The Brighter Planet Blog

Mercy me, the drama: With scores of worthy green IT-related #earthtweet submissions to choose from, Dell’s jurors hemmed, hawed, deliberated some more … and in the end arrived at a clear verdict. Peter Ellis, prepare for the arrival at your doorstep of a spankin’ new Dell Studio 15 laptop, yours because of this #earthtweet tip:

We love the choice — virtualization cuts energy use and costs of enterprise IT infrastructure in a big way. As Dell’s Todd Dwyer puts it:

We chose this submission because virtualization is a great way to make data centers more energy efficient. And since every action that anyone ever takes online –- whether sending an email, streaming a video or downloading a song -– involves accessing a data center somewhere, implementing virtualization on a large scale could make an enormous impact for our planet.

Thanks to everyone who participated, and most especially to Dell for being part of our #earthtweet campaign. With great partners like Dell and so many others helping to draw attention to the #earthtweet tag, it has become the self-sustaining channel for sharing accomplishments and info about the environment that we hoped it would.

Peter, notwithstanding the fact that we’re green with envy, we hope you enjoy your slick new toy!

One of the renewable energy projects that Brighter Planet members help fund — the Wray, Colorado school system’s wind turbine – has continued to have electrical issues. 

School officials had hoped for smooth sailing after the turbine’s European manufacturer, Emergya Wind Technologies, replaced a faulty power converter last year. Alas, Emergya recently determined that the problems are caused by an irreparable short in the generator, which must be replaced. 

The company has provided a new generator under warranty and is compensating the school district for the shortfall in electricity generation. The replacement generator is now in the United States and is undergoing testing. Once this process is complete, it should take about six weeks to get the generator to Wray and install it.

The Wray turbine’s technology has a long history in Europe, but is new to the States. Any future repairs should be much quicker, as Emergya is setting up a parts warehouse in this country.

Wray Schools Superintendent Ron Howard has more detail on the situation — look for his letter, about halfway down the school system’s homepage.

- Ian Hough

It’s the final count-down to Earth Day 2009. There are all kinds of beneficial articles, tips, and events springing up this Earth Week, and we want to highlight knowledge itself as a foundation of environmentalism.

If you’ve got questions, you’ve got to get answers to make informed, responsible decisions. We teamed up with Current TV and @grist, @chelseagreen, @treehugger, @worldchanging, and a whole host of green bloggers and experts to provide answers at the Current TV Earth Day site.

Brighter Planet co-founder Jon Isham is one of today’s featured videos on Current. He also recorded this quick and easy answer to @alrdesign’s question “Do carbon offsets actually help the environment?”

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle… and Offset! from Brighter Planet on Vimeo.

Forget the “3 Rs”– Jon suggests 3R+O!  Reduce, reuse, recycle and offset.  Be sure to check out the other videos and get answers to your eco-questions at Current Green.

Happy Earth Week!
-Carolyn

Everybody in the front room here at HQ cheered after watching this:

Good for workers, good for the planet (6,000,000,000 pounds of CO2!), and, as President Obama says, you won’t have to take your shoes off.

- Andy

First thing I thought of when I heard the lightning-bolt news that Dell is partnering with Brighter Planet on our #earthtweet campaign was Michael Dell’s keynote speech at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show. On one of the biggest stages you’ll find in the tech industry, Mr. Dell committed his company to electronics recycling and other environmental measures in a big way. I was impressed — in our extremely fast-moving times it’s easy to forget that his words spurred an effort that put Dell in front of the pack among computer manufacturers and encouraged other companies to follow suit. There remain many tough problems to solve in order to reduce the cradle-to-cradle footprint of the tech tools we depend on, but Dell’s efforts have helped the industry get off to a good start. And two years after its founder’s speech, the company continues to create new, planet-friendly ways of doing business — and provide guides and community spaces where Dell customers can learn from the company’s experiences.

That’s one reason we’re so pleased to announce this partnership. Another is, well, simply that the prize Dell is offering up to a lucky winner, is just … awesome.

Here’s the deal: from now until 5P ET on 4/22, send in technology-related #earthtweet tips — tell us how you’re running your company’s network more efficiently, or what gadget-crazed travelers can do to keep energy use down, or what the positive impact of a family’s recycling old electronics can be. Or any other unique tips you may have that will help consumers and businesses save energy and reduce their environmental footprint.

And on April 23, we’ll work with Dell’s experts to pick a winning #earthtweet, and announce it via Twitter. Its author shall receive an Energy Star compliant Dell Studio 15 laptop, with a mercury-free WLED display. It even comes in Spring Green! Have a look at the official contest rules, or head on over to Dell’s Facebook page to ask questions and otherwise talk to Dell’s people about it.

It’s a great machine; we’re a bit chagrined that WE can’t enter this contest. Ah well — sometimes one must make sacrifices for the cause.

Keep tweeting all your tips, high-tech or not. We have lots of great prizes to give away before Earth Day — and we feel confident that twitterfolk will be using the #earthtweet tag to share info with each other long into the future. Stay tuned to @earthtweet, @brighterplanet, and Dell’s @reGeneration on Twitter for updates and useful info. And good luck to those vying for Dell’s very generously donated prize!

p.s. — Michael Dell’s appearance at CES 2007 is still worth watching; see video below: