More Details on Carbon Neutral PC
by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 07.24.07
In February, PC World announced that they were working on a carbon neutral PC. Since then, there has been little news. Last week when the Independant ran a story on it with some new information, which CNet has summarized nicely. The case will be made of aluminium recycled from cans, and the screen surround, mouse and keyboard will be from sustainable wood (beech, ash or sapele). For energy used in the production the company will be buying carbon offsets.
It will make some power usage savings by using the case as a heatsink, avoiding the need for case fans. The power supply will also be external as on a laptop, to help keep the components cool. PC World claim that it will only use 40W, which is less than a fifth of the average desktop. They also claim that they haven't traded performance for efficiency, and that the machine will be as well featured as comparably priced computers. A price of £399 ($800) is expected, although the screen will cost an extra £100 ($200).
Peter Lyons, from PC World's parent company, was quoted in the Independent article, "In the past, environmental products have asked consumers to make a compromise. That's why they haven't been very successful -- previous low-power units have performed very slowly so they can't do as much as a standard computer. But this is going to have the same sort of power as one of the average units on sale at Christmas -- and it will cost about the same, too."
One detail that may surprise people is that it will come pre-installed with Windows Vista. Previous energy-saving PCs have sometimes come installed with some variation of Linux, because it is less power-hungry and can run on lower-power machines. However, if PC World are right in claiming that they haven't skimped on power, then this shouldn't be a problem. Also, if they want this machine to be desirable to mainstream customers, then Linux could be slightly off-putting. It would be a shame to have a green PC on the market that doesn't sell well because people are scared of using Linux. Of course, if I had my way, all PCs would be green and all computers would run Linux or OS X. ::CNet
See also ::Zonbox PC: Product Takeback Comes to Electronics ::Ilisys: A Carbon Neutral ISP for Australia
Congratulations PC World !
By installing Windows on this machine you have made sure the following things will happen if it ever comes into the hands of the average PC user:
(a) It will become infected by the quazillion Windows malwares and viruses that exist out there.
(b) It will be swiftly discarded by said user, who is unable to clean up the viruses.
Compare & contrast with a recent study that showed Linux had three times (3x) less impact of the environment, since it could run on low power machines and provided a satisfying user experience even on these.
PC World appear to be presenting this as if they have invented the concept of a low-powered PC. But it has been possible to purchase a very low power PC from a mainstream manufacturer for over a year now - the Apple Mac Mini. These typically consume around 30W or so, are essentially silent, incredibly compact and very well made. And they are pretty reasonably priced, too, at £399 inc VAT.
"It will make some power usage savings by using the case as a heatsink, avoiding the need for case fans."
I've thought about it in the past and am glad someone is using a passive heat sink as found in solar panels on a computer. This wouldn't make the case very hot but would make it quite heavy.
Thr original, and still the best, green PC is, of course, the Apple Mac Mini. Typically consuming around 30W it is compact, beautifully built, and with Boot Camp you can run Windows on it (if you're crazy!).
quote "and still the best, green PC is, of course, the Apple Mac Mini"
no way
Something like this article, only far better, already exists. Not 40 watts, but 20. And not $800, but $250. Unlike the miniature Macintosh, there are no fans or vents. It is a completely closed case, cooled passively. And it is called Zonbu.
www.zonbu.com
There are catches, though. They only sell the computer, not peripherals. But reuse is the best option, anyway. Also, there are no removable drives. One must buy external disk drives, or adaptors to reuse internal drives as external ones. Also, it is only 800 MHz, not quite a performance PC.
For simple use, though (like visiting TreeHugger), a Zonbox is a very good choice for efficient computing.