January LCD monitor production for top PC and monitor brands about 85% of the market was 12.5 M, the highest level in more than a year, as noted in the newly announced DisplaySearch Monthly Desktop Monitor Brand and OEM Production Report. Additionally, near-term production build-plans show that March could be the highest monthly production of LCD monitors on record, reaching over 12.9M.
Read the article here
A few weeks ago it was time for the predictable New Year resolution. Mine, probably like yours was going to be the normal: Use more energy! That is to say, the kind of energy burnt down the gym, not with a light. Unfortunately the predictable part of resolutions is that they don’t last long. A few weeks into the New Year and I’ve already got the flu, and now the memory of that promise is starting to fade. Does this sound familiar?
But now, whilst I’ve been sitting around sniffling in self pity, I came up with a cunning alternative plan. This year instead of trying to burn more energy why not try and burn less. I can feel many out there getting interested in finding out more about this plan, but just to warn you, this time I’m talking about the light burning kind, since I reckon you like me no doubt know enough already about how to burn less of the physical kind.
So from the comfort of your couch follow my blog every other Friday as I do the foot work and find out the whys & hows of product energy saving at work & home.
So come on, we’ll convert those Kilos & lbs to Watts and cut our energy abuse together.
All in One PCs – a computer and display in a single unit - are a great way to get the performance of a desktop PC without the cable clutter of a separate CPU and monitor. The compact design of an AIO also enables the user to conserve space on the desktop. Ideal where space is limited or when the user wants to maintain a clean look on the work surface or having a free space under the work surface.
TCO Certified is your assurance that your AIO delivers all the visual performance you expect from a freestanding monitor - outstanding color, luminance and resolution. It fulfills some of the toughest environmental criteria around – from strict limits on hazardous substances and energy consumption, to designed for recycling. It fulfils a brand commitment to socially responsible manufacturing practices. Add to this the criteria for safety, usability and low emissions and you can be sure that every product bearing the TCO Certified label is among the very best.
AIO is the latest addition to the family of TCO Certified for PCs. First out to certify AIO is Lenovo, hereby congratulated.
Read more: http://www.tcodevelopment.com/
Today we have the honor to welcome our guest bloggers, Mr Måns Sandström and Mr Joakim Holm, Adaptiv Sthlm AB. Read their interesting blog about how to green Software and make IT more usable.
Re-interpreting Green IT for Software Development
When reading about Green IT you may get the impression that itʼs only about IT hardware products or, possibly, manufacturing services related to hardware. We submit that this is not true. There is also a large quantity of services surrounding the software running on those IT products.
One such example is own domain: Software development, the design and development of tailor-made or off-the- shelf software. It seems obvious to us that the process you employ when designing the software as well as the actual design of the software has a major environmental impact. Therefore, it saddens us to report that as software practitioners and craftsmen we see IT resources (people, computers, energy) employed in a wasteful manner every day.
#1 Waste: Creating Unwanted Solutions
One great waste in software development is all the energy spent creating functions and products that nobody uses. One study from the Standish Group [JJ] showed that on an average 19% of the features in a given system was used rarely - 45% never. That is approximately 2/3 of the total number of functions. The number of software developers in the U.S. alone (2008) was estimated to 1.3 million. Hence, we may estimate the total number of developers globally to 5-10 million (and growing rapidly). Can you imagine 2/3 of them are wasting time, money, and energy creating ”stuff” nobody really wanted? The need for improved collaboration between clients and suppliers is acute.
In recent years, outsourcing software development to low-wage countries has become popular with larger companies. What these companies fail to understand is that outsourcing software development not only makes the communication slower, but also worse. The possibility of achieving that vital collaboration between customers, users and developers is severely hampered. Consequently, outsourcing works as a catalyst for the problem of creating unwanted solutions. This may be illustrated by a simple thought experiment: What if the situation was reversed? Imagine that you are a Swedish software developer given the task of developing a ticket system for an Indian travel company. What difficulties would you encounter?
#2 Waste: Creating Unwanted Problems
Another major waste today is that we almost always develop systems of poor quality. Keep in mind that software quality is not only what the user perceives, the external quality, but also the internal quality, how defect-free it is and how easy it is for future developers to understand and maintain the product. This latter part is what drives the rapid increase in cost of software maintenance.
Back in school, we were taught that there are no error-free programs. Since then we have learned that it is indeed possible to write programs that behave correctly. Contrary to what people often intuitively believe, it is both cheaper and faster to develop high-quality software. This is sometimes called the General Principle of Software Quality [SMC]. You see, the time spent on fixing bugs is always greater than the time spent on avoiding them. Quite unnecessarily, suppliers deliver low-quality software in a haste, thinking that they are saving money, when in fact the opposite is true.
“Slow Consulting”
We believe that Green IT should be given a higher priority in procurement in general, including procurement of IT services like software development. There are huge, hidden costs of outsourcing development - not to mention the effects on our environment. Outsourced software development is riddled with long lead times, misunderstood needs, and failure to change direction as we learn. This is of course in addition to more wellknown costs like increased documentation needs, coordination, meetings and travels. How many companies take the effect on the environment into account when they plan their outsourcing? We think they should.
