onlineleben - 7:53 am on Sep 16, 2008 (gmt 0)

Hi guys,
first of all, thanks for your valuable input.

Please let me comment what I already have implemented. If you have further ideas, please share. It is interesting to see where this little brainstorming exercise leads to.

carbon offset schemes

I checked one of the calculator sites and the price i would have to pay is not too high, but also not too noteworthy. But this option is still considered for neutralizing the remaining consumption.

good habits can have a noticeable effect

Yes, they have. No screen-savers, just black screen and monitor switch off after 20 minutes.
When I started my search for power leaks, I found that my PC, although swithched off, consumed some 25 Watts/hour. Now I have have installed a master switch so the whole desk with all electronics (except phone&fax) can be switched off for real.

halogen lights, consider replacing some with LEDs

I tried this some month ago but was not satisfied with the quality of light. It is too directional and the color is a little bit towards green (although the manufacturer claimed it to be white). The power savings are enormous. Just about 4 Watts for what you used to have a 35 Watt Halogen lamp. I switched to compact energy saver lamps more than 15 years ago all over the house - no real improvements in sight regarding to lights.

If you have air-conditioning or heating use it less

As the office is below the roof, all warm air moves upwards and not a lot of heating required. I am also more a pullover than a pajama guy, what also reduces heating requirements. For reducing the summer heat, I use to open the windows.

a 19-inch monitor will normally use less energy than a similar 22-inch one

and I thought about upgrading the monitor, too. I will not go below my current 19 inch. Any idea how much less a 19 inch LCD saves compared to a CRT?

mobile (low power) CPUs

I already looked into this and found a PC made by Acer which uses components from notebooks as well as an external power supply, but didn't hear anthing good about it (reliability etc.) - And yes, quite PCs are nice!

power supply ...energy efficient and ... happens to be whisper quiet

Sounds good and would be considered if I ever build a system by myself again. Or is it really as easy as pulling a few cables and replacing the power supply?

solid state hard drives

Probably too expensive - but thanks for the idea anyway.

Again, thanks for your input sofar - keep it coming.