Spam Doesn't Waste Energy, Humans Do

Smoking joint like leaving light on all day

(NEWSER) - Bad news for eco-conscious stoners: That joint you just smoked hurt the planet. Marijuana grown indoors accounts for 1% of America’s yearly electricity consumption, or $5 billion worth of energy, a study finds. That’s equivalent to the annual energy bills of 2 million homes. And in terms of CO2 emissions, puffing one joint is comparable to leaving a 100-watt lightbulb on for 17 hours, Fast Company reports. More»

It hurts environment and productivity, authors say

(NEWSER) - Spam e-mails consume 20% of companies' energy budgets, enough collectively to run 2.4 million houses, says a study commissioned by the security firm McAfee. Most of the waste results from end users sifting through the 62 trillion junk items sent annually, eWeek reports. Eliminating spam would be the equivalent of taking one car off the road for each 200 employees in a 1,000-person company, according to the report.. More»

New York Times offers tips on cutting computer energy use

(NEWSER) - You’ve got the Prius and the reusable shopping bags, but did you know a PC and monitor perpetually left on use more than twice the kilowatt-hours per year consumed by a fridge? The New York Times reports what you can do to slow your computer’s energy drain:

• Turn it off after your workday. Have it set to sleep when unused, and dump the screensaver.

Prius' real-time feedback alters driving habits to max MPGs

(NEWSER) - Leaving the bad old days of drag-racing in the dust, greenies are now engaging in their own race for fuel efficiency, reports the Washington Post. With hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius giving up-to-the-second feedback on just how much gas passing that little old lady in the right lane is guzzling, many drivers are adjusting their habits to max out their MPGs. More»

Try to reverse climate change with some home-made eats

(NEWSER) - Climate change seems too big for individuals to fix, but that’s partly because we're trapped in a cheap energy mindset, Michael Pollan writes in the New York Times. Low-cost energy has allowed us to rely on distant specialists for most of our needs, and we have a moral duty to fight that mindset: by gardening. More»