Furthermore, we believe that priority should be given to selecting local suppliers for software development. On the surface this may seem more expensive, but when taking the hidden costs mentioned above into account, the ROI calculation for outsourcing looks less attractive.
“Slow Food” is a movement focusing on using local produce, craft skills and health thinking in cooking. We can use the same thinking in software development. We thought about calling our ideas “Slow Consulting”, but we would probably run the risk of a less flattering interpretation. However, it is evident to us that certain goods and services may work well from a distance while others, like developing businesses or software, do not. We are convinced that a locally developed software product is both right for the environment and yield the best results.
Måns Sandström & Joakim Holm Adaptiv Sthlm AB
PS If you are interested in reading our proposals on how to deal with these challenges, read here (in Swedish). References: [JJ]” Johnson, J. (2002), Keynote speech, XP 2002, Sardinia, Italy [SMC]” McConnell, S. (2004), Code Complete, 2nd ed, pp. 474-475
Of all the major brands launching new products during CES this year, Lenovo was clearly a standout with a range of new products, like the new Ideapad hybrid Notebook / Tablet PC and their company-wide focus on the ”reduce, reuse, recycle” theme. Check here for some interesting insights from Lenovo President Rory Read.
According to an agreement with GSMA, an operator association within TU, International Telecommunication Union, there is now a great chance for all mobile phone manufacturers to equip their phones with a charge function through micro- USB, according to an agreement called UCS, Universal Changing Solution.
This is great!! The goal with UCS is to decrease the manufacturing of chargers by 50% per year and be far more energy efficient. This will decrease the carbon dioxide emissions. This will also in the future eliminate all specific chargers as you will be able to charge your phone directly through your computer. And our Usability habits will surely change in a positive direction.
read more www.gsmworld.com/our-work/mobile_planet/universal_charging_solution.htm
While major electronics brands compete to develop more eco-friendly PC products, some areas of Green IT are actually shifting towards greater industry collaboration. A couple of recent stories caught my attention. Firstly, at CES I attended an Electronics Takeback roundtable, hosted by the US EPA and featuring senior environmental managers from Panasonic, Best Buy and L.G. When discussing the challenges of implementing a cohesive takeback infrastructure, industry reps agreed there is a need to work together to create a common eco-system and create efficiencies in how takeback is handled across multiple product categories.
Second, the Green Touch project was announced this week in a cross-industry effort to reduce PC processory energy use 1000-fold. In real terms, this would mean being able to run the world’s communications networks, including the internet, for nearly three years using the same amount of energy it currently uses in one day. The Green Touch project kicks off in February. More details here
Companies at CES this year unveiled a ton of creative electronic products to help us manage our power consumption and make life more convenient at the same time - talk about usability and environment going together ! Check out some of these innovative solutions here
ust back from the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where Mobility, social media and eco-friendliness were key themes among many of the product lines on show.
Of particular note was the number of tablet PCs that were creating a lot of attention - offering consumers a more powerful PC than a netbook, but more versatility than a larger sized notebook. Touch screens were also a popular trend, with some netbooks featuring multi-touch technology allowing for maximum flexibility for the user to manipulate the image on the screen. Social media applications were everywhere, with facebook- and twitter-friendly technologies gaining a lot of attention. Microsoft and HP even organized a spontaneous “Tweet and Greet” event on the show floor, relying exclusviely on the social network to spread the word and gather attendees.
Environmental features continue to be a big story in consumer electronics. Energy efficient LED backlit TVs and Notebooks are growing in poularity and several products featured motion sensor technologies that set the screen into sleep mode once the user left the room, and even a TV that can detect whether a viewer is or doing another activity, and adjusting the brightness of the TV automatically.
Overall, industry reps we talked to at CES are looking to these new technologies to help drive the economic recovery. Click here for more product reviews and news from CES.
“An Optimist sees a possibility in every problem”
Do you like me wish for companies to manufacturer their products to meet more than just the minimum of what is environmentally legislated?
And like me do you also wish for manufacturers to go that extra mile and produce something special within environment & usability with a so called Cutting Edge technology?
Once in a while we get what we wish for when a company comes with an innovation that goes beyond international legislation and our own already tough TCO criteria and challenges other companies to follow-suit.
To highlight products that do this, we created an innovative award scheme called TCO Edge.
The first on our TCO Edge podium was: Lenovo with a computer display named ThinkVision L2251x Wide.
Why did this display get the award?
Well, as consumers many of us take our plastic to the recycle stations in the hope that it will actually be used to make new products and not be burnt or end up in land fills. This display is all about exploiting those efforts, by taking our old plastic to make new.
It’s carousel recycling at its best, since this display amazingly is held together using 65% Post Consumer Plastic. It’s not like creating a fleece jumper from a cocktail of plastic bottles, if it was it wouldn’t be cutting edge. A display’s plastic needs to be of a better quality, therefore it’s a more complicated process to obtain. Companies so far have only managed approx 25% PCP content.
We’ve now been shown what is possible and by putting our TCO Edge mark on this display we want to show you the easy choice if you want to put a top notch eco display on your Christmas wish list.
Together with a company like this we’re gradually breaking the chain of our usage of raw materials. Let’s hope other companies take up the challenge so that 65% will not be thought cutting edge but the norm when Christmas comes around again.
