Black Computer Screens

The other day, I was talking to my bro-in-law about my blog and why I have a black background. He asked if it was for saving energy. I had a vague idea that white uses more power, but discussions with him made me do some research on this topic. Turns out that black does save energy.

Wow, I was saving energy from day one on my blog :)).

Here's a link to the black screen info: http://ecoiron.blogspot.com/2007/07/facts-and-fallacies-on-black-google.html. Info about this was there since January of 2007. This blog here by Mark Ontkush gives a lot of information (a FAQ too... that's good) and related web-links about it.

I'll summarize a little bit about it in here:

They say that a white screen on a computer monitor comsumes about 74 watts to display while the black one comsumes 59 watts. So, if Google (to start with, as it has a white homepage and it has almost around 200 million queries a day) turns it's page to black, we can save around 1500 MWh of energy per annum. I am really not sure about the numbers and will have to do more homework-research on this and I'll update the information as I find it, but till then, let's assume that these numbers are true.

So, HeapMedia, founded in Sydney, Australia, has come up with their own version of Black Google - Blackle, which is powered by Google search engines but to the contrary, have a black background. If you go to thier homepage, they have a counter saying how much energy saved till now.

There is some math involved in getting these numbers and I am not getting into the details, but they say that LCDs do not show any significant difference to the screen color (Scientific Reason: LCDs use a backlight for their display which, no matter what color on the screen, uses almost the same energy). So, the numbers should be going down by the day as more and more people are switching to LCD monitors, right? Wrong. There are some web-sites/blogs (Mark's Blog above is one of them) which give info that the number of CRTs has increased over the years worldwide. So, the energy number has also increased significantly. (From 750 to 1500, almost double). But the question remains, are these CRTs displaying Google that much. And have people using CRTs switched to Black screens? Options: Blackle, for one.

I use a laptop, the screen is LCD. So, I can't help much here. But I urge CRT monitor users to think about this. You will be saving a lot of energy by just changing colors. If you can contruibute a little bit, why not? Afterall, बूँद बूँद करके बनता हैं सागर: literal meaning -> Ocean is formed drop-by-drop: non-literal meaning :D -> No matter how small, each contribution matters OR as my friend explains: Start saving, you would not know when you have saved enough (enough like the Ocean).

Another link that I found on Mark's blog: http://www.risingphoenixdesign.com/blackback.html

Earthrise

I had a dream from my very childhood to go on the moon once and take a look at our beautiful beautiful Earth from there. This image here can be called a part of my dream but no in my eyes, rather the eyes of a camera.

By the day, my fear of getting this dream shattered keeps increasing. With all the imbalance going (I should say: with all the imbalance that we are creating) around this globe, will it be really possible?

This image was copied from Tranquility Posters. They have done a great deal of work on this poster to make it look the way it looks. It is a lot beter than the original one.
To read more about their work on this picture, click here.

Drive Thru

Have you ever wondered how much gas is wasted in the drive thrus! You get in the line, your vehicle is running, you come to the order-placing-booth and your vehicle is running, now you're waiting for your order, don't know how long... 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes... 10 minutes!!! Wow, you just wasted gas for driving around 5 miles. Why don't you turn off the vehicle in the drive thru. But again, who's going to turn it on and off several times. We're just too lazy to do that...

I've seen drive thrus at a lot of places where there is a looooong waiting line of cars, each burning away gas for no reason. No offence, but I have seen waiting lines at Starbucks Drive thru so long that you could probably park your vehicle, get the coffee from inside the store and walk back to your car and that would be faster. Is it worth burning so much gas for just a cup of coffee?

There are a lot of ideas to reduce this.

• If the store's open, walk in and make your purchases.
• One good suggestion that I heard from my sister was to make slopy drive-thrus, so that once you get in line, you can turn off the car and let it roll down the slope, stopping in between and placing/taking your order.

I don't have any more suggestions, but anything from your side is also welcome.

