Energy to Make a Hybrid

Slate debunks the myth that it takes more energy to make a hybrid car than it saves.

xkcd - Organic Fuel

xkcd - Organic Fuel

Australia to Ban Incandescent Light Bulbs

Australia to Ban Incandescent Light Bulbs

CFLs use way less energy, but I wonder if rather than a ban it would be better to just get the major stores to stop selling them but still have them available for certain uses.

Wii Power

Something (I think) very cool about the Wii is that it was designed to use very little power so that you can leave it on 24 hours a day, enabling it to download updates and demos when you’re not using it. According to Kotaku, the power consumption breaks down thusly:

Wii:

• In Standby Mode: 10w
• Idle @ Wii menu: 17w
• Running a Wii Game (Test with Zelda / Trauma Center) in 480i: 17w

[…]

XBOX 360:

• In Standby Mode: 2w
• Idle @ Dashboard: ~140w
• Running a Game: ~160w
• Playing a DVD: ~110w

Allowing for 3 hours of play a day, with either console left in standby for the other 21 hours, that means the Wii uses 261 watts while the 360 uses 522 watts, or exactly twice the power the Wii uses.

Please standby

Please standby

How much power do your electronics use when they’re turned off? How much money would you save if they were all more efficient?

Googleplex goes solar

Googleplex goes solar

Google’s HQ will be the largest corporate solar installation in the world.