Feb 1 2008USB EcoButton To Help Save The World
Pushing the Ecobutton sends your computer into energy saver mode. So all you have to do is plug it in, load the software, and then anytime you leave your computer station slam that sucker. Of course you could manually send your computer into energy-saving mode, but nobody does that and jamming on a button is a lot more rewarding. Plus the program it comes with keeps a running tab on the CO2 and money you've saved so far. The company making them believes "a business with 50 computers would save 6.80 Tonnes of CO2 and over $1,500 USD per year of electricity by using the EcoButton (were it employed to reduce a suggested average of two hours of non-machine use per day)."
Not too shabby. I love mashing buttons and I love the world, so I'm totally down. I'll slam the button as hard as I can and yell "Greener than you are, you earth-destroying a-holes!" Then I'll make my way through the cubicle farm picking fights with coworkers that don't have one. I know what you're thinking -- this Geekologie writer sounds like a real dick. But I prefer to view myself as more of a modern day Captain Planet with anger management issues.
As Cute As An EcoButton: Computer Energy Saver [treehugger]
Thanks to Sebastian, who loves and cares about the world as much as I do, for the tip
Reader Comments
1. damn luddites - February 1, 2008 9:52 AM
and this is different from hitting the stand-by button on my laptop how?
2. Mysterious M - February 1, 2008 10:09 AM
its got a cutesy representation of the planet on it. . .
3. J S - February 1, 2008 10:12 AM
Study the geologic and biological processes' of the Earth's long history and you quickly learn
Every square inch of this planet has at some point has been
-crushed under mile-thick sheets of ice
-swimming under salty seas
-blanketted in century long darkness
-baking under desert skies
-teeming with forests
Every square inch of this planet's surface...
And another thing we pompous, arrogant, self-absorbed simians should remember is A) we are a brief, but natural part of life and B) this planet has struggled to stay warm throughout it's long life-span.
Nevermind that we THINK we are responsible for warming, the simple fact is warming is actually better for the planet than cooling.
And a stupid sleep-mode button that probably costs more in resources to produce and ship than you will ever save by pressing it, is modern day snake-oil.
There is no shortage of idiots in the world. Question is, who's driving the short yellow bus?
4. helmet - February 1, 2008 10:31 AM
I met my first girlfriend riding the short bus.
5. Dave C - February 1, 2008 10:48 AM
I'm bitter I didn't think of this. There's tons of money to be made by selling crap like this. I wonder if I can open yet another "Carbon Credit" company...
6. Violet - February 2, 2008 11:17 AM
So, how long do you figure you need to use this thing to offset the carbon created by making, shipping and packing it?
7. Alice - February 3, 2008 9:42 AM
My man has a company like that.
8. Rebecca - February 6, 2008 12:41 AM
This is ridiculous! While I agree that slamming buttons is great, the idea that this thing will save energy and resources is a sham that could only be thought up by someone who knows stuff about marketing. What about the production waste, and the energy to make these things, and the fact that when they break, very few people will actually recycle them, and that even recycling is not a solution that justifies creating more junk.
You know what everyone needs? A little function called "suspend" that comes with every OS in existence. You hit the power button, it suspends. You hit it again, it comes back on. Whoa. If it doesn't do that on its own, you can set it to do so.
Okay, so desktops don't all have that potential. But you can still save energy just by turning down desktop effects and running a minimalistic OS (ie not vista), or even more importantly by keeping old computers running longer by using reasonable alternatives to windows OSs instead of replacing an old computer because it's "too slow" or "too full of viruses."
Oh and not gaming all day... lol
9. Rebecca - February 6, 2008 9:03 PM
oh yeah and you know what ELSE everyone needs? They really need to tell me to shut my fat mouth because I'm a whiny loser who thinks anyone cares about what I have to say.
10. Darren - February 14, 2008 4:40 PM
What a SHAM! $15.43 each with a minimum order of $100 (it comes custom printed with your company's logo which is less than a $2 value -- http://www.farfromboring.com/Promotional-Product/Computer-Accessories/USB-Devices/Ecobutton-ecobutton-107505.html). That's alot of wasted money to regain a couple cents of electricity... Let alone the extra time lights need to be on while you're waiting for "Suspend" mode to wake up your computer.... Doubt you'd be saving any CO2 in the big picture!