Pale Blue Dot

In the movie "An Inconvenient Truth", Mr. Al Gore mentions about the pale blue dot. The Pale Blue Dot is nothing but the photograph of OUR Earth taken by Voyager1 in 1990 from some 4 billion miles away. Carl Sagan, an american astronomer and astrobiologist, was inspired by this photograph. In a video/slideshow that I found on YouTube, he has narrated the description of earth in such beautiful words, you HAVE to spare 6 minutes to listen to this, PLEASE. Thank You! :)

Don't you wanna save Treasure?

Wierd Weather!

So much is happening out of the blues.

• Texas had the most summer railfall already. Hurricane Erin already dumped so much rainfall over Houston and San Antonio.
• China is having most of it's major rivers flooded.
• England and Wales had the wettest 3 month periods in recorded history.
• Severe droughts in Romania and heavy flooding in Bangladesh.

These all stories point to one thing. Nature is getting back at us for what we did and what we are still doing to it. I think of it this way - Nature by itself is very powerful and can control anything, so, it will let us do whatever we want to do, but then, it's going to get back to us in ways we can't even imagine. Some of it is already being seen in parts of countries all over the world.

Everyday, I read alreast one news about changed weather. Changes that were not even thought of are happening. And my intuition says that this is justthe beginning. Nature has started getting back at us through it's own ways and it will not stop until it makes everything right and balanced. And I don't know how many people will have to pay for this with their lives.

I'm stressing again and again. If you haven't started it, do it now...

Before I finish today's blog.... here's a tip for Bottled water buyers: Check the label for PWS which means Public Water Source.... filtered and packed version of tap water... why can't you just drink tap water instead or carry a bottle of water with you when you leave home! Bottled water is no different than tap water. So, help save on the use of plastic bottles (used to package the water) 90% of which are not even recycled.

An Inconvenient Truth

I saw the movie and was really astonished to know that we are getting late by the day. I was really inspired and this blog is one of the movie’s outcomes. But then, the movie has only given me a push. I already was against global warming.
But today, I saw the ending carefully and that it had so many suggestions. Most of them are very common and can be found everywhere. In fact, I have elaborated on those in my earlier posts. Reason being these are the simplest steps that you can take and still contribute to a major change.
So, if you haven’t started yet, what are you waiting for?

Are you ready to change the way you live?

The climate crisis can be solved.

Here's how to start
go to
http://www.climatecrisis.net/

You can reduce your carbon emissions.
In fact, you can even reduce your carbon emissions to zero.

Buy energy efficient appliances + light bulbs.
Change your thermostat (and use clock thermostats) to reduce energy fro heating + cooling

Weatherize your house, increase insulation, get an energy audit
Recycle

If you can, buy a hybrid car.
When you can, walk or ride a bicycle.
Where you can, use a light rail + mass transit.

Tell your parents not to ruin the world you will live in.
If you are a parent, join with your children to save the world they will live in.

Switch to renewable sources of energy.
Call your power company to see if they offer green energy.
If they don’t, ask them why not.

Vote for leaders who pledge to solve this crisis.
Write to Congress
If they don’t listen, run for Congress.

Plant trees, lots of trees.

Speak up in your community.

Call radio shows and write to newspapers.

Insist that America freeze CO2 emissions + join international efforts to stop global warming.

Reduce our dependence on foreign oil; help farmers grow alcohol fuel.

Raise fuel economy standards, require lower emissions from vehicles.

If you believe in prayer, pray that people will find the strength to change.

In the words of the old African proverb, when you pray, move your feet:
Encourage everyone to see this movie.
Learn as much as you can about the climate crisis.
Then put your knowledge into action.


These are just from the movie. You can do this and more. And probably you can teach that to someone else too. The ways to help are endless...

Bottled Water!!!

I was too lazy to write today, but got this surprising information from the contributors to this good deed of helping against global warming.

