We assessed the Lenovo L2230x USB port replicator at our office and agree with Lenovo that this display allows the user to connect all peripherals such as mouse, keyboard, speakers, microphone, LAN access, whilst it extends the notebook display to a full HD format with only one USB connection between the notebook and the monitor.

This functionality really fits into the concept of “you and the planet” as it feels extremely handy to come to the office and with only one USB contact replicate a Notebook on a desktop monitor without the need for a docking  Lstation. We also value innovative displays such as the L2230x from an environmental perspective since it eliminates the need for additional office equipment (docking station) such that causes E-waste.

 I know in my last blog I said that ‘not everyone is able to measure the power consumption of their TV’. Well I take it back…I’ve since heard of a product that allows everyone to do just that.
There are three ways to measure how much electricity something uses:
1. Buy a cheap, simple watt-hour meter to measure specific products
2. Buy & install a wired-in watt-hour meter to measure the whole home (15min job for an electrician)
3. Look at the complicated existing electric meter on the side of your house and use a simple calculation.

I recommend the first example, since it’s the least hassle…and these advices are all about saving you energy. The 3rd option may not be an option at all if you don’t have an updated digital readout device, but just one with a spinning disc.

Buy a cheap, simple watt-hour meter
A watt-hour meter is a little device that tells you how much electricity something uses, either at a given moment or over an extended period of time. Just plug the device into the meter, plug the meter into the wall, and read the display.

What do you think of when you hear the term Energy Vampire?
A. Dracula trying to jump start his heart?
B. Negative people sapping your energy?
C. Electrical products in our homes and offices still sucking up energy after we put them to sleep for the night?

I immediately thought of example C the day I heard the term for the first time, although I dreamt of A later that night. Anyway, it made me think of the products in our homes and offices; the computers, displays, TVs & printers that remain active energy & money leaches, whilst farting Co2 through electricity production and also being a fire risk to homes. Their sleep mode should be as energy saving as ours, but unfortunately I’ve found a shocking truth:
It isn’t so long ago that European guidelines were made to put pressure on manufacturers to provide energy levels in user manuals to consumers, which then got them competitively producing products that have very low power consumptions during sleep mode. Unfortunately though there are still many slightly older products in use today consuming only slightly less power in their Sleep-mode as they do in normal On-mode. I know for instance that my 4 year old 32” LCD TV falls into this major Energy Vamp category.

But not everyone is able to measure the power consumption of their TV. It’s hard to be sure you haven’t got an E-Vamp in your home if you don’t have the product’s bible to guide you or specifications that have neglected the passage on Standby levels.
So what’s a person supposed to do when the ‘Hard Off’* button on products is becoming as hard to find as a blood donor these days.

Well, let me give you a simple way to drive a wooden stake into the heart of these suckers:
I’ve connected most of my appliances at both work and home (computer, display, printer, especially the TV, stereo and all number of players for this that and the other) to a Power Strip, which is a multi-socket extension lead with an integrated power switch. This way you can easily disconnect all the power to all the products with one easy flick of a switch. You can also get remote switches that you can switch off & on via a remote control.
Very easy, very effective & a safer home with No more Vampires, which means a better sleep mode for all!

Oh yeah!  If your answer was either B or C…don’t let them drain you! Instead try your best to turn them with your positivity or drive a stake through their heart! ;)
 
*Hard Off is a switch on a product that completely prevents the electricity from entering the product. As effective as pulling out the plug…a vampire’s teeth!

So, as I promised you in my new years resolution a couple of weeks ago, let me give you a simple first aid guide on how to cut back your energy consumption, your energy cost & green house gas emissions in one easy move at the office….and please try this at home also.
Just use this link:
http://www.tcodevelopment.com/pls/nvp/Document.Show?CID=4146&MID=255
It will direct you to our web site and an easy step by step guide on how to set up the energy saving function on your computer.
This set up will place your computer and screen automatically in a standby/sleep mode when you are not using it and it automatically starts it up again when you touch the mouse or keyboard.

Savings: For example: for a 19” TCO certified monitor this will mean a drop in energy consumption from approx 20 Watts to less than 1 watt during an estimated 3 hours of a working day (these power levels are not guaranteed if you do not have a TCO marked product). A computer & screen that is always on may cause 7kg of CO2/week from electricity production. If an energy saving function is active on your computer however, that level will sink to as little as 0.8kg CO2/week.

A low hanging fruit like this is something we can all reach from the comfort of our chairs…so enjoy this double energy saving, since my next tempting apple in a couple of weeks may take a bit more effort to reach

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.

