Your guide to sustainable computing
There's more to sustainable business computing than just energy-efficiency.
When choosing 'green' computers, it's also important to consider their whole life cycle, from design and manufacturing through to recycling and disposal, as well as their broader impact on the people and places around them.
There are three essential steps to making your business technology sustainable:
And we'd like to help you out with all three.
Step 1 - Minimise
There are lots of ways to minimise your ICT footprint without compromising performance or features.
1. Only buy what you need
Most people don't need the fastest, biggest computer money can buy.
Word processing, email and web browsing rarely require more than 1GB of RAM or a super-fast quad-core processor.
Aim to buy computers with the minimum features and performance needed for the job.
Make sure to allow for any expected future growth.
2. Don't replace computers that work
Many businesses routinely replace computers that still work, simply because they are considered 'old'.
Before replacing your current computers, make sure that it is necessary.
Better still, when you do upgrade, choose computers that are built to last.
Keep in mind that planned upgrades are important to avoid hardware failure and data loss.
3. Go small
There are lots of small computers available on the market today.
Being small they use less materials to manufacture, and so are easier on our limited resources.
These mini desktop PCs and servers also save valuable desk and server rack space.
4. Use energy-efficient computers
Regular desktop PCs can consume around 80W of electricity, plus a monitor and peripherals.
The best available energy-efficient computers use less than 10W.
These savings add up quickly in both emissions and running costs.
And make use of energy-saving software and settings on your computers to maximise these savings.
See how much you could save with our comparison of a regular PC with an energy-efficient fit-PC2.
5. Choose from the best...
We've compared some of the best available energy-efficient computers in the table below to help you make the right choice.
| Computer | Type | Power usage | Size (L) | Fanless? | HD display? | Warranty | Case material | CPU | RAM | Software |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALIX 2 | Server | 3 - 5W | 0.98 | Yes | N/A | Standard - 2 years Extended - 5 years |
Aluminium | AMD Geode LX800, 500MHz | 256MB | Unix, Linux, BSD |
| net5501 | Server | 6 - 8W | 1.89 | Yes | N/A | Standard - 2 years Extended - 5 years |
Aluminium | AMD Geode LX800, 500MHz | 512MB | Unix, Linux, BSD |
| fit-PC2 | Desktop | 6 - 10W | 0.31 | Yes | Yes | Standard - 2 years Extended - 5 years |
Aluminium | Atom Z530, 1.6Ghz or Z550, 2.0GHz |
1 - 2GB | Windows 7 Professional Ubuntu Linux |
| ViewSonic VOT120 | Desktop | 13 - 15W | 0.58 | Yes | No | Standard - 1 year | Plastic / metal | Intel Atom N270, 1.6GHz | 1GB | Windows XP Home |
| Asus Eee PC 4G | Laptop | 15 - 18W | 0.85 | No | No | Standard - 1 year Extended - Not available |
Plastic | Intel Celeron M353, 900MHz | 512MB | Windows XP Home |
| Asus Eee Box B201 | Desktop | 20W | 1.06 | No | No | Standard - 1 year | Plastic | Intel C220, 1.2GHz | 512MB / 1GB | Windows XP Home |
| Acer AspireRevo R3700 | Desktop | 17 - 22W | 1.33 | No | Yes | Standard - 1 year | Plastic / metal | Intel Atom D525, 1.8GHz | 2 - 4GB | Windows 7 Home |
| Giada Slim N10 | Desktop | 20 - 22W | 0.71 | No | Yes | Standard - 1 year | Plastic / metal | Intel dual-core Atom N330, 1.6GHz | 2GB | Windows 7 |
| Dell Inspiron Zino | Desktop | 50 - 53W | 3.45 | No | Yes | Standard - 1 year | Plastic | AMD Athlon II P360 dual-core, 2.3GHz | 4GB | Windows 7 Home |
Find all the energy-efficient solutions you need in the one place.
If you're looking for an energy-efficient computer, you really can't go wrong with a fit-PC2.
It really is the world's most sustainable desktop computer.
For servers and firewalls, our ALIX and net5501 computers are super quiet and super reliable.
Step 2 - Offset
It's a fact of life that your computers will use electricity.
Having chosen an energy-efficient, ultra-small and durable solution, you've made a fantastic start.
All that's left is to offset the remaining emissions.
There are many ways to offset the carbon emissions of your equipment, including tree planting, renewable energy and methane projects.
For more information, visit the Carbon Offset Guide or the EPA's website.
Focus on what's important
Or maybe you'd prefer not to waste your time and money figuring out how many offsets you need to buy for your computers.
Our 'Four Trees' program is your guarantee that the carbon emissions of your equipment will be offset by tree planting.
Not only do your fit-PC2s save the equivalent of almost 8 trees each in carbon emissions, but we'll plant another 4 trees as well!
So you can relax knowing your computers' emissions are already taken care of, freeing you up to do the important stuff in your business.
Help us plant a forest
Our aim is to plant half a million trees over the next five years and we'd love your help to achieve this.
Greenfleet will plant these trees on our behalf as part of a biodiverse forestry project within 18 months, every time you buy a 'Four Trees' offset product.
The trees will absorb enough carbon dioxide within 20 years, on average, to offset the electricity usage of your equipment over its lifetime.
The resulting forests will be maintained for at least 100 years.
For more information, and to see how many trees we've planted so far, please visit www.fourtrees.com.au.
Step 3 - Recycle
Once your computers are no longer required, then it's time to think about disposing of them.
Don't send them to the tip. There's too much rubbish in landfill already, and your computers contain many valuable metals and resources.
You can send them to someone like Green PC, who'll refurbish them and supply them to low-income communities, individuals and community organisations.
There are also recycling organisations, like 1800ewaste who'll collect and recycle your electronic waste for a fee.
Let us take care of it
Or if that sounds all too hard, return your computers to us when you're done with them and we'll arrange for them to be recycled. Free of charge. Simple.
If you like the sound of that, give us a call when you're ready to recycle and we'll help you out.
We want to live in a world without waste - help us make it happen