Energy-saving Computers

Even the most energy-hungry home computer doesn't make much
of a dent in the monthly electric bill. If you ran a desktop
computer and monitor at full power for eight hours every day,
it would add $30 to your annual energy costs.

But imagine that you owned a business with hundreds of
employees. Now imagine all of those desktop computers crowded
into an office, plus the servers and storage units crammed
into IT rooms. Not surprisingly, those computers eat up a lot
of energy, accounting for up to 70 percent of a company's
energy bill. Computers also create heat and force the air
conditioning to work even harder to keep the office cool.

Recently, several computer makers have introduced machines
designed specifically to lower the energy costs of small and
large businesses. One is the Earth PC and Earth Server by
Tech Networks of Boston. These new PCs come with a patented
power management system that keeps machines running as
lightly as possible in standby mode. They also come with 80
Plus-certified power supplies which keep them cool and lower
air conditioning bills by 33 percent in the process.

The Cranberry SC20 is another new energy-conserving computer
marketed toward businesses. The Cranberry isn't exactly a PC.
Instead, it's something in between a full-fledged PC and
what's known as a thin client. Thin clients are pared-down
computer terminals that run all of their applications from
a central server. Thin clients don't have hard drives and
can't run their own native applications. The Cranberry is
called a "Smart Client" because it's slim (the size of
a paperback book), yet it can run its own software, be
controlled locally and includes standard ports for connecting
digital cameras, speakers and other devices. Because the
applications reside on the Internet rather than on the
machine, this is a form of cloud computing.

But the impressive thing about the Cranberry is that it uses
just 10 percent of the power of a standard PC. That's because
it has no moving parts (no fans or hard drive) and is powered
by an extremely efficient microprocessor. The Cranberry
consumes a mere 9 watts compared to a standard PC which burns
through 175 watts.

The Mac Mini is another desktop computer touted for its
energy efficiency. The Mini is a tiny 6.5-inch
(16.5-cm)-square, white box with a built-in CD/DVD drive and
the standard input/output jacks for USB and Firewire devices.
But since it's stuffed with highly efficient notebook
computer guts -- and has an external power supply -- it runs
quiet and cool at only 25 watts. The latest Mac Mini meets
Energy Star 4.0 standards and earned an Electronic Product
Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) Silver rating.

In terms of computer monitors, smaller LCD monitors are more
energy efficient than CRT monitors of the same size -- some
reports say 66 percent more efficient. LCD monitors also give
off less heat than CRTs and help save money on that
air-conditioning bill.