"Bottled water manufacturers’ encourage the perception that their products are purer and safer than tap water. Bottled water can cost up to 10,000 times more per gallon than tap water. But the reality is that tap water is actually held to more stringent quality standards than bottled water, and some brands of bottled water are just tap water in disguise. What’s more, our increasing consumption of bottled water—more than 22 gallons per U.S. citizen in 2004 according to the Earth Policy Institute—fuels an unsustainable industry that takes a heavy toll on the environment.

Approximately 1.5 million barrels of oil—enough to run 100,000 cars for a whole year—are used to make plastic water bottles, while transporting these bottles burns even more oil.

The growth in bottled water production has increased water extraction in areas near bottling plants, leading to water shortages that affect nearby consumers and farmers. In addition to the millions of gallons of water used in the plastic-making process, two gallons of water are wasted in the purification process for every gallon that goes into the bottles.

Nearly 90 percent of water bottles are not recycled and wind up in landfills where it takes thousands of years for the plastic to decompose.

So the next time you feel thirsty, forgo the bottle and turn to the tap. Because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s standards for tap water are more stringent than the Food and Drug Administration’s standards for bottled water, you’ll be drinking water that is just as safe as, or safer than, bottled."

For more information, visit: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/07/reasons_to_ditch_bottled_water.php

Saving water - one of the ways that I could see

Last night, I came home dropping someone off at the airport for a late-night flight. While on my way back home, I saw the sprinklers running for watering the lawns. The lawns were being overfed with water and extra water was just flowing down the drains. What came to my mind is that these sprinklers are either running for a longer time than needed, thus wasting so many gallons of water or their rate of water flow is far more than what can be absorbed.

So, here's a suggestion again. Instead of keeping the sprinklers running for one long time period, we can keep them running for more short time periods OR we can regulate the flow of water through these sprinklers to a slower rate.

But my problem here is to whom should I address these suggestions? I am going to talk about this to my leasing office about the sprinklers in our apartment complex. But what about the ones on the road-side... I have seen a lot of them which just keep running and the water just flowing down the drains.

If anyone of you knows about a way to make reach this suggestion to the responsible ears, please let me know, I'll be happy to try and take some steps to see if some improvement can be brought about...

Why did I not give more tips in the beginning?

Last night, when I finished checking my mail, I saw this site from Yahoo!: Yahoo! Green. Worth taking a look. And I'm happy that by the day, more and more people are stepping up for making a change. And more are trying to make the left-out people aware. But what makes me wonder is that are people just writing or are they really taking steps? I'm pretty sure that people must be doing it, but sometimes, I just wonder...

Anyways, there are a few tips on the yahoo site than what I gave in my very fist post... like saving water, gas and electricity. Reason being that I think these changes will have to come with habit change... and will take longer time than anticipated, so, why not start with some tips that are instantaneous, right!

I have the habit of being a miser when it comes to electricity... probably got it from my grandfather.

My grandfather lived with all his sons back home... and together, we were a family of 12. So, the electricity bill was huge. My grandpa took the responsibility of paying the electricity bill with the pension money that he used to get every month. But I guess the bill was huge for him to pay, he was retired and used to stay at home entertaining himself by watching TV, reading novels/magazines, talking to his grand kids often, taking care of the house by going around and looking out for potential problems.

One of his habits was to go in every room and see if lights are on... if they are not being used, he used to turn them off... something that always pissed me off, because frequently our timing matched so much that whenever I'm out of the room to grab something or to run to the restroom and comeback, he used to be there and used to turn off all the lights and fans. When I come back, everything is off...duh!

Not that I want to tell you a personal side of myself, just that I learned a lesson from him. He used to do it in order to cut down the electricity bill so that he could afford to pay it... (But in that act, he really helped in saving a lot of electricity, I guess his motive was dual-purpose and was known to him because he's a economist and thinks a lot about the country's economy too) so, more of it came to him as obligation than luxury. (Back in my home, having electricity is still one of the luxuries; a major portion of the population still lives without electricity). But looking at that situation, what I conclude that saving utilities like these is very much related to it's affordability. Because, more often than never, I end up hearing this: "I can afford it, so why should I bother about saving on it"

I learnt from him, not a way of saving money because I was not paying the bills, so, I really never bothered about the monetary side of it (and also that I can now afford to pay my own electricity bills), but when I see myself now with that habit, I'm happy because, think of it this way... even if you cut down on all the lights in your house a minute a day, you are saving 6 hours worth of electricity per year alone. Combine that with more people doing the same and the numbers increase drastically. So much so, that it gets equivalent to providing one house with free electricity with no extra production demands.

