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8 Easy Tips to Green Your Library and Save $$$
Amigos Going Green at Your Library 2 Nov. 2010
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GreenTech: www.techsoup.org/greentech
Mission: GreenTech promotes technology and practices that reduce the environmental impact and carbon footprint of nonprofits, NGOs, and libraries worldwide.
Let’s find out a bit about you.
1. Use sleep settings
Flickr user: stuant33
Why it’s green: dramatically cuts the amount of electricity your computers uses
Free and easy: save $60/year per computer
Monitor/display sleep: Turn off after 15 minutes or less. Turn off hard drives/hard disk sleep: 15 minutes or less. System standby/sleep: After 30 minutes or less.
2. Buy smart strips
Why it’s green: turns off power of computers and peripherals when not in use to save energy.
Inexpensive and easy: $20 to $30 per computer. They pay for themselves within a few months.
How to do it: purchase and plug in
Flickr user: villagelinca
3. Print double-sided
Flickr user: Walter Parenteau
Why it’s green: significantly reduces the amount of paper you buy and also waste.
Free* and easy: it could mean changing a setting to duplex OR *buying* new printer
4. Use an online fax service
MyFax (donation through TechSoup Global)
GreenFax
efax
Why it’s green: largely paperless and doesn’t require any additional hardware, ink, or toner.
Easy: Sign up, pay, and start using it.
Cost: $25-$200/year
Flickr user: Jeremy Brooks
5. Buy EPEAT rated equipment
Why it’s green: rated equipment uses less power, has reduced toxic materials (like lead and mercury), and is more easily recyclable than conventional equipment.
Free AND easy
How to do it: Visit www.epeat.net and search for the highest-rated technology
toxics reduction * recycled content and recyclability * product longevity
end-of-life management * energy efficiency packaging * corporate responsibility
6. Buy refurbished computers
Flickr user: lungstruck
Why it’s green: extends the life of computers; 75 percent of PC energy consumption has already happened before a new computer is switched on.
Inexpensive & easy: refurbished computers are 50% less expensive
Microsoft Registered Refurbisher Program Worldwide Directory
TechSoup RCI Program
7. Get in the cloud
Flickr user: Librarian by Day
Why it’s green:
Decreases the amount of IT infrastructure that an office needs because computing power is shared and concentrated more in high efficiency data centers and less in the millions of office computer networks.
Mostly free and easy: many cloud services have a free version.Google docs * doodle.com * skype * IM
8. Recycle your old technology
Flickr user: cizauskas
Why it’s green:Computers contain many toxic materials that pollute the environment if not properly recovered.
Free or inexpensive: Computer recycling is free in about half the US states and costs $10 to $20 per computer in states that don’t have e-recycling systems
How to do it: visit www.earth911.com
greener
Let’s hear from you
Questions?
www.TechSoupForLibraries.org
www.TechSoup.org/GreenTech
Sarah [email protected]
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