Staying in One Place

One of the big benefits of working from home is that we cut down on the gas we use getting to and from work. But Kate Lister, the author of “Undress for Success,” points out that the reality isn’t as efficient as we may hope. “Studies show that when people make the switch to full-time telecommuting, they reduce their travel by only 55 to 73 percent, because the errands they used to do on the way to and from work now require an extra trip.”

Every trip to the coffee house or coworking space may also use just as much energy as a trip to the office used to. It depends on the distance, of course, and most web workers need to get out of the house often enough to make such trips worthwhile. But be aware of the energy cost, and keep an eye out for how you can reduce it.

Lister has a few suggestions on how to reduce the amount of time that web workers spend out on the road: “To conserve energy, try to reduce your travel as much as possible. Some ways you might do that include: bunching your errands together into one trip, shopping virtually and holding virtual meetings where possible.”

Start With Your Office

Telecommuters and freelancers can be particularly guilty of using a lot of electricity in our home offices. Plug in a computer, a printer and a few other pieces of hardware and pretty soon you’ve got a lot of power in use. Even so, there are some opportunities to bring your power use down. Shel Horowitz, a marketer who works from home, has been able to reduce the power needed for his home office without making a lot of big changes.

Horowitz offers some simple steps, like using a laptop rather than a desktop computer. Laptops use significantly less electricity to operate. He also suggests, “Only turn on your printer when you’re going to print — and make that machine a duplex (print on both sides) printer.”

Even something as simple as making sure all our electronics are plugged into power strips and turning off the power strips while we’re out of the office can make a big difference. It can also be helpful in limiting the chance of a power surge or other problems a computer is subject to if plugged into the wall and perpetually left switched on.

The Rest of the House

Because many web workers work from home, making sure that our homes are energy efficient is an important step. If you were going to the office every day, you probably wouldn’t be running the heater as much in the winter, or the air conditioner in the summer. Even small improvements in energy efficiency can make a big difference if you’re telecommuting.

Horowitz has written an e-book on things we can do to become more energy efficient, “Painless Green: 111 Tips to Help the Environment, Lower Your Carbon Footprint, Cut Your Budget, and Improve Your Quality of Life-With No Negative Impact on Your Lifestyle“. These tips are mostly simple steps, like using outlet protectors to reduce cold air entering your home through electric outlets.

But Horowitz points out that bigger changes can be especially beneficial for home workers: “Working from home may make you a good candidate for solar hot water. I’m able to use solar for 95 percent of my laundry and 75 percent of dishwasher loads, because of working at home.”

Energy Awareness

No matter where you’re working, it’s worth taking a look at the energy you use on a regular basis. If you can reduce it, you’ll save money in the long run. The U.S. Department of Energy offers more tips on improving energy use.

Share your energy saving tips below.

Image by Flickr user MrJoro

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So what happened when legions of Apple fans were faced with being unable to change out the batteries on their beloved notebooks? Did angry mobs descend on Cupertino? Not exactly. After the initial shock wore off, we began to ask ourselves how important removable laptop batteries actually were.

There are good arguments for removable notebook batteries, especially if you compute on the go a lot. Power outlets are frequently unavailable in locations such as conference rooms, convention centers and aircraft. Power access is improving in newer facilities but it is still easy to find yourself without power. Having the security of the second battery in your bag makes the quest for power a little less panicked. Also, replacing a battery that has outlived its hardware life requires no downtime.
A sealed battery has its advantages too, though. It can provide more power for the same weight/space as a removable battery, because you aren’t sacrificing some of the footprint to the hardware and case to make it removable. Your onboard battery will thus get you further with no need for extra power (or to carry around the weight of the back-up).

This debate was front-and-center in my mind when I purchased my latest computer, a MacBook, last April. My choices were narrowed down to a white MacBook with a removable battery, and the MacBook Air that has a sealed one. (Obviously these machines have a lot of other major differences, including their prices.) I was finally convinced to discard the battery difference as an issue when my geek husband pointed out that I rarely if ever used the backup battery that I had for the machine I was replacing. I realized that the spare battery was more of a security blanket that I hauled around than a necessity. Although I eventually purchased the white MacBook, I haven’t felt the need to buy a spare battery for it yet.

The reality is that only a small percentage of notebook users do purchase and use extra batteries. Apple seems committed to this path, and Dell is also trying the concept out. Others may follow.

But heavy battery users are not completely out of luck, and we aren’t all doomed to a future of using our notebooks for four hours at a time. An accessory market has sprung up for external batteries for MacBooks. While not as convenient to use as (and definitely more expensive than) an onboard battery, they do fill that need for people who must have additional power.

We should remember that technology advances. Batteries will continue to improve and soon will be easily capable of getting a notebook through an entire workday. New aircraft are being built with in-seat outlets to power passenger electronics through long flights. Maybe Apple will even realize that there is money to be made by offering its customers the option of a battery upgrade at purchase.

Do you have a spare notebook battery? Do you use it?

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Sadly, most solar charging products — like the aforementioned Noon Solar and Juice Bags — unnecessarily bundle solar chargers with some other product, like a bag! Fortunately, standalone solar charging products are beginning to find their way to the marketplace. Some of the most intriguing are found in Suntrica’s range of SolarBadge and SolarStrap chargers.

Designed specifically for portable consumer electronics — like digital cameras, phones, MP3 players and GPS units — Suntrica’s chargers include adapters for common mobile charging connectors and USB devices and come in form factors ranging from flexible paperback-sized panels to wearable wrist-straps. Each charger holds an internal rechargeable battery, so that devices can be charged even when there’s little or no sunlight.

