Mountain View, Calif. — A coalition of technology companies and environmental groups led by Google Inc. and Intel Corp. launched an initiative Tuesday to conserve electricity and curb global warming emissions by making the world’s computers and servers more energy-efficient.
Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Intel and IBM are among more than two dozen firms and organizations behind Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a drive to cut greenhouse gas emissions with more energy-efficient computers and components.
At the heart of the initiative is a push to get PC makers and consumers to adopt more efficient power supplies and voltage regulators. These two components, working together, convert AC power from a wall socket to 12-volt DC power that a computer uses.
The initiative is expected to save more than $5.5 billion in electricity costs by 2010 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change by 54 million tons annually-an amount equal to eliminating 11 million cars or 20 large coal-fired power plants each year, company officials said.
Today, the average desktop PC wastes nearly half of its power, and the average server wastes one-third of its power, said Google vice president of operations Urs Hölzle.
“We are asking businesses and individuals throughout the world to join with us to institute better power management of their computing equipment and purchase energy-efficient computers.”
Roughly 50 percent of the power delivered from a wall socket to a PC never actually performs any work, according to Hölzle. Half the energy gets converted to heat or is dissipated in some other manner in the AC-to-DC conversion. Around 30 percent of the power delivered to the average server gets lost, he added. The power in both cases is lost before any work is accomplished by a computer: later, even more energy is lost by PCs sitting idle, or as heat dissipated by other components.
The Climate Savers Computing Initiative plan aims to cut the amount of electricity computers consume in half by 2010 using existing power-saving technologies. Currently, the average PC wastes about half of the power it consumes, while the average server squanders about one-third, officials said.
Computers and other IT equipment have been blamed for causing as much global warming as the airline industry.
Let us create a more efficient IT industry by driving up the efficiency of computers, said Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president for Intel’s Digital Enterprise Group. “We think we can have huge savings in terms of carbon footprint and energy costs.”
Gelsinger estimated that energy-efficiency technology would initially make computers about $20 more expensive and servers about $30 costlier, but consumers are expected to recoup the costs through lower electricity bills and rebates from utilities.
The initiative’s initial backers include Dell Inc., Hewlett Packard Inc., Hitachi Ltd., International Business Machines Corp., Lenovo, Microsoft Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Yahoo Inc. It’s also supported by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., U.S. EPA and the World Wildlife Fund.
Manufacturers that take part in the initiative agree to design, produce and sell equipment that meets its energy-efficiency standards. The initiative requires computing gear to initially meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star standard of 80 percent efficiency, with the target rising to 90 percent by 2010.
Organizers also plan to launch a campaign to educate consumers, corporations and governments on how to use their computers more efficiently, mainly by using power-saving settings that put PCs into “sleep” or “hibernate” mode when they are not being used.
The initiative is an extension of WWF’s Climate Savers program, which helps corporations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
In addition to the environmental benefits, Google co-founder Larry Page said the initiative would also act to make computers better – more reliable and quieter.
Meanwhile in the UK, a new government taskforce has been formed to develop individual computers which use 98% less energy than standard PCs.
This is the first time our Climate Savers program has been applied to an entire sector, engaging manufacturers, retailers and consumers, said WWF senior vice president John Donoghue.
“We are pleased to join these industry leaders to provide solutions to address climate change.”
People can sign up to be part of the initiative online at www.climatesaverscomputing.org.