Build a green pc...

Your PC contributes to global warming and to a degree (no pun intended) helps run up your electric bill. An article from PC Magazine compares energy requirements of several home appliances including your PC and monitor.

One way to help address the issue is to buy a new PC that was manufactured with "green" concepts in mind. Another is to build your own green pc. How to do this is described in this article...

PC Magazine
January 31, 2007
By John Brandon

Global warming is caused by emissions of carbon dioxide, which trap heat so it can't escape the atmosphere. Although cars, factories and power plants do most of the damage, the computer is at least partly to blame. A PC uses 200 to 400 watts, depending on its configuration and use. By comparison, a refrigerator uses about 725 watts, but a DVD player uses only 25 watts, and your TV is right around 100 watts. A high-performance gaming rig with a powerful graphics card, multiple hard drives and optical drives, a flash memory reader, and a 30-inch LCD might consume as much as 750 watts! Leave such a beast running constantly and you might see an extra $40 to $50 on your monthly electrical bill. Ouch.

Yet PC energy consumption is only part of the problem. The manufacturing process for computer parts also has an effect. The typical computer these days contains significant amounts of lead, which is used in soldering motherboards, processors, and other parts. Since the average lifespan of a PC is just three years—according to the EPA—the toxic effects of disposal are quite high. Read more...