So, think about it. If you can afford it, does not mean that you can't save. You can. But as I said earlier, these things come with habits and habits are not easy to change.

Technical words

There are a few words in the talk of Global Warming which make me ponder... Hmm, What exactly does greenhouse gases mean? And then before I can find that out, I get busy in something else. So, today, I'm trying to find out about those words. If you have any word that you wanna know, send it in... probably even I might not know.

Greenhouse Gases:

These gases trap the heat from the Sun and warm the Earth. They include Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Water Vapour(?), Nitrous Oxide, Ozone and Halocarbons (HydroFluoroCarbons, PerFluoroCarbons and ChloroFluoroCarbons ).

Water Vapor? Yeah, even I was surprised to know. But water vapor is a very good absorber of the long wave (/thermal) radiation, thus trapping a lot of heat and it is most prevalent in the atmosphere. Surprisingly, this natural greenhouse gas accounts to 36-70% of the greenhouse effect. (The contribution changes not by the vapor alone, but by the combination of different gases. Hence such a wide range.) But condensed water vapor forms clouds and reflect short-wave radiations from the sun. For these reasons, (loosely explained here) vapor is considered as a feedback agent than a forcing agent.

Carbon Dioxide: This is a very powerful forcing agent, and it also lasts far longer in the Earth's atmosphere. It is relatively twice as powerful as the next major forcing greenhouse gas, methane, and relatively ten times as powerful as the third, nitrous oxide. Carbon dioxide alone contributes up to 12% to the greenhouse effect. It is an end product in organisms that obtain energy from breaking down sugars, fats and amino acids with oxygen as part of their metabolism, in a process known as cellular respiration. This includes all plants, animals, many fungi and some bacteria. (Some contribution that cannot be avoided, so, we have to offset it by planting trees, which are absorbers of Carbon dioxide)

Mehtane: This is a relatively potent greenhouse gas with a high global warming potential (i.e., warming effect compared to carbon dioxide). When averaged over 100 years each kg of Methane warms the Earth 25 times as much as the same mass of Carbon dioxide. The total warming effect of Methane is smaller than that of Carbon dioxide, since there is approximately 220 times as much Carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere as Methane.

Ozone: The contribution of this gas is difficult to predict as it is not present uniformly across the earth. However, recent scientific review on the climate change suggests that the radiative forcing of tropospheric ozone is about 25% that of carbon dioxide.

Other gases: Halocarbons and nitrous oxide are also contributors to the green house effect but they are not too significant.

Forcing Agent:

Forcing agents are gases (in our case here) that help in forcing (or radiative forcig). Radiative forcing is defined as the difference between the incoming and the outgoing radiation energy in a climate system. A positive forcing warms up the system while a negative one cools it down.

Carbon Footprint:

A representation of the effect human activities have on the climate in terms of the total amount of greenhouse gases produced (measured in units of carbon dioxide).

Reference: http://www.esd.rgs.org/glossarypopup.html

More info can be found at:

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php?p=142

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas

More trees

How many trees have you planted in your lifetime? (There will be some who will respond to this answer with a "None", :D I am one of them :D)

This question applies to me too and I'm not very happy to say this: I have planted a lot of small plants, but no trees. I wish I had, but the way I've been living all these years (like staying on rent and all...student life, you know!), I couldn't do that. But I definitely want to do that. I have paid a few extra bucks in my utility bills for planting a tree by paying a extra $5 or something like that, but then how can one really check on them to see if they have really planted a tree!

