Your IT infrastructure uses valuable resources, primarily electricity, to keep in running. Unfortunately your business cannot afford to turn off the network, servers, and workstations every night because valuable maintenance happens during these off-peak hours [like backups] and the time required to power on and shut down your system every day is a poor use of your business’ productivity and time. That’s not to say we cannot do anything to help reduce, reuse, and recycle in the technology world. What are we doing? Energy Efficient Hardware
There have been significant improvements towards power consumption reduction for servers, workstation PCs, monitors, and printers. Since we build custom systems and are a Microsoft Certified OEM System Builder, we have made strategic decisions about the hardware we sell. The components we offer meet both modern efficiency standards, while still meeting your business needs. Take a look at our workstation PC: our standard case is the Sonata III 500 mid-tower made by the industry-leading manufacturer Antec. The power supply in this case is the Antec Earthwatts 500. Both adhere to the 80 PLUS ® standard. 80 PLUS ® is the highest independently certified standard in energy efficiency. 80 PLUS ® products lower your electric bill and protect the environment with no reduction in performance. Click here for more about the 80 PLUS ® certification. Recycling E-Waste
We also are conscious of waste. The EPA estimates we generated 3,000,000 tons of electronic waste in 2003. Many of the internal components are very toxic. State and Federal agencies have stepped up their efforts to cut down this poisoning of the earth. The public and private sector have joined their efforts to cut down on e-waste and offer many free, open to the public recycling events. Select one of the following for listings by county: Contra Costa County | Alameda County What can you do? Here are 5 things you can do personally to cut down on your power consumption in the office: 1) CONSCIOUS PRINTING - Print (and photocopy) on both sides of the paper. This requires printers with a particular feature. If you have it then you can make it the default setting.
- Increase your default margin settings in your Office programs like Word. The default margin settings in Word 2007 are 1” on all sides. Change the default to 0.5” on all sides and you’ll barely notice the difference (unless your business requires more, like a legal documents).
- Ask yourself, “Do I really need to print ALL of this? Or really any of it at all?” Print only what you need.
- And if you must print at least recycle or reuse it afterwards. My kids love plenty of scrap paper (the non-confidential information on the other side kind, that is).
Fact: If an office building of 7,000 workers recycled all of its office paper waste for a year, it would be the equivalent of taking almost 400 cars off the road in terms of CO2 emissions. (Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) 2) FLICK THE MONITOR SWITCH OR HAVE THE MONITOR DO IT FOR YOU - Turn off your monitor when you leave your desk. If you're going to be away from your desk for more than 15 minutes, you can save more than 50 percent of the energy that would have been consumed by your computer in your absence. (Source: Australian Department of Environment)
and/or - Change your monitor settings to shut down on the shortest time frame you can stand. Mine is set at five minutes--not only to save power, but to let me know if I've zoned out for more than five minutes. This not the same as the screensaver. Ask us how to do that next time we’re on-site at your office.
3) RECYCLE EVERYTHING YOU CAN Ink/toner cartridges, batteries, cell phones, computer hardware, plastic grocery bags, and even shoes: Retailers you visit every week recycle these items for free. SIC will take all any electronic waste you need to recycle. Best Buy takes ink/toner cartridges, cell phones, and batteries. Lucky’s, Trader Joe’s, and many others take your plastic grocery bags. Sports Basement and other retailers take old shoes to send to third world countries. 4) ENERGY EFFICIENT HARDWARE - Look for multi-core processors: many multi-core processors are up to 40 percent faster and more than 40 percent more energy-efficient than its single-core predecessor. They optimize energy consumption by powering up processor components only when they are needed.
- 80 PLUS ® certification: 80 PLUS ® is the highest independently certified standard in energy efficiency. More info here
- Energy Star Compliant: The EPA and US Dept. of Energy’s standard in energy saving compliance.More info here
- Look for ways to extend the life of your hardware: At SIC we sell computers built with ‘standardized size’ components so that you can easily replace and/or upgrade. Individual components like more RAM memory or adding a hard drive can extend the life of your hardware. We also base our service on a proactive, preventative maintenance model that extends the life of your computer and computing experience. We aim to add at least another year to the typically 3-4 year lifespan of business hardware. Ask us for more info
5) GO VIRTUAL Do you really need to fly to Las Vegas for that presentation? Do you really even need to go into the office today? Probably not. In fact, a great way to reduce your business's travel costs, while also reducing your "carbon footprint" — the amount of carbon or other greenhouse gases you emit by using fossil fuels like gasoline — is to set up virtual meetings and virtual offices. One optional component of Microsoft Windows Server and Microsoft Small Business Server is the Terminal Server. SIC has built a significant business segment based on utilizing this functionality and maximizing the opportunity for employees to work remotely and securely from anywhere they have an internet connection. In fact they don’t even need a Windows-based computer. No company data, no documents are moved to the remote computer. The remote computer acts as a screen, keyboard, and mouse for the server computer. Ask us for more info |
