Digital skills for adults - Course 1- English

Although it may not be obvious, there is a direct connection between your energy use and the environment. When you consume less power, you reduce the number of toxic fumes released by power plants, conserve the earth’s natural resources, and protect ecosystems from destruction. Less demand for energy creates less demand for harvesting fossil fuels. When fossil fuels are burned, they release large amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the air. Greenhouse gases trap heat in our atmosphere, causing global warming. Digital devices consume electric energy in order to work. At this moment there are billions of digital devices(pc, laptops, mobile devices, tablets, etc) .

Digital Carbon Footprint figures:

• digital technologies are responsible for 4% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), and its energy consumption is increasing by 9% a year.

• the internet emits 1.6 billion annual tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

• the communications industry will represent 20% of all the world’s electricity consumption by 2025

1.  Use the battery.

 This tip is more applicable to laptops. Far too frequently, many of us do not make use of our laptops’ battery: we do not unplug it from the mains regularly and operate it using the battery supply only. In addition to not getting the full benefit of having a truly portable device, laptops can lose their charging ability. Although this might be inevitable with age, it also occurs when the battery capacity is not habitually exercised.

2.  Activate power-saving mode

 All modern portable devices tend to have a power management option, which if selected aims to provide to balance performance and energy consumption. Although power management can be employed when devices are connected to the electric supply, it is especially valuable when battery power is being used, and can significantly increase the mileage you can get out of a single charge.

3.  Shut down unused/dormant applications.

 In a number of cases, although you might have closed an application, it may still be running in the background, hence consuming some of your device’s computing resources. These unused or dormant applications can be manually shut down, usually via a Task Manager or utility program, which will prolong your battery life.

4.  Turn off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS when not in use.

 When a device’s Wi-Fi has been switched on, it is continually emitting signals to confirm connectivity. The same occurs with Bluetooth and your device’s GPS is activated. Any one of these features can seriously deplete your battery. If you are not actively using your device’s Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection, or have no pressing need for the GPS to be on, turn them off when not required.

5.  Switch data sync to manual.

 Smartphones and tablets in particular are frequently configured to synchronize regularly with data stored on another device, or even to the cloud. Typically, the system default is for data sync to be automatically performed by the device, or is done at very regular intervals. Unless it is absolutely critical for your business or lifestyle, it might not be necessary to configure your device to automatically sync – which could occur several times per day. An energy-saving measure would be switch to manual sync, which can be implemented as or when necessary.

6.  Reduce screen brightness.

 The default brightness setting for your laptop’s, tablet’s, or phone’s display screen is often set quite high. It might not be necessary, but also consumes relatively large amounts of energy. However, significant energy savings can be realized if the screen brightness is reduced. In many instances, when you have adjusted the setting, there might not be a discernable loss in perceived brightness of the screen, but less power should be consumed.

7.  Reduce screen timeout time.

 Typically, when modern electronic devices are not being actively used, they transition into a dormant or standby mode, which is usually signaled by the screen going dark or the display going to sleep on our laptop, tablet, or phone. During the lag between your device not being used and the screen going dark, energy is still being consumed, and if on battery power, it is still being depleted. More importantly, the display screen is usually one of the largest consumers of energy in a portable computing device, hence the shorter it's idle period – by reducing the screen timeout time – battery life can be prolonged and power savings can be realized.

8.  Switch off the phone when the opportunity arises.

 Although this suggestion might cause some of us to hyperventilate or go into a catatonic state, there are truly times when you do not need to have your laptop, tablet, or phone on, or more so, should not have them on. For example, during an important meeting, while on aircraft, at the doctor’s office or hospital, where you ought not to be using such devices, they can be switched off. Messages and voicemails can be retrieved at a later time, and during that time energy can be saved.

 Unplug charger.

 Although this point is not exactly an energy-saving tip for your portable devices, it could save you electricity. Some of us leave our chargers plugged, even when there is nothing being charged. Electricity is still being consumed, so unplug the charger when not in use.

Impact of Paper Waste

Using less paper for print can save your money and can also help with several environmental problems. Of all trees harvested for industrial use, 42% go to making paper. Unfortunately, the degradation of forests is only part of the story. The pulp and paper industry is also the largest industrial user of water, the biggest water polluter, and the third-largest emitter of global warming pollution in most industrialized nations.

Tips for saving print paper 

Think Before You Print

• Take advantage of technology. Use digital media to communicate the schedule or add visuals to a presentation whenever possible.

• Only print the pages needed. Avoid printing out the whole document if you only need 2 or 3 pages.

• Format the document correctly. If you are printing web content, copy-paste the text into a word processor and remove unnecessary texts and images.

• If possible, try to fit at least two or more pages or slides on a single page by reducing your handouts’ font and margin size.

• Check your document before printing. You may end up wasting another print just because you overlooked an important detail.

• Use both sides of the paper for printing whenever possible.

Go Paperless

Modern technology has allowed the world to minimize the use of paper. Several alternatives and cloud-based applications are available to reduce the world’s paper dependence.

• If the option is available, have your company switch to paperless transactions.

• Use electronic storage for your materials. For example, save your events on an online calendar. Apps have become so advanced and connected that printing announcements and reminders are optional and only done when necessary.

• Switch to digital magazines and newspaper subscriptions.

• Software tools have allowed electronic collaboration. In paper collaboration, you have to print your work before you can have it reviewed. New edits would require another batch of printing. However, when you opt to share the document online, you allow recipients to include their ideas and make alterations before printing the final output.

• Maximize email and reduce paper mail. More companies prefer to communicate online nowadays. Shifting to electronic mailing also reduces the need for fax printing.