Hot, bad cooking at the net's edges

Companies like Google work hard to reduce data center energy use (they should be made to work even harder via a carbon tax!!!) but what about energy use at the edges? Russell Coker:

Web standards are complex and it’s difficult to do everything the way that one might desire. Making a web browser that doesn’t take 100% CPU time when the user is away from their desk may be a difficult technical challenge. Designing a web site that doesn’t trigger such unwanted behavior in common web browsers might also be a challenge. But when one company produces both a web browser and some web sites that get a lot of traffic it’s rather disappointing that they don’t get this right.

Action:

The consequences of such wasted CPU use are reduced CPU time for other programs which might be doing something useful, extra electricity use, and more noise from CPU cooling fans (which is particularly annoying for me in this case). Any suggesstions for reducing the CPU use of web browsers, particularly when idle?

At least asking the right questions

The Environmental Impact of PHP Compared To C On Facebook.

Go smells tasty for the kitchen!

Just tax carbon vs. the great ethanol scam

/. is running the following:

"Over at BusinessWeek, Ed Wallace is creating quite a stir, reporting that not only is ethanol proving to be a dud as a fuel substitute, but there is increasing evidence that it is destroying engines in large numbers. Before lobbyists convince the government to increase the allowable amount of ethanol in fuel to 15%, Wallace suggests it's time to look at ethanol's effect on smog, fuel efficiency, global warming emissions, and food prices. Wallace concedes there will be some winners if the government moves the ethanol mandate to 15% — auto mechanics, for whom he says it will be the dawn of a new golden age."

Yes, and a comment by gravesb cooks right to the solution:

just tax carbon

Stop the subsidies, tax carbon to account for externalities, and then let the market decide. The negative effects of biofuels have been on display ever since the Dutch dropped palm oil. Instead of the government pushing this obviously failed product, they should make sure that consumers bear the entire cost of their decisions and let companies develop a way to reduce fossil fuel consumption. And less biofuels means the price of my beer goes down, dammit! Won't someone think of my beer?

Wild highways to connect old and new kitchens of diversity?

Old NYT article in the kitchen: New Jungles Prompt a Debate on Rain Forests.

KL believes every cell of virgin rainforest is sacred and doesn't want new growth rainforest to be an excuse for not fervently protecting that virginity.

This is cooking up curiously though. Maybe to make the taste fuller, add wild "highways" between virgin and new rainforest so that some species that don't have a way to reach the new habitat can do so.

Prediction Kitchen

The Kitchen Linker is predicting stuff on HubDub.

Surf Green

Firefox is slightly greener than IE, but blocking advertisements makes the biggest difference.

Now is the time for introducing and raising the gas tax level!

Gas prices have fallen by nearly 50% since their June/July peak states facing deficits.

Now is the time to introduce much higher gas taxes -- at the national, state, and local level.

In the long run, it will save the environment. In the short run, it will avoid stupid taxes on production, just when unemployment is racheting up. Do as Al Gore says.

Download and be green

Explained.

Save (money and environment) driving better

Be a better lead chef in your car's kitchen.

Ingredient found at Econbrowser.

Toyota: Higher Gas Taxes, or Not?

Toyota asks:

What do you think about the idea of increased taxes on fuel? Should we pay more in gas tax? If so, why, and if not, why not? And if so, what should the per-gallon tax be, and what should the resulting revenue be used for?

Kitchen Linker says YES, much higher, general revenues.

Many notes on the kitchen board explaining WHY.

KUDOS to Toyota for asking. Now make it happen!