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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…

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Category: green, OWC Difference
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Mac mini can make your power bill a mini, too!

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 | Author: OWC Chris S.

Maybe it’s just where I work, but it seems like I’ve been hearing a lot about the Mac mini lately. From upgrading the mini Servers, to adding one to your home theater system, to fixing the one in my Dad’s office—and that’s just what I’ve written about—it’s been quite a while since I’ve gone more than a day or two without hearing about Apple’s little headless wonder.

The popularity is not surprising. Its relative silence and small form factor make it great for integrating into all sorts of projects or layouts. The price point is nice for those who already have their own peripherals (or who have friends/family members they can “borrow” them from) and don’t want to drop more cash on an iMac with a built-in display. However, it’s powerful enough for most people’s usage; unless you’re a hardcore gamer or work in Photoshop or Final Cut, it should be able to handle most of what you can throw at it.

What a lot of people tend to overlook, though, is that the mini can also help keep your energy bill down.

According to Apple’s info, a new mini consumes less than 14 watts of energy when idle. I would suspect, however, that a large chunk of this low score is likely due to the fact that there is no monitor attached. Having a dedicated display would likely pump up the kilowatt-hours over time. But when you consider the things that you can use a Mac mini for without a dedicated display (file server, HTPC, etc.), this savings due to no display can be a benefit.

Article Continues…

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Category: Random Thoughts & Topics, Tech Tips
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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.

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Category: green, OWC Unplugged, Press Releases
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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.

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Category: green, New @ OWC, OWC Unplugged, Press Releases
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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.

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Category: green, OWC Difference, Random Thoughts & Topics
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