By Allan Gerlat

 

Awareness of a problem and the ingenuity to fix it are usually a pretty potent recipe for success. That's why it's encouraging to see more and more that business is getting serious about being good environmental stewards and leaders.

 

An example of that is the newly formed Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a coalition of computer-related companies. Their goal is to dramatically improve computing energy efficiency, thereby reducing energy demands and ultimately the global warming contribution. The group plans to do this through increasing the efficiency of the desktop computers and servers they make, and educating consumers about the energy-management settings on their computers. Their goal is to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions annually to the equivalent of 11 million cars on the road.

 

These are great examples of relatively subtle things we can all do -- manufacturers and consumers -- to improve the environment. But they aren't quite as obvious to us as recycling our newspapers or buying a hybrid vehicle. So it's a perfect area for industry to take the lead, both in how they make the product themselves as well as teaching us how to use it in a more environmentally friendly way.

 

There's huge room for improvement. Desktop efficiency averages 60 percent now; the coalition hopes to push it beyond 90 percent by 2010.

 

That figure could be reached today, but at a cost of perhaps $20 more for a desktop system and $30 for a server. Manufacturers need to work to reduce that cost. At the same time, we as consumers need to take some responsibility for the environment as well. Paying a few bucks more isn't that high of a price. It could at least be a buying option. And we need to follow the computer makers' example and readjust our computers to more environmentally friendly settings.

 

In any event, computer makers are setting a great example of environmental leadership with this initiative. It's that kind of drive and imagination we're going to require if our love of products is going to coexist with our need to take care of our planet.

 

Allan Gerlat is editor of Waste News. Past installments of this column are collected in the Inbox archive.

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