But I do like trees as such (and nature in general) and admire houses that I see on my way here and there which have a tree in their front yards. So, probably, when I have a house of my own, I'll end up having a few trees in my front yard and some in the backyard too... having more trees is not going to hurt :).

Talking in terms of global warming, there are certain greenhouse gas emissions that can be reduced but can't be avoided. These emissions can be contributed by even driving a near-zero emission vehicle (usually called PZEV or Partial-Zero Emission Vehicle), general day-to-day activities like cooking food, even lighting (your water heater also does contribute). Remember, putting energy saving lighting, using low emission vehicles is going to help a lot in reducing the emissions. But more can be contributed towards reducing those emissions too... by planting more trees. {A step towards becoming climate neutral}

Today's tip: (will be helpful for people who are instantly inspired to go and plant a tree right now in their backyards) If you are digging a hole to plant a tree, call 811 or go to http://www.call811.com before you start digging. This way, you will be aware that you are not damaging any underlying utility lines (if any) and thus help yourself by preventing any fines/repair costs and any injuries to yourselves and/or others. Remember, Prevention is always better than Cure.

More info: I was just googling for "reduce your greenhouse emissions" and came across this site which has a lot of useful links and information: http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/carbon_offset_wind_credits_carbon_reduction.htm. Thought it might help someone get more information. :)

SUVs, (Pick-up) Trucks, and Hummers

Today I talk about these vehicles. Why these? Beacuse these vehicles give lower milage and more than that, most of the times are under-utilized.

Everytime, while driving, when I see a SUV, a pick-up truck or a Hummer, I quickly try to look at how many passengers there are in the vehicle. And believe me, 90% of the times, I find a single person in the vehicle. This thing always pisses me off and I end up cursing that person. I am ready to live with the fact that these vehicles produce more emmissions or comsume more gas, given that they are properly utilized. But, do you really need such a heavy and powerful vehicle just to take you from home to work and back! That purpose can be solved by a small fuel-efficient car too. Then why are people really driving it? I really need someone to answer this question.

So, to all the people out there who drive such heavy-duty vehicles alone - Do you really need to drive such a vehicle? I mean look around you - people are trying hard to reduce their own green-house gas emissions so that our future generations could at least have something better than what it just will be. And guys like these, driving huge vehicles, are just nullifying these efforts. Just think about it next time before you drive. Do you really need it?

Before I finish today's post - All the hard workers, soccor-moms and other people who really utilize these vehicles, I have one suggestion for you too... using this vehicle is sometimes more of necessity to you guys than luxury or comfort (or whatever they look for while buying these heavy-duty vehicles), but you can also contribute by making better choices of buying more fuel efficient trucks and SUVs.
I would also like to say that this is not an order or not something that you have to do. You all are free to do whatever you have to do, but just think that someone else is going to pay tomorrow for your actions today.

No offence to anyone intended. Let's educate ourselves a little more.

More info: Did you know that HUMMER was initially designed as a military vehicle and that it has a very high fuel consumption.

Lighting in our houses

Today, while driving, I was listening to this add on the radio by "Flex Your Power". They say that replacing 5 regular light bulbs with energy saving CFLs in your home is equivalent to taking off 40,000 cars off the road.

If that's true, I have taken off more than 40,000 cars of the car in the past two weeks, because I recently replaced more than 5 regular light bulbs with energy saving CFLs.

Some information about CFLs:

A Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL), also known as a compact fluorescent light bulb is a type of fluorescent lamp designed to replace an incandescent lamp. Many CFLs can fit in the existing incandescent light fixtures. Compared to incandescent lamps of the same luminous flux, CFLs use less energy and have a longer rated life. In the United States, a CFL can save over US$30 in electricity costs over the lamp’s lifetime compared to an incandescent lamp and save 2000 times their own weight in greenhouse gases. The initial purchase price of a CFL is higher than an incandescent lamp of the same output, but this cost is recovered in energy savings assuming average lamp use.

