Your home network will need a Wireless Router, Linksys gets eco-friendly

Today Linksys (a division of Cisco) announced that they are jumping on the greener bandwagon with the delivery of eco-friendly packaging around their home networking gear, as well as ENERGY STAR compliance for some of their router products. 

Just about every one of us homeowners will put in a new network during our remodel.  On the list will likely be a wireless router.  As you are looking, look harder at those manufacturers who are doing just a bit more like this.  

So what is so “green” about the Linksys packaging:

1. Linksys has removed the “sleeve” (outer packaging that contains all the printing and information about the product).  Instead of having a “sleeve,” Linksys plans to print all the information on the box itself, eliminating the extra “sleeve” material.
2. Linksys also reduced the size of the box its products come in.
3. All packaging and internal documents are printed on paper that is made from 80% recycled content and we now use vegetable and soy inks.
4. Internal packaging is transitioning to more recyclable material.
5. The use of plastic bags is being eliminated where possible.

The nice part is that Linksys is a leading provider of these products, and the scale of this effort across their market really does add up to some environmental savings.  The new eco-friendlier packaging and materials provides more than 40% reduction in waste materials compared to the previously offered packaging.  Linksys believes this is estimated to be equal to the following based on the sources the quote:

• Saving 790 acres of pine or fir forest trees (per year)*
       –1.3 million trees planted in a 5 ft by 5 ft space configuration**
• Taking 3,000 cars off the road (per year)*

The eco-friendlier packaging will be available this month throughout select retailers such as Best Buy, Circuit City and Wal-Mart and online retailers on the Wireless-N Routers (skus: WRT310N, WRT160N, WRT610N, WRT110, WRT54GS).

How does Linksys comply with Energy Saving Standards?

Linksys received ENERGY STAR certification on more than thirty of its consumer networking products including wired and wireless routers, gateways, game adapters and modems.  This means these products meet strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Energy.

The energy consumed by the power adapters has been cut almost in half.  For example, a router used 4.6 watts of power and a new router with one of the ENERGY STAR certified power adapters can use as little as 2.6 watts of power.**** This equates to a power reduction estimation between 14MW and 17MW (based on Linksys’ top 10 shipping product volume, which is approximately 11,000,000 units). That is enough power to light 14,000 houses for one full day.***

The ENERGY STAR certified products will be rolling out this month.   Look for the logo on the packaging of their products. 

*Source: Wal-Mart Sustainable Scorecard, Linksys and Moduslink
**Source: Warnell School of Forest Resources
*** Source: CNN.com 1MW is equal to lighting 1,000 houses a day.
**** Reference example only. Actual power consumption depends on environmental conditions, usage patterns and other factors.

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