The irony of any website purporting to be “green” is that just by its sheer existence, the site is using energy and creating carbon. The images and code that make up any site are housed and mirrored in server farms that require energy to run the hard drives and hardware as well as fans for ventilation and cooling.

One half of the energy delivered to a PC is lost as heat. Meanwhile, 50 million tons of e-waste is produced yearly worldwide. Information Technology energy usage is increasing 15% percent annually and as computers become more common in developing world, this trend isn’t likely to flatten.

So how can we do our part to be efficient?

First off, turn off your computer when you’re not using it… like at night. This helps you save power and can protect you from viruses that lurk at night. You can do your virus scan and backups during the day. Also, don’t use screensavers… they require a lot of processing power, thus using a lot of energy.

Old batteries take forever to charge, they lose their charge quickly and they use a lot of energy. If your laptop battery is worn out, get a new one. A plugged in computer still uses power even when it is off. Get an energy efficient power strip… such as a Smart Strip, which will turn off your peripherals when you turn off your computer. Old ones can use power just by being plugged in.

Speakers use as much power when they are playing music as when they are just on and silent. Turn them off when you are not using them. You can also use a Kill A Watt device to find out how much energy your appliances are actually using.

March madness is over and our beloved Spartans came up short. As we bleed green, we can no longer blame basketball, or ski season, or classes for being derelict in our duty to update Greenrapper.com.

What has been on my head has also been on my mind. I got a lot of sheet for wearing my Gilligan style MSU hat circa 1996 to the tournament watching party in San Francisco this week. I hid my ancient head gear even though it is a perfectly good hat. After the semifinal game, I went home and watched this amazing video called “The Story of Stuff” and started to rethink my embarrassment. Though the Story of Stuff might be great for kids, it is also a great reminder for us adults who get wrapped up in our own champagne wishes and caviar dreams. Check it out!

Here’s some college students who instead of “taking you money” will be “saving you money” by retrofitting your windows etc:

I recently saw a demonstration of some of the musical inventions that will be played during the upcoming performance of SchickMachine, the latest work of the The Paul Dresher Ensemble. The non-conventional instruments are made from strange objects, including a lot of reclaimed junk and decommissioned relics, such as an old church organ.

The show is sort of a combination of concert and theater, with large and outlandish instruments providing drama on stage. The team recognized that traditional concert instruments require fine motor skills and are consequently difficult to see from several feet away in the audience. To better connect with the audience, they have created large instruments, some of which are robotic and others that interact with the performer’s entire body. One of the coolest instruments, is an experimental hurdy gurdy that the team of musical inventors created. Below is a demonstration of some of the instruments that will be played in the solo show:

People have been going nuts about Nancy Pelosi’s mouse protection provision in the recently passed stimulus package. At first, I thought this was just another example of government waste and local politicians using the systems to aggrandize themselves within the local political arena. Then I saw a talk by Cheryl Davis of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

The SFPUC administers the water supply that feeds San Francisco and neighboring areas. The task of bringing water from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir to the Bay Area is no small feat. Much of the transit lines are undergoing seismic retrofits to better secure the San Francisco water supply. A water interruption due to an earthquake could cost up to 28.7 Billion dollars, not to mention the panic that would overtake the city. The Hetch Hechy water, which comes mostly from the Sierra snow pack, makes its way via tubes that traverse both private and public lands. After the water arrives to the bay area, it is stored in the reservoirs West of the 280 Freeway until it makes its way to the city. These reservoirs and open spaces contain not only precious watersheds, but also many endangered species including the much-maligned Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse.

I agree that protecting a mouse does not provide “stimulus”, but by recognizing that everything in the environment is connected and by protecting the weak species, we may be protecting ourselves. It is possible that once we go down the road of runaway budgets there is no turning back, but it is certain that once a species is gone, there is no getting it back.

The subject of our last video, Nammy Patel of the Green Dentistry, has started a new website in partnership with HowYouEco.com. HowYouEco is a website that lets green-conscious people and practical ideas connect, and Toothhugger has a focus on oral hygiene and dentistry. Our video with Nammy is featured on the site now so check it out!

As the debate on the stimulus package continues, it will be interesting to see whether infrastructure will be a key component. Seen as an important element to growing the economy, construction and civil engineering projects take a lot of time to plan and execute effectively. That being said, there are a ton of projects here in California that are just waiting for a green light and already speculation is flying about which far-off projects here in the Yay might be accelerated. Hopefully the 580 connection repair will be be a model for future projects. It was speedy and came in under-budget, which means there was little to no graft or corruption involved.

The energy independence lobby and environmental groups are hoping for some real alternative energy stimulus in the bill. With layoff news dropping each day, green retrofits of homes would mean jobs for displaced workers. Interest is high in green energy educational programs like the solar installation training classes at San Jose City College and the time is ripe for government to make some permanent incentives for businesses to install alternative energy. Despite the downturn, there are still a grip of green jobs available in various disciplines.

Check out http://www.solarjobs.us/ and http://www.windjobs.org/ to see the latest jobs available in the green energy space.