I got this information from Wikipedia. For more on this, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp

Suggestions have already started coming

Just today, I started getting suggestions on my blog. One I found really practical which everyone can do. It's so good that I couldn't wait till tomorrow to post it.

"Americans drive 202m passenger vehicles out of 683m worldwide. The average US passenger vehicle, with a fuel economy of less than 20mpg, travels 11,000 miles a year, nearly a third more than cars elsewhere, according to Wednesday's report, Global Warming on the Road." - Half of global car exhaust produced by US vehicles, Guardian Unlimited, http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1808314,00.html/

Well, the advice is yet to come and the above was only for information.

Here's the advice: If every person driving a passenger vehicle regularly opts for another option of walking, biking or using the mass transit for just one day a week or even one day in a month, just look at the statistics above and see how much we can save together. Let me do the calculations for you. If everyone takes the initiative not to drive their car just one day in a month, that will be 12 days of not driving your car in a year, and for 202 million vehicles, 2424 million days of not driving a vehicle. Now, if the vehicles give 20 mpg while going 11,000 miles each year on an average, then it uses ((11,000 miles/20 mpg)/365 days) ~1.5 gallons/day. For a year's time, it adds up to (303 million gallons times 12 days for each day of the month that we don't drive the car) 3636 million gallons of gas in a year. WOW!!! That's a lot of savings. And that too just by not driving your car for one day in a month. You can contribute more by not driving your car once a week... just think... you can contribute a lot!
And this is just the gas that you are saving. Now look at how much vehicle exhausts/emissions will be saved too... plus, the congestion on the roads is also going to reduce a bit, which means lesser stops on the freeways, giving a better efficiency of our vehicles, again saving some more gas... it just goes on and on and on! So, let's start today. :)

There is some more interesting information about car statistics: http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1480 if anyone of you is interested to know.

And some debates to go with those tips... participate... leave your comments :)

Let's have some debate here about the previous tips. What do you do?

Adjust your thermostat dial and turn up energy savings.
Setting your thermostat to keep air conditioning at 78°F when it 's hot outside, and your heating system at 68°F when it 's cold, can help save up to 20% in heating and cooling costs.

From the time I have started taking a look at my air conditioning behavior, I see that it keeps running for a long time if it's off for a long time and the difference between the actual room temperature and the desired (set by the thermostat) temperature difference is greater than 5 degrees. But if we leave it on on a set temperature (I leave it on 78 degrees F), the air-conditioning keeps switching on and off (working for smaller periods of time) more frequently.

Now I have the doubt: which option is better? Leaving the air-conditioning on at a fixed thermostat temperature all the time OR turning it off when you fell okay to turn it off... and turn it on again whenever you feel it's getting too hot/cold.

I generally follow this method. When I am at home, I keep it at a fixed temperature. During summers, I know that the temperature falls down at night here in the place I live. So, I turn off the air-conditioning if the temperature outside is less and open up all the windows to let the cooler breeze/air flow in. And again switch it on when the next day morning the temperature has gone above what I can tolerate.... here's the case when the air-conditioning has to work the hardest, because sometimes, without realizing, the tolerable temperature goes higher that 78.. like 83...

So, let me know any suggestions to improve more on this. And start doing it if you think it's right way to save some energy on your part, if you can. You save energy as well as some money too :)

Little things on one's own part are going to contribute a big thing together. Because YOU or I are not the only ones can contribute... everyone can.

Let's start with some tips

Adjust your thermostat dial and turn up energy savings.
Setting your thermostat to keep air conditioning at 78°F when it 's hot outside, and your heating system at 68°F when it 's cold, can help save up to 20% in heating and cooling costs.

Turn off unneeded lights.
Avoid lighting an empty room and take advantage of natural light whenever possible.

Use appliances wisely.
To help prevent electricity outages, use major appliances after 7 p.m. Don't forget to turn off equipment like ceiling fans, stereos and computers when not in use.

Got these tips from: Flex Your Power