subject: Eco Friendly PC Accessories [print this page] Computers are a necessity for so many people now that it would be hard to imagine life without the trusted Windows PC, Mac or laptop. Computers, however, do have a negative effect on the environment, they not only use power in the form of electricity but also, quite a lot of energy, resources and toxic materials goes into their manufacture.
So ensuring you are using you PC efficiently and finding eco-friendly ways to ease the environmental burden of you logging on is good way of reducing the impact your work, play and communication has on the planet.
Power Saving
One of the best ways to reduce the impact your PC has on the planet is to sure your are not wasting energy. Often, people leave their PCs on when they leave a room, go to lunch or even finish for the day. Whilst this is understandable when we are having a short break booting up and logging on can take quite a while, often we can still save energy and not have to shut down.
Most computers have a power saving mode; power saving will spin down the hard drive; saving on wear and extending the life of your hard drive too; turn of the monitor, saving more energy; but will still allow you to boot up in seconds.
Eco buttons are available that can make this task a lot simpler. These clever devices put computers into power saving modes after a simple click of a button.
There are some other eco-friendly products that can help make computer use more efficient too. There are several devices that plug into USB sockets, taking advantage of this low energy source. USB battery chargers will recharge many types of battery very efficiently, using only the low powered trickle of the USB socket.
USB battery charger
Laptops
Power saving is crucial for laptops that have to rely on batteries. Most laptops allow extra power saving functions such as dimming the screen while the computer is not plugged in to extend the battery life. There is, however, a great way you can improve the credentials of any laptop and that is to get a solar powered charger. A solar powered laptop charger will allow you to recharge you laptop from the sun, for free and completely eco-friendly.
Accessories
There are many other eco-friendly computer accessories, that make using a PC a lot less damaging to the environment, available too. These range from keyboards and computer mice made from sustainable materials, to a wide variety of mouse mats made form recycled material.
