Nobody could have guessed that the work of basically one man around 1990 would have such an enormous impact on the way we think about the information age today. Tim Berners-Lee gave us something that has developed and grown in such a way, that is almost impossible to describe what really happened, because of the very diverse nature of the use of the Internet today. The WWW brought the Internet within reach for non-programmers like I am, and in such a way that I even can contribute without understanding much about what's underneath.

With the spectacular growth of the Internet, a lot of other things developed along. One of them, is the energy use of the Internet, and with that the impact the Internet has on the real-life environment. We all know that flying results in a lot of extra carbondioxide in the air, but did you know that today the Internet is already a larger contributor to the greenhouse-effect than the combined worldwide aviation industry?

Cleanbits is working online at writing a 'book' about how we can make the Internet into a greener place, a temporary outline follows beneath:

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Explanations
These questions are aimed at generating an overview of the issues and
providing the jargon and key concepts that will later be examined with
regard to specific technologies.

* What is energy consumption? How is it measured and what are the
factors involved.
* How much energy is used producing computers and computer hardware. Is
this a controllable factor?
* How much energy do servers use? What are the main factors at play? How
much energy does a ISP use?
* What industry watch dogs are their internationally or where might one
look locally?
* What happens to waste technology? What is the environmental impact?
* What is the energy consumption of the net? What are ISPs doing to
reduce it?
* How much power does the consumer have in influencing better industry
practices?

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Quick Wins
These are specific questions about how I can make a difference on a
daily basis.

* Is there a difference in energy consumption between laptops and
desktops?
* Does a battery keep charging when it is full? Does this require more
energy?
* Does cpu scaling reduce energy use?
* what factors of screen technology effect energy consumption?
* Does using different colors on my website reduce screen energy
consumption?
* How much energy do video cards use?
* Is it more efficient to use wired or wireless networks?
* Is it better to shut down my computer, put it to sleep, or leave it on
and turn the screen off?
* Are laptop batteries wasteful?
* Is it more energy efficient to have external or onboard hardware
functionality?
* Is it better to reuse old computers or purchase new, more efficient
computers?

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Difficult Questions
Questions that are a little like 'how long is a piece of string' for
which we can give general advice but the answer is very context
specific.

* Is technology getting more efficient? What does the future hold?
* What does the future hold for domestic energy generation?
* Who are the energy conscious ISPs?
* Who are the energy conscious hardware producers?
* Are the charities that ship old computers to third world countries a
good idea or energy wasteful?
* What is an efficient way to have my website hosted? Co-hosting? Shared
website services? By my own server?
* How do I check my ISP is 'clean'?
* What do I do if I suspect my ISP is claiming to be green and it isnt?
* what shall I do with my waste tech?
* What realistic alternative ways are there for domestically generating
energy for my computer?

Do you want to help us writing this book, please contact rene(at)cleanbits.nl