Yesterday we got this email from Matt Bentley:
Changing Microsoft XP power scheme settings determines whether or not power-saving CPU features are activated in a machine when idle.
All modern desktop CPU’s past the AMD Athlon XP and the Intel Pentium 4 (ie. AMD A64 & Intel Core and upwards) have some kind of speed-stepping feature built into them, which is utilised via Windows XP’s power management settings as per Orthogonal Thought’s blog.
What does this mean? Well, basically, if we all switch our desktop computer’s power scheme to ‘Laptop/Portable’, our computers will drop the cpu voltage and frequency when idle (provided the motherboard supports it, and most do), saving 30w (on average) – it’s like switching to an energy-saver lightbulb, essentially – and has absolutely no performance impact when not running idle.
Learn more: Intel SpeedStep, Windows XP, and confusing Power Profiles
Well, that’s a maybe. The Australian government is hoping that a new proposal from them will be able to cover up a loophole that let’s Japan conduct whaling for “scientific reasons”.
The Australian environmental minister Peter Garett said today that Australia will present their proposal next week in London during an International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting.
If Australia’s proposal gets accepted whaling for “scientific reasons” must be conducted according to the commission’s rules.
But this will not be an end to whaling. Several countries like Norway, Iceland and Greenland will still continue to brutally slaughter whales for “commercial” and “cultural” purposes.
Here is a short interview with Lauri Apple, the creator of FoundClothing.
You run a site called FoundClothing, which basically is an online archive of clothing and accessories that you find in the trash or left on the streets, take home, wash and wear.
How and when did you come up with this whole idea?
I had the idea for the Website in March 2006, while I was sitting in the lobby of my law school procrastinating. I had been thinking about how long I had been finding clothes — since 1994 — and that there might be potential for a project of some sort based on my activity. I went home that night, took photos of all of the trashion in my closet, posted each photo with details about where the items came from and when they entered my life, and had a site.
The idea itself originated in 1994, when I passed the trash area behind a resale shop by my house and found a bunch of vintage clothing, including a great fur-trimmed jacket that I still have. After that, I remember looking at trash a lot more frequently, and going on scavenger hunts with my roommates (we were all very frugal, pro-recycling types).
Read the rest of this story »
All developed countries have started taking measures to reduce their bad impact on Earth. Banning incadescent lightbulbs, cars from the city centres, or introducing laws for greener factories and industries. Greece at last followed their example by promoting a greener life in the capital.
After its apathy at Bali’s summit, where the greek spokepersons had no specific proposals or positions, Greece seems to start thinking more about the environment. Such late a start can be partly justified, as the country lacks basic means. Most people are way too indifferent and uninformed about global warming and facilities don’t meet the specifications for major changes (for instance the way buildings had been built makes it impossible to widen the roads and introduce cycle lanes etc).
Read the rest of this story »
These are some of the latest Green videos published this week, collected by the Ecolive.TV community.
Map reveals extent of human damage to oceans
Marine ecologist Ben Halpern shows us the map he unveiled at the AAAS meeting in Boston last week, which shows the impact of different human activities on oceans worldwide.
Read the rest of this story »
German engineers have devised a way of tugging merchant vessels along with huge, computer steered kites, known as Skysails, that catch the ocean winds. It marks the beginning of a revolution in the way that ships are powered. The sails are calculated to be able to reduce fuel consumption by 30-50 per cent,depending on the wind conditions. The system could be applied to about 60000 vessels out of the 100000 listed in the Lloyd’s register.
Orders are already coming in ranging from trawlers to a super-yacht. If the world fleet is equipped with sails, it is calculated that 142 million tones of CO2 could be saved per year!
Read the rest of this story »
Up to 350000 newborn seals were estimated to be killed last summer in Canada, and the number is thought to be much bigger this coming summer. In 2005 the 98,5% of the babies killed weren’t even 2-months-old, and autopsies showed proved that most of them were still alive during the extraction of their fur.
If you want to help, don’t wait till summer to hear about these things again on the news. Sign the petitions of www.protectseals.org and stop buying cosmetics or clothes that contain seal fat or fur. Maybe a decrease in the demand on the market will decrease the number of seal murders.
Image credit: Mike Baird. Image licensed under a
Creative-Commons Attribution license.
Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman of General Motors is trying his best to downplay a comment regarding climate change he made a few weeks ago. In front of reporters in Texas Bob Lutz dismissed global warming as a “total crock of s—”.
