Green Tech Girl

Green Linux Machines: An Alternative to Windows Vista, the Resource Hog

Linux may be the greener choice when choosing an operating system. Why? Because the latest version of Microsoft Windows is such a resource-hog, you’ll need double or triple the computer power to perform basic tasks with the same speed you might with Linux.

Program that used to require a few hundred megs of RAM on Windows XP now require 2 gigs or more on Windows Vista. Check out this chart on the Audacity download page. To use Audacity on Windows Vista Home Premium, you will need 4 gigs of RAM versus the 512 MB you needed on XP. A whopping 4 GIGS!! Talk about creating unnecessary e-waste! Why force people to buy more electronic chips when the old operating system did everything just as fast if not faster on less hardware? (more…)

Paper or Plastic? Plastic Bags Become Public Enemy #1

I am old enough (cough) to remember when it was actually environmentally cooler to tell the grocery store checkout person that you wanted a plastic bag. Use a plastic bag, save a tree!

I guess that may sound naive now, but that’s what people were thinking in the 1980s.

Now things have turned 180 degrees and plastic bags are the scourge of Satan. China has just banned them, and many American cities are looking to do so as well.

The reason? People are lazy asses, I guess, and they just don’t know how to reuse or recycle these bags properly. So they end up flying around and causing all sorts of havoc. (I have to ask…just how do plastic bags escape from people anyway? The way they fly around, it’s as if some kid had a balloon on a string they let go of. My bags never fly anywhere – they are carrying stuff! Duh!)

Yet, when you look at it from a manufacturing and transportation standpoint, which is truly better: Paper or plastic? (more…)

Which is Worse: Throwing Out Folders or a Label Maker?

One of my best friends in the office is a label maker. It is a small machine that has a keyboard with a tiny screen and all it does is output sticky labels. I finally got one to get some serious organizing done and I find it truly makes my filing 10 times easier.

I also re-use my folders this way, by applying new labels over the old ones.

Yet, I have to wonder. Which is worse for the environment: Throwing out used folders and killing more trees to make new ones, or re-using folders by sticking on a label that requires new tape, a piece of electronics, and waste in the form of a used tape cartridge?

Another option is to create new labels with a computer, but that also takes up paper, involves adhesive, and uses up printer ink.

I suppose I could just handwrite on the sheet of computer labels, but for some reason that seems to drop my productivity and organization by a huge amount.

I think my biggest concern with the portable label maker is the cartridge. There seems to be no way to recycle it.

Perhaps I should just get one of those old fashioned label creators, that punches it out on a simple roll of tape.

But then I wouldn’t have my fancy label-making toy. See…I’m now justifying my e-waste. Shameful, really. Oh well.

Hewlitt Packard’s Two-Faced Printer Cartridge Recycling Policies

I have an old HP LaserJet from something like 1994. The darn thing cost me a whopping $600 when I bought it (tech prices were higher back then, and still this was half of what it cost when first released in 1993). But HP printers were built like tanks back in the day. (Sadly, their quality has declined precipitously in recent years.)

After 14 years of use, and having lugged the thing through something like seven moves and from Los Angeles to Seattle and back, that darn LaserJet 4P still works…with 600 dpi clarity. I’ve gotten my $600 worth and then some.

The LaserJet was an extremely frugal machine, toner-wise. I have bought one cartridge of toner to have it last me for years. Not so for printers these days. If you buy most printers on the market (ink-based machines), you could be purchasing ink once a month if not more, depending on usage.

To get around purchasing these ridiculously expensive cartridges, some owners have taken to refilling them instead of buying new ones. This is not only economical, but environmental. This is good, right?

Well, not to HP. While HP has been crowing about its cartridge recycling program, it has quietly been adding expiration dates to its cartridges, so that customers will not be able to refill them after a certain period of time.

Meanwhile, Staples is no longer allowed to carry remanufactured toner cartridges for HP products, and HP itself refuses to make them, citing quality issues that are frankly bunko. (I actually just got two remanufactured cartridges for my 4P from DataProducts through Costco’s website – a $50 savings per cartridge, as well as the more environmental option.)

In angry response to the ridiculous expiration on ink cartridges, one resourceful user found out that if you pull out the printer battery for a few minutes, it will reset the CMOS memory and you can use your expired cartridges. (Full instructions with photos are here.)

Planned obsolescence might seem to be good business on the surface, but it’s bad business in the long run. While I love my old LaserJet 4P, the high prices of its replacement cartridges, coupled with the shoddy manufacturing of its newer products, is enough to make me look for printers from another brand. Now, upon finding out about their draconian cartridge policies, I’m even less inclined to purchase something from HP ever again.

No amount of recycling can make up for creating too much useless e-waste in the first place. Maybe it’s time you started putting your money where your mouth is, HP.