The chargers are priced between $40 and $70, with adapters priced individually at around $5 each — although, unfortunately, it seems that Suntrica’s products are currently only available in the company’s native Finnish market. Suntrica’s products are by no means the only portable solar chargers available today, but they look pretty durable, have some flexibility in the devices they support, and are competitively priced.

Alternatively, for the more adventurous, the fantastic Instructables site recently published a how-to guide to building a solar iPod/iPhone charger using some basic electronic parts, rechargeable batteries and a soldering iron! The component parts come to around $70, about the same as Suntrica’s high-end unit with an equivalent output, and although the project does look fun, it’s not quite as lovingly styled. It’s great to see that solar power is beginning to attract both venture-backed and grassroots-driven innovation.

I’m itching to try Suntrica’s products, so if you are using solar chargers regularly, let us know how they’re performing for you in the comments.

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Do you know where to find an outlet to recharge and work before your flight leaves?

If you’re a member of an airline club or fly first- or business-class you probably have nothing to worry about. The airport lounges for those who can afford them offer some privacy, with cubicles for working and phoning. Here’s one guide to airline-operated clubs worldwide. Priority Pass is a program that gives you access to clubs and lounges worldwide for an annual fee.

But that’s not an option for most of us, considering the number of weary business travelers you see around airport gates, often sitting on the floor against a wall or pillar, working away. Those people have found a power source, and some I’ve seen adopt the hard stare of someone willing to fight to keep it.

For the most part, finding power in an airport is accomplished by trial-and-error, and is frequently harder than getting a WiFi connection. Many airports worldwide make connections available, either free or for a fee of $7 to $10 a day, throughout their terminals.

For power, you learn which airlines have stations near gates with multiple outlets where you can plug in. Southwest has more of those than most airlines, in my experience. Some JetBlue gate areas also have them. Logically enough, several airlines at the San Jose, Calif., airport have stations in their gate areas.

There is not much information on the web to help you if you’re in unfamiliar airport.

One source is a WiKi on Microsoft manager Jeff Sandquist’s personal blog, appropriately named airpower. Looking at airpower, however, reveals the difficulty of the task. Typical of the entries is one for Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport:

Gate A 18: on the pole near the women’s restroom (2 outlets) – chair close by!

An entry for the Frankfurt, Germany, airport reads:

Second Floor, Beside the emergency exit next to McDonalds. Behind the table a bit away from the McDonalds itself.

In other words, the information is very helpful as far as it goes but may be incomplete. Is that table still in the same place at the Frankfurt McDonalds?

Often the only way to find a working outlet at the airport and in the concourse you need to use is to prowl around in gate areas that aren’t occupied or where the crowd is small, or in common areas just past security checkpoints.

Think of places where the cleaning crew would logically need to plug in equipment. Look behind chairs, on pillars and around airline ticketing podiums.

Another possibility is at airports where not all of the pay phones have been ripped out. At Philadelphia International, I have found that at least some cubicle-like booths with a seat and a small shelf (D Concourse) have outlets – an apparent leftover from the days when access to a landline was needed to use a laptop.

If all else fails, consider doing what one frequent flier I read about a couple of years ago does: Carry a short extension cord with a three-outlet adapter. If you find someone using the only outlet in sight, ask them to share.

If you have experience with this problem, and information to share, please let us have it.

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For many web workers, dependence on the battery-driven vagaries of cameras, phones, laptops and iPods can crimp your mobility.

So, hot on the heels of our recent item on the Myth Of All Day Computing, comes Energizer‘s announcement of four new easy-to-use chargers to complement their rechargeable battery line… a family charger, compact charger, ‘easy’ charger and intriguingly a ’15-minute’ charger.

Sadly, with the lack of standards in battery form factors, these products are only useful for those driven on AA and AAA batteries. I live for the day when I can pop 452 rechargeable AA batteries into my MacBook!

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Back in 2004, Intel set itself the goal of achieving eight-hour battery life by 2010, using a combination of battery innovation, software optimisation and power management technologies.

Though Intel has succeeded in continual innovation of its chipsets, and users have become accustomed to carry multiple or more powerful batteries amongst other power management strategies, it doesn’t seem as though we’re any closer to the goal of all-day computing…and Intel only has a little over a year to get there!

Each of the six or seven notebooks I’ve purchased over the last year have all purported to doubling or tripling battery time, but in reality I seem to only get two or three hours of typical use; as battery and power management have improved, we’ve demanded more and more from our computers.

However, in recent weeks we’ve seen the launch of HP’s EliteBook 6930p, which the iconic company claim breaks the twenty-four hour barrier (HP Breaks the 24-hour Battery Life Barrier, HP EliteBook 6930p Lasts All Day, Literally, Laptop delivers all-day computing). The EliteBook uses a combination of solid-state hard drives, LED screens and an optional high-capacity battery to achieve its power profile. I’m curious to hear from users of the EliteBook to understand whether HP’s claim of a full day’s charge is genuine or simply the best case scenario.

Regardless, it’s worth exploring whether the need for all-day computing is indeed necessary, or diminishing in the face of altering and fragmented usage patterns. As mobile workers use devices like the iPhone and lower-powered netbooks, perhaps Intel’s 2010 goal will simply be moot.

Beyond 2010, perhaps innovations in blood and sugar powered devices will mean we simply need to feed our computers when they’re hungry…or maybe by then we’ll all have a Mr. Fusion ;)

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