Greener thoughts
Since my last blog on things green, it’s struck me that creating a more energy-efficient computer starts with the prosaic matter of the power supply – the box of circuitry that takes electricity from a wall outlet and distributes the power to the computer’s motherboard, hard drives, and so on. Power supplies have never been the sexiest part of computing and have tended to be cheaply made. Consequently, most computers waste as much as 40% of the electricity they absorb, dispersing the unused energy as heat that can damage other components. And of course, to compensate, companies crank up their air conditioning, further draining energy resources.
Component makers are beginning to notice the problem and are developing power supplies that are more energy-efficient. These environmentally-friendly systems can be more expensive, true, but a scheme called 80 Plus has been set up by power suppliers in the US to encourage their uptake. Under the programme, participating utilities pay a rebate to computer sellers each time they sell an 80-Plus compliant machine to one of the energy company’s customers.
In Boston, for instance, the utility NStar pays a $5 rebate for each desktop computer, and $10 for each server, to suppliers such as Tech Networks, which markets Earth-PC and Earth-Server machines that use at least a quarter less power than standard computers. Makes sense?
March 2, 2007 at 11:46 am
Tech Networks has another canny trick for helping its computer users save money. It’s hardly rocket science * simply a matter of activating the power-saving software that comes with every computer that runs Microsoft’s Windows operating systems. Windows can be set up to put computers in a low-powered ‘standby’ mode, or a ‘hibernation’ mode that eats up even less power.
At the risk of sounding like an advertisement for Tech Networks, I’d say it’s far more planet-friendly than an energy-sapping screensaver, but too few users typically bother with these features - concerned, perhaps, that they might hinder automated computer maintenance tasks like file backups and antivirus sweeps. So Tech Networks uses special software that lets machines sleep when idle, but wake up for maintenance tasks. The potential for savings is compelling, even though the Earth PC costs more to buy in the first place: retailing at about $800, they are about $70 more than comparable machines. But the sleep software should cut power costs on a PC left on 24 hours a day by about $100 a year.