PC power is being wasted every year.” Crazy. Wasteful. A drain on the economy.
Tomorrow evening at 8:30pm your local time, be sure to join Earth Hour by turning off your lights, TV, etc. While helping the earth you can enjoy the simple pleasures in life…some quiet time alone, a candle lit meal or the company of friends. Whatever you decide, make sure you at least turn your lights out from 8:30 to 9:30pm
Category : Household, International
I participated in this last year – it’s a great thing to do!
World Wildlife Fund is proud to announce Earth Hour 2010 will take place Saturday, March 27, at 8:30 pm. National Monuments including Mount Rushmore, the Empire State Building, the Las Vegas Strip, and the Golden Gate Bridge have already pledged to participate but what we really need is for you to participate again.
Standing nearly one billion people strong, we made last year’s Earth Hour the single largest mass action in human history. This year we need you to grow it.
We have worked tirelessly to bring the international community, governments around the world and corporate leaders to the brink of breakthrough action on climate change in 2010. That’s why it’s so important we make our voice heard again.
Please join millions of people around the world in turning off the lights for Earth Hour to raise awareness and demand action to fight climate change. Grow the movement by sharing this message with your friends and family. Working together, we can overcome one of the greatest challenges facing our planet.
Visit our new site at EarthHour.org to access to videos and toolkits to help grow the movement as well as fantastic ideas on how to make Earth Hour a special event in your home, community or business.
Category : Travel
These are pretty cool – I’m excited for them to arrive in dealer lots. Not sure how they could work for a city dweller like myself without a garage to charge it in though. I doubt people would be too happy if I ran an extension cord out my front door and across the sidewalk to the car which would have to be parked in the bus stop!
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
