A lot of attention has been paid to the carbon footprint of automobiles, airplanes, and buildings, but one of the activities that takes up most of our time has gotten little attention: computers.  In a recent article in the Economist, they covered a report published by the Climate Group on the climate impacts of computers. Surprisingly, computers have a cumulative impact similar to that of air travel, producing approximately 830 million tonnes of carbon dioxide pollution or about 2% of total over carbon emissions. The Climate Group estimates that by 2020, approximately 6% of CO2 emissions will come from computers and 1 out of 3 global citizens are expected to have a computer.

On the bright side, computers can offer a number carbon cutting tools like smart meters.  Savings also can be obtained by businesses using distributive computing, instead of running their own server.  An example of energy saving opportunities, was posted in the E2.0 article, ” Holyoke Green Data Center“, which would serve as a resource for multiple universities involved in biotechnology and climate industries.

As an individual, you can reduce the carbon footprint of your computer and its complementary accessories like, printers, faxes, and cell phones. The following tips can help you trim carbon calories from your energy waist line:

• Unplug all your computers and complimentary machines. Even in the off or sleep mode they pull energy from the grid, often referred to as vampire loads!
• Set your computer to sleep mode when you are away from your desk for prolonged periods of time (15 minutes or more)
• Purchase an energy efficient PC. Laptops actually use a lot less energy than desktops.
• Turn off your computer when you are done for the day and use a power strip so that you can turn off all computer accessories at once.