Greener Networking
Now that you have all of your computers smelling a bit greener, it is time to look at the rest of your computer network and its devices. This part of the guide is designed to help you green your home network, but there are parts that may be applicable to your office network as well.
Router
The router is one device is a computer network that should always be working. Therefore, buying a reliable router with the features you want is important. Currently ,there are a number of features that you can look for when buying a greener router.
Routers can include some of these green features:
- automatic powering down of ports that are not in use.
- automatic wireless shutoff when wireless networking not in use.
- budgeting different amounts for power for different cable lengths.
- support for USB devices.
Support for USB devices is a good feature to look out for. This allows you to connect a USB device (like a printer or external hard drive) directly to your router. This allows you to share a USB device with multiple computers without needing it to be connected to a computer running at all times using up energy.
Printer
Here is another appliance in the home that most people have running at all times for no good reason. If you are not using your printer, turn it off. The inkjet printers that most people use at home take very little time to power and/or warm up, so keeping them on at all times is unnecessary.
Although most of this guide talks about energy use, the paper your printer uses is important as well. Set your printer to double-sided printing by default. Try to use your misprinted paper for notes and scrap paper. Use your print preview option to make sure you know what you are getting before you print.
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