Sherry Conrad and her family want to reduce their carbon footprint. They use reusable shopping bags and buy organic clothes and organic food. When it was time to get a new computer, Ms. Conrad opted for Dell Inc.，s new eco-friendly desktop called the Studio Hybrid.
谢莉康拉德(Sherry Conrad)和家人希望能减少他们的“碳足迹”。他们平常使用可回收购 物袋，购买有机织物服装和有机食品。有次换电脑的时候,康拉德选择了戴尔公司(Dell)生产的环保型台式机Studio Hybrid。
“It's made from recycled parts. It uses a whole lot less energy, which helps everybody nowadays,^ says Ms. Conrad, a stay-at-home mom from Conway, Ark.
身为全职母亲的康拉德说：“这台电脑采用了可循环零部件，只 消耗很少的能源,这对每个人都有好处。”
Computer manufacturers, chipmakers and software companies are developing “greener” products for environmentally conscious consumers. While some tech companies are developing more en-ergy-efficient product lines, others are releasing software to make existing computers consume less. And electronics manufacturers are expanding ways to make new computers out of recycled materials, as well as encourage customers to recycle old machines. Consumers may pay a slight premium for some eco-friendly electronics, but many prices will be comparable with traditional offerings.
目前，针对环保意识强烈的消费者,电脑、芯片和软件公司纷纷 开发“绿色”产品满足他们的需要。一些科技公司开发了更节能的产 品,还有一些公司推出了减少现有电脑耗电量的软件。电子制造企 业不断扩大利用循环材料生产新电脑的工艺,并鼓励消费者循环利 用旧电脑。某些环保类电子产品可能需要消费者多花些钱，但仍有 很多环保电脑的价格跟传统型电脑差不多。
Several factors are pushing companies to be greener. Many want to stay ahead of environmental legislation and to garner favor with green investors, says Christopher Mines, an analyst with Forrester Research Inc. And with energy prices high, they trying to appeal to people like Ms. Conrad, who are looking for ways to chip away at expenses.
有几大因素推动着电脑的“绿色化”。Forrester Research Inc. 分析师克里斯托夫?梅因(Christopher Mines)说,许多企业希望 走在环保法规的前面，赢得环保投资者的好感。同时，随着能源价格 上涨，他们希望能迎合像康拉德这样想方设法节省费用的消费者。
The computer industry has been working on improving energy consumption for years, says Katharine Kaplan, of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program. “The newer focus has been on toxins and recycling，” she says.
美国国家环保署(EPA)“能源之星”项目(Energy Star)工作人员凯 瑟林?飢普兰(Katharine KaplanH兑电脑行业多年来一直都在改善 能源消耗水平。现在的新重点是清除有毒物质和循环再利用。”
In its latest line of ThinkPad laptops, for example, Lenovo Group Ltd., uses 10% to 25% recycled plastics harvested from water bottles, says Howard Locker, the company’s director of new technology.
比如，联想集团(Lenovo Group)新技术总监霍华德?洛克 (Howard Locker)说，公司在其ThinkPad最新系列中使用了 10%-25%的可循环塑料，原料来自回收的饮料瓶。
Last month, Intel Corp. introduced new chips that it says will speed up computing performance without sucking up additional power. The company also developed technology, called Remote Wake, to keep computers in a low-energy mode until users need them for retrieving files over the Internet, says Lone Wigle, the general manager for eco胃technology at Intel.
上个月，英特尔(Intel)推出了新芯片。该公司称,这种新芯片在 不增加电量消耗的条件下能加快电脑的运转速度。该公司生态技术 部总经理劳里?威格(Lorie Wigle)说，公司最近还开发了一种叫 做Remote Wake的新技术，它能让电脑保持低能耗模式，除非用户 需要它从互联网上获取大量文件。
Hewlett-Packard Co. has developed a new feature called Auto-On/Auto-OfF that puts inactive printers into a sleep mode and can quickly power back up once they are used again. This feature will be added to H-P’s personal desktop laser printers in 2009，says Pat Tieman, H-P，s vice president of social and environmental responsibility.
惠普公司负责社会和环保责任的副总裁派特?泰南(Pat Tieman)说,公司开发了一种叫“自动 开关”(Auto-On/Auto-Off)的新技术，它能将打印机设置成睡眠状态，当用户需要再次使用时，打印 机能立刻恢复通电、进人工作状态。惠普到2009年将在个人台式激光打印机上增加这个功能。
Attention to manufacturing materials is a priority, Mr. Tieman says. Early this year, H-P introduced its Deskjet D2545, an ink-jet printer that is made of 83% recycled plastics.
泰南说,制造材料是公司优先考虑的问题，今年年初，惠普推出了Deskjet D2545型喷墨打印 机,其中83%的材料是可回收塑料。
One area where the industry needs improvement is in the life span of its products. “They are designed for obsolescence,” says Casey Harrell, an expert on toxins and e-waste with Greenpeace. “Electronics companies need to make it easier to offer replacement parts, upgrades and improved warranty plans,” he says.
该行业需要改进的一个领域是其产品的寿命。绿色和平组织有毒和电子废品专家卡西?哈雷 尔(Casey Harrell)说:“这些产品的设计初衷应考虑到报废问题。电子企业需要让替换零部件、升 级和保修变得更容易。”
There still aren’t many simple options for consumers to find impartial data on how green a product is. David Lear, DelTs director of world-wide environmental affairs, acknowledges challenges consumers face when shopping for a PC. “If you are buying an automobile, it，s what’s your miles per gallon.” There isn’t an equivalent for computers, he adds. So far, manufacturers have not established a universal labeling system to indicate the production materials and efficiency of every product.
消费者要想找到对产品是否够环保作公正评估的标准并不容易。戴尔全球环保事务总监戴 维_利尔(David Lear)承认,消费者在购买电脑时会感到伤脑筋。“如果你买汽车，还可以考虑单位 油耗里程数指标。”但对电脑来说没有类似的指标。截至目前，制造商并未对每种产品都建立起标 志其所用材料和运行效能的通用体系。
Experts say that keeping your old computer out of the landfill is better for the environment than buying a new one. But older machines can be energy hogs.
专家表示,就对环境的影响而言，对旧电脑再利用、让其避免流人垃圾场比买台新电脑更好。 但旧电脑可能耗电量更高。