Atomised: the Web Design Co-operative

All 3 of us here at Atomised have signed up for the Coast & Castles Challenge Ride 2010 - 170 Miles in 3 days cycling from Edinburgh to Newcastle along the beautiful coastline via Berwick-upon-Tweed.

The event is being run by Charity Adventure and we’ll be raising money for Sustrans. Sustrans works on practical projects to encourage people to walk, cycle and use public transport in order to reduce motor traffic and its adverse effects. Sustrans' flagship project is the National Cycle Network, creating over 12,000 miles of routes throughout the UK. We reckon this quote from Sustrans is reason enough to support them, and should help motivate us to get in training (naming no names, but some of us will need it more than others!):

"Over 33% of kids would like to cycle to school, yet only 2% do. We're working hard to change this. Sustrans is the charity behind Safe Routes to Schools and Bike It - schemes working with young people and schools to make cycling and walking to school both safe and fun. We're also building hundreds of Links to Schools from the National Cycle Network, giving kids traffic-free routes and parents peace of mind."

If you’d like to help us support this great cause, donations can be made through the events Just Giving page at http://www.justgiving.com/coastandcastles10 or if you like the sound of this, and are free between the 24th and 26th of July, visit the Charity Adventure website at charityadventure.org.uk and register to join us on the cycle (we’ve been assured the event is suitable for riders of all abilities!).

We are delighted to announce after 6 months of talks we have joined the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing computer power consumption by 50 percent by the year 2010. The full press release can be read here.

The Climate Savers Computing Initiative is a nonprofit group of eco-conscious consumers, businesses and conservation organizations dedicated to improving the power efficiency and reducing the energy consumption of computers. The Initiative is led by Dell, Google, HP, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft and World Wildlife Fund. Sponsors include Acer, AMD, Delta Electronics, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Intuit, Lite-On Technology, NEC, Sun and Supermicro.

Atomised director Alasdair Macmillan said today:

"Atomised is committed to reducing the energy consumption of information technology, both through actions, as well as driving awareness and development of energy-efficient technologies among customers. By working with the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, we hope ATOMISED is helping lead the industry toward a more clean and sustainable future."

A spokeman for the Initiative said

"By participating in the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, Atomised is demonstrating a meaningful commitment to furthering the adoption of energy-efficient technology and IT practices. Their leadership paves the way for more companies and individuals to follow, so that together we can dramatically reduce global CO2 emissions from the operation of computers."

As a member of the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, Atomised is committed to reducing energy consumption from a majority of its computing equipment by:

• Pledging to host all our websites and those of our clients on servers powered by renewable energy
• Pledging to purchase high-efficiency computer equipment that meets or exceeds Energy Star ratings Optimizing existing computer systems to use power management capabilities, such as hibernation and sleep modes
• Ensuring in subsequent years they purchase computing equipment with increasing levels of efficiency. (In a typical desktop PC, nearly half the power coming from the outlet never reaches the processor, memory, disks or any other computing components. The wasted electricity is dispersed as heat and increases the cost of powering a computer, as well as the emission of greenhouse gases. In offices, homes and data centers, the added heat from inefficient computers can increase the demand on air conditioners and cooling systems, making the computing equipment even more expensive to run. Servers are more efficient than desktops, but still typically waste 30 to 40 percent of the input power.)

Practically speaking we have all switched from 300-600 watt computers to 60-80 watt this year but the biggest change will undoubtedly come this November when we successfully transfer all our customers to our new servers which are 100% powered by renewable energy. Watch this space!