Something you might not know: Today’s computers spend 95 percent of their energy idling for the user.
The Ecos research team felt that fact bore some further inspection. The team looked for solutions to cut down energy use during that idle time, as well as the actual usage time. The result? Using a blend of laptop, desktop technology and off-the-shelf components, Ecos researchers created highly energy-efficient computer models that consume 70 percent less energy than current ENERGY STAR-labeled computers.
Ecos approached the California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program, and they agreed to fund and support the team’s research. From there it was an exciting exercise in learning, innovating and building. Researchers collaborated with chip makers Intel, AMD and Via to see how much they could reduce the energy demand of computers operating in a typical business environment.
The research team used hardware makers’ most efficient platforms and added components such as hybrid hard drives and right-sized 80 PLUS power supplies to scale back the test computers’ energy consumption. After installing Windows Vista, the machines were tested using the SYSMark 2007 PC performance metric to establish benchmarks.
Test models were compared to the performance of a Class B ENERGY STAR computer that consumes 65 watts at idle. All the machines tested consumed between 40 and 70 percent less electricity than is allowed by ENERGY STAR standards. The most efficient computer used just 19 watts at idle. Most of the computers had sufficient capability to perform the most common business computing functions.
Research results indicated that the market-ready energy-efficient desktop they built is a cost-effective option that business could adopt today. The modifications would cost less than $40 at retail, and over the course of one year a single computer would consume roughly $19 in electricity costs, compared to $40 for a Class B ENERGY STAR computer.
To cap off the team’s success, Ostendorp and Chris Calwell, vice president of Policy and Research, were invited to demonstrate the machines at the 2008 ACEEE Market Transformation Symposium.
