Earth Day PC Giveaway Could Save Millions of Tons of CO2
4/9/2009 1:39:20 AM -
Reduce your carbon footprint this Earth Day and save money at the
same time.
CALGARY, AB (April 8, 2009) - Userful Corporation, the worldwide
leader in high-performance, low-cost desktop virtualization, today
announces a "PC" giveaway in celebration of the 39th anniversary of
Earth Day. Userful is giving away a free 2-user version of their
innovative software which turns one computer into up to ten with the
goal of having 100,000 people download the software and share their
computer before Earth Day. In 2008 Userful's PC-sharing software
saved over 40,000 tons of CO2 emissions, and is on track to save over
200,000 tons of CO2 in 2009, the equivalent of taking more than 35,000
cars off the road, or planting 50,000 acres of trees!
Desktop computers sit idle while we check our e-mail, surf the web,
or type a document. Userful's PC-sharing and desktop virtualization
technology leverages this excess computing power to create an
environmentally efficient alternative to traditional desktop
computing. Up to 10 users can work on a single computer by simply
attaching extra monitors, mice and keyboards.
"On March 28th hundreds of millions of people turned off their lights
for Earth Hour," says Timothy Griffin, President of Userful. "Events
such as Earth Day and Earth Hour prove that a simple change worldwide
can dramatically reduce global energy consumption and consequent CO2
emissions. For example the government of Brazil recently deployed
over 350,000 Userful PC-sharing workstations into schools. This alone
will save 200 million kWh annually, the equivalent of turning 3.7
billion lights* off for an hour. Now imagine if on Earth Day hundreds
of millions of people decided to download Userful's free PC-sharing
software to share their PC. The electricity and e-waste savings of
this simple change would be incredible.'
Userful PC-sharing desktops have been deployed in over 100 countries
with a typical configuration of 6 workstations per computer. Reducing
the number of computers in use has additional earth-friendly benefits.
Electronic waste is an increasing problem globally due to the quick
obsolescence of electronics. This is compounded by the fact that
computer waste is high in many toxic materials such as heavy metals
and flame-retardant plastics, which easily leach into ground water
and bio-accumulate. Using Userful products can reduce electronic
waste by up to 80%, further decreasing its environmental footprint.
Userful is the simplest, and highest performance approach to desktop
virtualization and management on the market. All other PC-sharing
solutions lead to sacrifices in performance and substantial
administration overhead. Userful offers the features of a full PC
including high performance video for less than $50 per additional
seat in large deployments such as a recent 356,800 workstation
deployment in Brazilian schools, and uses standard PC hardware.
Savings of up to 90% in electricity use as compared to a traditional
PC-per-workstation solution are achieved thanks to Userful's
revolutionary solution.
Need an extra PC around the house? In celebration of Earth Day
Userful is giving away a free version of its innovative software that
gives you a second computer for free! This is the perfect way to
reduce line-ups for the computer as spouses, parents and children
battle for a turn.
"The free two-user giveaway doubles the utility and value of your
existing computer with minimal cost," says Griffin, "In fact, if you
already have an extra monitor and keyboard, it's like getting a free
computer. Our goal is for 100,000 people to download the software and
share their computer before Earth Day.'
The free two-user licenses distributed under this promotion enable
users with an extra video card (or a dual-head video card) to add an
extra workstation by simply plugging in a spare monitor, USB keyboard
and mouse. Thousands of users have obtained free two-user licenses and
information about the promotion from
http://userful.com/earth-day-free-pc.
For the full version of the press release please visit:
http://userful.com/press/earth-day-free-pc
*(Based on 526kWh per PC per year for operation; 1818kWh per PC for
production; electricity generated at 1.55lbs CO2 per kWh; 11,560lbs
CO2 per car per year; 60W per light; and 8,060lbs CO2 per acre of
trees per year)
About Userful (http://www.userful.com)
Userful is the industry leader in desktop virtualization and
multi-station Linux computing: the low-cost, high-performance
alternative to thin clients. Userful's powerful software transforms
standard PCs to support up to 10 simultaneous monitors, keyboards and
users, and manages them all at once through a central website.
Privately held and founded in 1999, Userful launched their flagship
product in 2003 and was recently named Alberta's 10th fastest growing
company under $20 million in revenue. Userful software is used in over
100 countries, and is bringing affordable green desktop computing to
millions of users worldwide. http://www.userful.com
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More information about Earth Day is available from Wikipedia:
