dinsdag 10 juli 2007

Previous message not included

As an internet user and an global warming enemy I am slightly disquited by the power consumption by my PC. It uses 250+ Watt, which is quite a lot over the 16 hour days I make. Considering that pages on the internet come from servers that run constantly and are usually relayed multiple times by routers that are always on means even outside my home considerable power is being consumed by my e-indolence.

I thought about this an now I found a tiny way to counter the guild: I decided to no longer include the original message in my email replies. Tough luck for the dementing receiver that can no longer follow the plot. This in my opinion can save up to 60% in bandwidth used by emails.

I checked my mailbox and most messages had series of previous messages attached (sometimes up to 20 previous messages). Email are pretty light but even so a message of 63 kb with previous messages can turn into a message of 10 kb without! If everybody would do this this would requiere less routing and serving, and less investment in new hardware to deal with bandwidth shortages.

It would also benefit the planet...