Earth Day: 5 digital eco-tips

Today is Earth day, a time to reflect on how our choices impact the planet. GUNTHER JUNGER shares five eco-friendly tips on making greener choices through computing devices.

Earth day is celebrated today and offers the opportunity to reflect on the impact our choices have on the planet. Here are five easy eco-friendly tips you can follow to make the greener choice through your computing devices:

1. Shop online, shop green!

Online retail has dramatically changed the way we shop, with great solutions for sourcing every type of product from clothing to groceries reducing our reliance on leaving home, getting in the car and driving to a shopping mall or supermarket. University studies found that, due to the reduction in those regular car journeys, the environmental impact of online shopping may be as much as 35% lower.

2. Ask before you buy:

Individuals have the greatest potential to drive change. As consumers, we can get curious about the products we buy and ask the companies we buy from where they stand on ethical and environmental issues that matter to us. Intel has led the way in its efforts to eliminate conflict minerals from its supply chain – and today is proud to offer the world’s first conflict-free microprocessors as one major step on this continuing journey. When it comes to working out the green impact of day to day purchases, innovative web apps such as the Good Guide are on hand making it easier to access information about the ethical and eco credentials of a whole range of products.

3. Switch off.

We all know that we can make a greener choice by turning off lights, turning home appliances off properly and not leaving things like our TVs on standby, but don’t forget about your computing devices! In the fast paced world in which we work and play, we want our devices to be ready to go when we need them – but that doesn’t necessarily mean a need to compromise on energy saving. By choosing a 2 in 1 Ultrabook with Intel Rapid Start Technology, devices can go from being in a very deep sleep to fully awake in a flash, enabling our device to consume lower levels of power when we’re not using it, yet resume quickly when we want to use it. We save time and our devices save energy.

4. Save energy.

In day to day life we’re all using energy all the time, but we can’t necessarily see it so it can be difficult to know whether you’re using energy as efficiently as you could be. The Intel Core processor dynamically adjusts the speed of our device to provide us with performance when needed for hefty tasks and battery savings when we don’t.

Check whether your device is in energy saver mode using this handy download.

5. Recycle your old device when you’re done with it!

Some retailers actually operate schemes whereby you can return your old laptop or PC for free and they will recycle it – it’s worth asking before buying.

Just remember – if you do recycle an old device you’re not using anymore – be sure to remove any personal data stored on it first.

* Günther Jünger, Director Corporate Affairs, Europe, Middle East and Africa at Intel

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