by Jan Harris

A group of organisations including technology companies such as Google, PC manufacturers such as Dell and environmental organisations such as the Environmental Protection Agency, have launched the Climate Savers Computing Initiative to promote energy efficiency in PCs.

The group hopes to develop a strategy for PC manufacturers and consumers to use more efficient power supplies and voltage regulators.

The power supply and the voltage regulator work together to convert AC power from a wall socket to 12-volt DC power which a computer uses.

Around half of the power delivered from a wall socket to a PC never actually performs any work – it is either converted to heat or dissipates in the AC-to-DC conversion.

Approximately 30% of the power delivered to the average server is lost and PCs standing idle also lose power.

This power wastage can be addressed by the use of more energy-efficient components which allow PCs and servers to utilise at least 90% of the electricity delivered to them.

While energy efficient technology is readily available, it adds about $20 to the retail cost of a PC and $30 to the cost of a server.

The initiative hopes to find ways to eliminate this price difference. It will also try to lower power consumption by cutting PC idle time and improving other components.

It is setting a 90% efficiency target for power supplies. This would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 54 million tons per year and also save over $5.5 billion in energy costs.

Copyright Fund China 2009.

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