While it is important to keep air flowing through the enclosure of your computer, the building up of heat does not reduce the efficiency of your computer. As the conductors in your system heat up, their resistance increases. The power supply in any given computer will only output a constant voltage on several rails.

Joule’s law gives us Power = Voltage * Current, and Ohm’s law gives us Voltage = Current * Resistance. The increasing resistance reduces the amount of current drawn from the circuit. The power supply is generating a constant voltage, so the decrease in current actually means your system is drawing less power than if it was cooled down. At this point, the processor’s logic fails and your programs will either lag or crash. Excessively high temperature will damage components.

Some people argue that the higher temperature is a sign of increased waste. This is not the case as the waste heat isn’t being dissipated as quickly; the total amount of energy being thrown out as heat is the same in the event of reduced airflow, just more concentrated.

Modern systems will detect this increase in temperature and increase the fan speed in an attempt to cool the system to acceptable levels, which does increase the amount of power drawn from the system as a whole. Your typical fan then only draws 1.5W at full speed, with a typical computer having 2 or more fans.

It would be hard to call this increase in output power significant on a planetary scale, but keeping the vents clean would prevent the additional fan speed.

While it is important to keep air flowing through the enclosure of your computer, the building up of heat does not reduce the efficiency of your computer. As the conductors in your system heat up, their resistance increases. The power supply in any given computer will only output a constant voltage on several rails.

Joule’s law gives us Power = Voltage * Current, and Ohm’s law gives us Voltage = Current * Resistance. The increasing resistance reduces the amount of current drawn from the circuit. The power supply is generating a constant voltage, so the decrease in current actually means your system is drawing less power than if it was cooled down. At this point, the processor’s logic fails and your programs will either lag or crash. Excessively high temperature will damage components.

Some people argue that the higher temperature is a sign of increased waste. This is not the case as the waste heat isn’t being dissipated as quickly; the total amount of energy being thrown out as heat is the same in the event of reduced airflow, just more concentrated.

Modern systems will detect this increase in temperature and increase the fan speed in an attempt to cool the system to acceptable levels, which does increase the amount of power drawn from the system as a whole. Your typical fan then only draws 1.5W at full speed, with a typical computer having 2 or more fans.

It would be hard to call this increase in output power significant on a planetary scale, but keeping the vents clean would prevent the additional fan speed.

But I’d like to share something with you as far as green computing goes.

If you guys want to know a company that’s got the best form of green pc consciousness, it’s Userful. They can take a single existing PC and using their software, turn it into 10 workstations. See for yourself – http://www.userful.com.

But I’d like to share something with you as far as green computing goes.

If you guys want to know a company that’s got the best form of green pc consciousness, it’s Userful. They can take a single existing PC and using their software, turn it into 10 workstations. See for yourself – http://www.userful.com.

Thanks for the excellent info!

Thanks for the excellent info!

The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (www.epeat.net) – or EPEAT – enables purchasers looking for greener IT products to address dozens of environmental performance attributes in a meaningful way.

EPEAT (www.epeat.net) is a non-profit stakeholder-developed environmental standard supported by US EPA that currently covers desktops, laptops and monitors and is expanding to address printers, TVs, servers and mobile devices (cell phones,PDAs) over the next year or two.

EPEAT addresses 23 mandatory and 28 optional environmental performance criteria in 8 categories, including energy efficiency (Energy Star mandatory), toxics reduction, takeback and recycling (mandatory), greener materials choices (recycled, biobased) , ease of disassembly and recycling, life cycle extension, packaging and company performance. Products register at Bronze, Silver, and Gold levels in EPEAT, depending on how many optional criteria they meet. (Criteria overview at http://www.epeat.net/Criteria.aspx )

Dozens of manufacturers participate in EPEAT, with 550+ products registered ( = about 25,000 products counting individual configurations). (Participating manufacturers list at http://www.epeat.net/Companies.aspx )

Search the product database, see participating manufacturers, examine product rating criteria, see environmental benefits estimates, review verification procedures, read media coverage — at http://www.epeat.net

The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (www.epeat.net) – or EPEAT – enables purchasers looking for greener IT products to address dozens of environmental performance attributes in a meaningful way.

EPEAT (www.epeat.net) is a non-profit stakeholder-developed environmental standard supported by US EPA that currently covers desktops, laptops and monitors and is expanding to address printers, TVs, servers and mobile devices (cell phones,PDAs) over the next year or two.

EPEAT addresses 23 mandatory and 28 optional environmental performance criteria in 8 categories, including energy efficiency (Energy Star mandatory), toxics reduction, takeback and recycling (mandatory), greener materials choices (recycled, biobased) , ease of disassembly and recycling, life cycle extension, packaging and company performance. Products register at Bronze, Silver, and Gold levels in EPEAT, depending on how many optional criteria they meet. (Criteria overview at http://www.epeat.net/Criteria.aspx )

Dozens of manufacturers participate in EPEAT, with 550+ products registered ( = about 25,000 products counting individual configurations). (Participating manufacturers list at http://www.epeat.net/Companies.aspx )

Search the product database, see participating manufacturers, examine product rating criteria, see environmental benefits estimates, review verification procedures, read media coverage — at http://www.epeat.net