Here’s a few similarities between two subjects close to my heart:
The Environment & Football (Soccer).
Sim1: The Planet is ball shaped!
Sim2: A football gets kicked around! The Planet is taking a kicking too!
Sim3: Supporters go through a faith crisis!

Here’s why I think Sim3 fits in:
Being an Englishman I know all about a faith crisis when England play a match. There are two groups of Englishmen: those that actively give their support and in return expect England to win every game and every tournament (anything else is a disaster) and the majority that are actively critical & pessimistic whilst still expecting England to win everything.
It‘s obvious even to a Millwall supporter that a team’s winning chances are greatly improved with the public’s cheers not jeers. It’s where they tip the scale by becoming match participants (1966 Wembley: home team won the World cup).

Compare that soccer feeling of hope & despair with how we view our planet’s prospects. We all know the challenge we face but we’re still not one team yet, we’re three: The Despairers, The Hopers and The Heroes (I hope there are heroes in Copenhagen today).
Unfortunately the Hero players remain in the minority whilst The Hopers cheer when things go well, but not too loud since it draws attention to there own inactions & The Depairers: critical of the whole business but inwardly as expectant as The Hopers.

To me we must realise that we need to become one team with one strategy to win the environmental challange. That we need to take every save as a warning to attack harder; every goal against us as a sign to defend harder and every goal we score as a motivation to score more. This way we can lift the teams that are doing their best and inspire teams that time waste into action.

This sums up what TCO Development has been achieving with ICT manufacturers since 1992. We are dedicated to helping the environment and I hope that our efforts inspire you to be a hero. If not so far, then I hope you make some changes in your green tactics by the time England beat Germany in the final of the 2010 world cup.

A final similarity between football and saving the environment is that spectator participation is encouraged, as long as you don’t kick the ball!

Stephen Fuller

Feel free to send in your own football & environment sims.

Getting bogged down in all the technical specifications of picture quality is the easy step to buying a Projector. It can spin your head so much that you may end up buying a projector that has more money guzzling performance than you need or even one that doesn’t meet your needs at all.

Much has been written about TVs and the screen size you should consider depending on the size of the room you’re viewing it in: A good High Definition experience deteriorates the further you sit from the screen. It’s said that to experience HD on a 32” TV you shouldn’t be more than 2meters from it and in a large living room that will mean a lot of empty space behind your armchair. So we go larger & larger and then we go bananas “Projectors”

So what about when it comes to choosing a projector? And you may well ask what the hell does the caption TCO Image size mean?
TCO Image size is the same size concept as with the TV:
First consider the screen size you want/need/have. It might be that screen hanging in the conference/meeting room or could even be that white bed sheet on the living room wall at home. When you know how much of that screen (in m2 or inches) that you’d like to fill with a projected image that will maintain visible High Quality up to the size you want, then TCO Certified gives you the next easy step by stating a projector’s maximum quality Image Size in just m² & inches.
Finally go out and buy a TCO Certified Projector that is a good match to your needs.

123 Easy Steps to getting your projector then:
Step 1. Find out the size of screen you want or have (just as you would a TV)
Step 2. Go to TCO Development’s web site and view the selection of TCO Certified projectors.
Step 3. Go buy and feel sure that the product also passes many of the toughest usability and environmental demands on the market.

Then with your Screen & Projector in place, stick your armchair anywhere you want in the living room.
Happy Viewing!

Another kind of ghost, and this isn’t isolated to just CRT displays, is the kind you don’t see; the invisible Electric and Magnetic fields coming at you from the display.
We know that the degree of worker exposure to the sources of these fields is increasing and so whilst scientists remain divided on the harmful effects of long term exposure a precautionary approach is advised. The symptoms most commonly experienced include dermatological symptoms (redness, tingling, and burning sensations) as well as neurasthenic symptoms (fatigue, tiredness, concentration difficulties, dizziness, nausea, heart palpitation, and digestive disturbances).

Our precautionary stand is to demand of the manufacturer that emission levels be kept to a technically achievable low level. We want low levels to be kept at your place of work. A tip to display users: when possible please connect the display to a grounded socket, since this helps avoid levels that will be very many times more if you do not.
Harmful emissions may be a ghost you don’t believe in, but there are many that have, do and may eventually need to tolerate a number of sensitivity symptoms that can not be totally attributed to long screen time fatigue.

So believe it or not, if you don’t feel any negative effects then it could be thanks to the fact that you’re working with a TCO screen connected to ground…since we know, in the ground is where ghosts should be.