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As the Environment Starts to go Green, OWC goes Green for the Environment

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010 | Author: OWC Michael

“OWC’s green philosophy means a continual process of seeking ways to reduce environmental impact in our day-to-day operations,” said Larry O’Connor, CEO, Other World Computing. “Resources are not infinite. We are a future-thinking company and our conservation policies and programs reflect our commitment to the environment.”

With Spring now in full swing comes thoughts of green grass, blossoms and leaves on once barren trees and fresh air.  With the environment on so many minds, especially at this time of year with Earth Day observation fast approaching on April 20th, our thoughts here at OWC stray toward the Going Green movement that has been an integral part of our corporate message since we were founded back in 1988.

From the green technologies incorporated into our corporate headquarters, through our actions and programs as a company, to our offerings and encouragement of going green to our customer base…our “Green” goals are set high. The resulting benefits will be far greater than merely financial.

OWC’s Green Actions:

OWC employs a comprehensive recycling program in its practices including onsite paper, plastic, aluminum can and metal recycling programs with the goal of maintaining a “zero solid waste” status.  Additionally, OWC refuses non-recyclable pallets from vendor deliveries, recycles obsolete equipment through electronic equipment recyclers, and reuses packaging materials (such as foam peanuts, etc.) whenever possible.

In November 2005, we began the NuPower notebook battery recycling program. Elements from Li-Ion batteries can be recycled for use in multiple industries and proper disposal of other components prevents contamination to the environment. Article Continues…

2009 – The OWC Year in Review

Thursday, December 31st, 2009 | Author: OWC Michael

NewYearGlobesThe end of 2009 is upon us.  In a few short hours we’ll be counting down to the new year with family and friends and it just seems appropriate to look back upon the last year with a little nostalgia. It’s amazing how far we’ve come.

2009 brought with it a new look and organization to the macsales.com website. We took your (our faithful customers’) feedback and we listened. The site is now easier to navigate, easier to checkout, and all wrapped in a pretty cool space-themed package.

The ways in which you can interact with us has also made some amazing progress in the past year.  2009 marked the first full year of the OWC Blog and the first full year of our installation videos being available on YouTube both consistently gaining in viewership and popularity. You keep reading and watching and we promise to keep producing them. 2009 saw the beginnings of @macsales on Twitter and our #TFTL (that’s Thanks for the Love) initiative, our launch of the OWC Facebook page, and just recently the start of our installation videos available on  iTunes, as well as the “OWC Radio: by humans for humans” podcast hosted by Tim Robertson.

OWC also opened the Computer & iPod Upgrades & Service Center, the only iPod and iPhone repair service available in McHenry County, IL. The drop off service center, offers next business day diagnostic estimates for expert repair and upgrade services on iPods, iPhones, and both Mac and PC desktop and notebook computers.

And speaking of new structures, on October 19, 2009, OWC furthered their green initiative by becoming the first technology manufacturer/distributor in the U.S. to be 100% on-site wind powered by our new wind turbine.

Article Continues…

OWC Turbine is now online and operational.

Monday, October 19th, 2009 | Author: OWC Chris S.

Turbine-1

OWC got a little greener today. Our new Vestas V39 Wind Turbine went online today and is now generating the electricity needed to run the OWC corporate facility, including its datacenter, with plenty of energy to spare, which will be sold back to the local power company.

By going the extra mile and planning to generate more than 100% of its total power needs on-site, OWC demonstrates its commitment to the future, its community and the environment.

For more information on the OWC Wind Turbine, as well as the rest of our “green” corporate headquarters, please visit: www.macsales.com/green.

Hold on to your hats, it’s windy out there.

Monday, October 5th, 2009 | Author: OWC Chris S.

Globe_windThere’s quite a bit of wind blowing around the OWC facilities here in Woodstock, and not all of it is coming out of our Marketing Department. Fortunately, we can put that wind to good use.

As part of our ongoing commitment to making our facility as “green” as possible, OWC has constructed a wind turbine, which should supply 100% of the company’s electrical requirements.

