Kucinich Campaign Hoping to Rolling Out Energy-Efficient Computers Cooled by Veggie Oil. Seriously.

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Some say Dennis Kucinich is a little off-kilter (enter UFO joke here), and his most recent idea does seem pretty out there. But is it really? Turns out the campaign’s multimedia director, Chad Ely, is also an inventor and is assisting the camp in rolling out veggie-oil-cooled computers to every office. The entire processing system is submerged in oil, which keeps it cool and decreases the energy used to run it. It’s also economical and dead quiet (you know, because it doesn’t have all those fans). The prototype pictured above, which has been going strong for eight months, lives in a fish tank, although Ely claims the computers going out to the offices will be surrounded by Plexiglass. I think it’s pretty wild. Apparently, other “computer modifiers” are already hip to it. This according to our tech guy.

But that’s not all. Kucinich signed an agreement yesterday with SmartPower in which he promises that if elected president, he will make the White House 100 percent energy efficient (enter veggie-oil-filled WH joke here). Mother Jones has more fun facts about the presidential campaigns’ commitment—or lack there of—to decreasing their environmental impact. Stay tuned.

Correction: Ok, so technically the Kucinich campaign is not yet rolling out these veggie-oil-filled, wonderfully efficient and quiet computers. According to the campaign, it is still waiting on funding, but as commenter Croydon Kemp reminded us, it’s more than most are doing for the planet.

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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