Posts Tagged ‘php web development’

The ‘personal’ power factor!

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

For most people, many facts related to several things don’t make sense unless the facts have something extremely personal for them. The reason why the thought of associating with a great cause almost never crosses our minds is because the cause doesn’t have a direct personal effect on us. We are humans and we are selfish. However, if every human being thought that way, we wouldn’t have had initiatives like Green Peace or Earth Hour. This time under CSR, lets explore some such impersonal facts that make sense only when we view them closely and more personally

Take for example the facts about what inspired Earth Hour in 2008. When 2.2 million homes and 2100 businesses in Sydney turned off their lights for one hour on March 31, 2008, it reduced the city’s energy consumption by 10.2% for one hour.
Now how does it affect me? You would say. What if someone told you that this 10.2% energy consumption means taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year! Suddenly the thought of your favourite car dawns on you.

You would find it difficult in comprehending the fact that ceiling fans instead of air conditioners whenever possible can cut a lot of electricity cost. Lets look at another perspective of it. The difference in operating cost is approximately 30 paise per hour for fans as opposed to Rs 10 for air conditioning. Replacing the metal blades of a fan with fiber blades can save 20% energy overall. Makes sense?
However, if air conditioning is all that you have, each degree set above 22° Celsius will use 3-5% less energy. The recommended temperature to set the thermostat at is 25° Celsius, which is both comfortable and cost efficient.

Another effective way of using power wisely is going for multi-coated glazing windows that help in restraining cool air escape. It is also advisable to install weather-strips under doors, windows, and ducts to avoid air leakage. Getting multiple coated glazes on glass windows also reduces air conditioning energy usage by about 40 percent.
In a country like India and a city like Indore that gets a real long summer (including September and October), we can install green meshes on west facing windows and doors, so that it blocks direct sunlight heat and reduces the load on the air conditioners. This can be uninstalled in winters to let sunlight come in and reduce the need of heaters. Many businesses also have a large number of plants with drip irrigation, which helps to reduce the heat as it increases moisture in the air.

For more tips and interesting ways to use electricity wisely, watch this space.

Making time management a reality

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

Those working on the Web World know for sure that time management is a myth, considering that over the web, an hour is almost equal to one minute. Alas, all they have is 24 hours out of which only 9-12 hours allotted for work.

Most of AnyLinuxWork employees too often have a hundred chores running through their heads. He or she has to constantly multi-task the work. Stress is the order of the day and there’s a constant  pressure of keeping up with the deadlines.

So how does an average AnyLinuxWork employee balance time? Well, not so easily but intelligently. No cubicle of AnyLinuxWork is ever found with a stack of files or papers or too many diaries. That’s because each employee is taught to manage his tasks not only mentally but also physically. Here’s how:

Avoid Reckless Multitasking: Employees at AnyLinuxWork do not indulge in multi-tasking unless it is truly fruitful. They always keep in mind that multi-tasking without planning may affect the quality of their work. Abhishek Shrivastav, a team member, commutes from Ujjain every day, thus, he is left with no option but to race against time. He shares, “I always time my work so that I am able to finish my assignments by 7.30 pm. If I am before time, I help my colleagues so that we are collectively able to deliver on time. I use my traveling hours (four hours) for reviewing the day’s working and planning the next day’s schedule.”

First things first: Prioritizing comes only when you think about important tasks beforehand. It cannot come spontaneously. Thus, IO employees usually prioritize a Wednesday’s task on a Tuesday evening. This saves time. Says Ashish Zarkar, “I start my day with collecting all my work for the day. Whatever communication I have with the client, I save it in a word file and my daily report simultaneously. I usually pen down all my doubts first before discussing them together with seniors.”

Organize the To-do list: This is what Chetan does on a daily basis. As soon as he reaches office, he takes 10 minutes only to jot down things-to-do during the day. “It feels a different joy altogether when the list keeps reducing with each passing minute as I tick mark the task as ‘done’.  Obviously, the top-priority tasks receive the tick sooner than others.” Since he is able to finish all his daily tasks by 7.30 pm, he never misses his gym at 8.30.

Check email on a schedule: If you’ve broken up your tasks into actions, then it’s easy to find the time to read email in between completed actions. Follow the rules: if you can get rid of the email in under 2 minutes, do it. Shares Dilip Prajapat, “I begin my day by checking emails and planning the day accordingly. After lunch I usually chat with clients and schedule any extra work if any. I keep my schedule flexible enough to shift things in case of exigency.”

Keep cross-checking handy: Another IO member Jyoti Rohom has learnt to keep her reference material handy so she saves time in searching it later.  She says, “When I get assignment, I first study the related topic, then start coding keeping in mind the deadlines. During my free time at home, I study the reference book. This helps me being ready beforehand.”

This easily explains why AnyLinuxWork is able to meet all its deadlines despite a strict nine-hour work policy. Everyone seems to have adapted to making the best of the allotted time.

Oops, if you did it again!

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Ofcourse you didn’t want to do it again. But you did. So now you are all guilty and irrevocably discouraged. This is the biggest symptom that you are definitely feeling responsible for a certain act. This is also the first step towards doing what is noble. And so at AnyLinuxWork , instead of creating pressure or negative motivation towards Using Electricity Smartly, we believe in positively encouraging people for the same.

So what’s your excuse of not being able to use electricity smartly? The thought is definitely inspired by the US Department of Energy initiative. They have come up with a campaign in which they are asking the children to enlist excuses for not being able to save energy. Some of these excuses we too have offered at some point of time or the other.

The top four excuses as per the list were:

1)      That’s not my charger: Someone in your office made you realize that you have taken the hook off the charger but the switch is still on. And this is how you respond.

2)      I can’t find the remote: Mum scolds you for forgetting to switch off the TV before leaving the room. And pop comes your lamest excuse.

3)      I meant to leave that on: Why haven’t you switched off the fan in your room when you are not around it? So that’s how you choose to reply to the query.

4)      Unplugging stuff is hard: The wife shouts on top of her voice- Why can’t you just unplug things? That’s coz it is hard to do.

Thus, IO came up with an idea of asking employees what’s their usual excuse for not doing what they ought to do towards the objective of using electricity smartly. The  drive is if we can count our blessings one by one, we must also count things-that-we-didn’t-do so as to correct them in future.

This was what they scribbled as their excuses:

1) I thought you will do it: This is a classical situation between two colleagues one of whom didn’t shut down the PC before leaving. Passing the buck, as we had discussed under this column earlier, comes so naturally to humans.

2) I was just about to switch off: Admission of mistakes comes a lot harder than the excuse for it. This is one such instance.

3) I wasn’t supposed to: This comes by those who just do everything by the book. Hence they need specific instructions even for the most common sensical things.

4) I got unlucky only today: This is when a senior catches you wasting energy unnecessarily and you try to persuade him that you usually are very careful but only today was an exception.

Today under this blog space, we intend to make everyone realize that we can fool the whole world by excuses but not ourselves. We might be digging our own graves by not valuing electricity as much. Efforts are not enough. We need a commitment towards using electricity wisely. No excuse on earth can ever compare with this sense of responsibility. So even if you failed last time, don’t feel bad. You can still make a difference. Never ever give up on Using Electricity Wisely.

Do feel free to share your ‘power smart’ ideas with us.