The structure, which can easily be seen towering over the surrounding countryside, was completed late last week, and is slated to pass its final inspections and go online within the next couple of days.

Once online, the turbine will generate approximately 1,250,000 kWh per year (kilowatt hours per year) – more than double the amount that the Other World Computing facility needs, or slightly more than the requirements for your average time machine. The anticipated surplus power will be sold back to local power providers to sell to other customers.

OWC’s power usage will be about 500,000 kWh per year, out of the total anticipated 1,250,000 kWh per year available from wind power generation. However, that usage already demonstrates energy savings, as the geo-thermal heating and cooling system used in the OWC facility is vastly more efficient than traditional means.

By setting our goals high and starting out “Green”, the resulting benefits will be far greater than merely financial. The payback is all around us, and with each new Green undertaking, people will see that they too, can take part in making the world “Green,” one project at a time.

Guardian MAXimus Helps the Environment

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 | Author: OWC NewsFeed

Lest Earth Day be celebrated and forgotten, I want to remind you that the NewerTech Guardian MAXimus is a leader in green technology. Techno Dad Mike Ferrara highlighted the NewerTech Guardian MAXimus Hardware RAID-1 storage solution in a segment on ABC in Chicago: Earth Friendly Electronic Devices. The GMAX, as we affectionately call it, incorporates energy efficient technologies for up to a 40% power savings, using four platters instead of five. This means it generates less heat, which extends drive life. Plus, its thermo-regulated “Smart Fan” increases in speed during heavy drive usage, so it is not running at full power all the time.

The Guardian MAXimus “live activity” backup/data redundant external solution saves data while you work on two SATA hard drives, so you have a “mirror” of your files. It’s not only energy efficient, but protects you against a system crash. Choose from 250GB to 2.0TB drives (in pairs) for peace of mind storage in one convenient package. The new 2TB solution with eSATA was introduced on April 21st.

All models include four interfaces (FireWire 400 and 800, USB 2.0, and eSATA), a complete set of interface connecting cables, and over 1GB of software. No need to search for backup software, because the software bundle includes Prosoft Engineering’s Backup and Bombich Software’s always-popular Carbon Copy Cloner. Plus, the drive supports Time Machine. PC users get NovaStor NovaBACKUP for Windows.

We know you don’t want to just take our word for how well this drive works in the real world, so check the links below for independent reviews.

A Year With NewerTech Guardian Maximus and RAID, an OWC blog post with links to Eric Brodeur’s blog.

Guardian Maximus for up to the minute protection, by Terry White on his blog, 6/11/08.

The Newer Tech Guardian MAXimus RAID Mirrored Data Redundant Solution Review, by Judie Lipsett at Gear Diary, 6/5/08.

Review – Guardian Maximus RAID Drive Enclosure, by George Starcher, at Typical MacUser, 5/12/08.

A Green Catalog

Thursday, December 11th, 2008 | Author: OWC Grant

If you are an OWC customer, no doubt you’ve received a catalog from us. The reaction to this relatively new program (we’ve mailed 4 times now) has been very positive in many aspects, but a few folks have taken us to task over how this communication tool compromises our commitment to the environment. So…here’s a few facts to consider (before I hit you with the coupe de gras factoid!)

  • we only use FSC-certified, 30% PCW paper (with a high cost premium over “virgin” paper).
  • we only use the highest % soy based inks available that deliver the best drying/appearance results.
  • as such, we have been authorized by various governing organizations to display eco-friendly logos in the catalog.

Now…dig this…according to a study done by the USPS, “the carbon footprint of mail is practically the same as the carbon footprint produced by a household electric coffee maker. In other words, mail does not have a major negative environmental impact.”

OK…I’ll dive into the pool with those of you that are skeptical of studies that make the originator of the study look good. But if you were to look at the complete study, there’s a lot of validity to the findings.

Bottom line, for those of you that are familiar with our environmental stewardship commitment via our LEED-certified building, RoHS certified products, free battery recycling program, etc. I hope you would agree we are certainly doing our part to lessen our operations’ possible impact on the environment.