Turn it Off:
Ways to help the Economy and Environment Save Energy
By
Trinette Green
For
Dr. Yin
Turn it Off
Personal computers have become a necessity in our society. When you think of an office what comes to mind? Fax machines, PCs, monitors, servers, printers, and copiers. All of the previously listed technological devices help generate the energy consumption of a company. Personal computers total cost of ownership (TCO) is quite expensive. TCO of a computer includes the maintenance, repairing of hardware, installing and updating software, and powering the computing infrastructure. The total cost of ownership can become about 3 to 4 times the actual purchase price. The money spent on power bills may be the most costly part of ownership. The computer and its monitor are the commercial sector’s most rapidly increasing energy device. A large part of all energy consumed is by computers.
Energy Usage
The
average monitor uses 75 Watts while the average CPU uses 45 Watts for a
combined energy usage of 120 Watts. When
putting this into perspective of computer usage on a university campus that has
only 1000 computers (pretty unrealistic) this amounts to 1000 computers X 0.12
kW X 250 workdays X 12 hours = the university uses 360000 kWh per year to run
all of the computers. This equals $39600
(360000 X 11 cents). This figure is not
realistic because of the number of computers that are owned by individual
students remain on for 24 hours at a time.
A survey showed that 80 percent of the students leave their computer
sometimes or nearly always on.
In
1999 and 2000 research proved that the Internet along with the information and
communication technology (ITC) equipment required to support it was responsible
for 8% of
Much of the energy that is consumed is wasted. Computers are often left running during nights, weekends, and extended periods of user absence. There are 71 million PC’s and monitors in the U.S., not including those in residential homes. These devices consume 41.8 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) according to an ADL research. This is equivalent to:
· 16% of the total consumption of California in 1999
· The total combined electrical generation of New York state’s six nuclear power plants
The same report also forecasts a continuing increase in the consumption of energy in the office equipment category. By the year 2010 there is estimated to be 135 billion kWh a year consumed for PC devices. Computers and their monitors will on average waste half of the energy they consume, when compared to actual demand. The average PC/monitor combination consumes between 400 and 700 kWh per year. As much as 100-300kWh of this energy is lost to inefficiency, because computers consume energy even when no one is using it.
There have been attempts to minimize the waste of power by computers. In the mid 1990s advanced power management (APM) allowed computers and monitors to slip into lower-power states when they were not in active use. Instantly available PC or IAPC was introduced in 2001. Many companies fail to realize the energy savings they except, because of the misuse of the power management features. Employees often reset or override the energy-saving features.
Power
Management
Power management is a process that allows monitors and computers to enter low-power states when sitting idle. This function is necessary to help computer units conserve energy, when the user is absent. The monitor turns off, the CPU reduces power consumption, and the hard disk spins down implying that the system is idle. The power management feature powers down the screen 15 minutes (or a specific set time) after not being in use. Instead of the screen saver the monitor goes dark (PC Power) .
With
the increasing consumption of electricity by technology it is important that
individuals use the systems available to save energy. When considering the PCs and monitors in
commercial and industrial settings nationwide they use 32 billion kWh of
electricity each year, with over 1.5 percent of that amount consumed by the
commercial sector. Half of this energy
could be saved if power management functions were enabled and systems are turned
off after work. Even if individuals
focus on monitor power management rather than computer power management can
capture 80 percent of the potential energy savings (PC Power Management).
The power management systems that are available are capable of reducing energy consumption as long as users keep them enabled and active. Only 25% of commercial PC users enable the energy management capabilities on their systems today. If 100% of commercial PC users simply enabled their existing power management system the savings would be overwhelming. The savings could reach 17 billion kWh per year.
Saving Energy
Energy saving is an issue that effects everyone. As most of us are using computers and their associated peripherals, such as monitors and printers on a daily basis to communicate. We all can contribute to the saving of energy particularly when the computer is idle.
There are times when the computer is not being used by the operator; during this period it makes sense to shut the screen off. Enforcing a nighttime shutdown requirement can save a year another 7 billion kWh. The commercial sector wastes 24 billion kWh of energy, while public institutions may waste a few billion kWh. Based on the nations average energy rate of $0.0725 per kWh the waste can reach $2 billion a year.
What are some solutions to saving energy that we all can do?
· Don’t keep your computer on unless they are being used
· Use energy saving features
· Consider energy efficiency when making new purchases
Energy Star
Energy Star is a government-backed program that was developed in 1992. The purpose of the program is to help businesses and individuals protect the environment through superior energy efficiency. Items that are energy efficient provide the same amount of services while using less energy. When we use less energy, the less energy we need to generate at power plants, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions and improves the quality of our air.
Energy
efficiency helps the economy, too, by saving consumers and businesses millions
of dollars in energy costs. Energy efficient solutions can reduce the energy
bill for many homeowners and businesses by 20 to 30 percent. In the last year with the help of Energy Star
Americans have been able to save enough energy to power 20 million homes this
is an equivalent of $9 billion (Energystar.com).
Computers
The computer is the heart and mind of a workstation, controlling everything that happens. Older models when fully powered use approximately 30 watts. Newer models have become more efficient, but are also more powerful and loaded with components; their power usage is usually between 50 and 60 watts. Due to the fact that the computer is the main controller it needs to constantly be ready, even when not in use (Guidelines for Energy Savings).
For
the computers that are marked with ENERGY
Printers
Don’t
forget about the printers that your computer is hooked-up to. Newer printers use less than 5 watts when not
in use. During power up and printing the
energy consumption can rocket to 500 to 600 watts. There are few printers that are equipped with
an ENERGY
Printers are often forgot about and left on when not in use also. Although printers do not use very much electricity when idle, the power saving feature should be enabled if available. It is common to set a printer to go into power-saving mode after it has been idle for 30 minutes. This time is recommended because it provides a balance between energy saving and convenience (Guidelines for Energy Savings).
Monitors
There is a great amount of energy
saving related to computer monitors. LCD panels use even less energy than
conventional
The ENERGY STARR monitors have the most power saving features. The monitors are able to go into different energy saving modes such as; On, Standby, Suspend, and Off. Energy consumption can be reduced by up to 90 percent by using this feature (DOE p. 2). ENERGY STARR labeled monitors will automatically power down to using 8 watts or less when not in use by an operator, this helps produce less heat. This will not only save cost on energy, but also on the condition of the monitor. Following are some ways to save energy for monitors (University of Colorado, p. 2) :
· Select dark backgrounds for screen display (It has been proven that white or bright colors can use up to 20 percent more power than black or dark colors)
· Use a dark screen saver that launches after 15 minutes of inactivity
· Activate the Energy Star feature of you system (a low-power state set for 15 minutes and a suspend state for 20 minutes)
·
Power off the monitor during extended absences
Myths
Just like with all other issues there are some myths and misconceptions that have developed. These myths may prevent people from using the functions and changing some behaviors. Myth People tend to think that turning the computer on and off will cause problems. Fact Switching computers on and off used to be a problem in the very early days of computers, but this is no longer the case. Actually there have been studies done that prove just the opposite, if the computer is always left on it can shorten the computer’s lifetime (Wayne State University p. 2).
There is a misconception about
computers that are purchased with the Energy Star logo. Myth Energy Star logo
computers are already energy efficient. Fact In reality they have built in energy conservation
features but your computer cannot take full advantage of these energy saving
mechanisms until the power management features are enabled (
References
DOE Energy Star Components. http://www.microtech.coe.gov/EnergyStar/components.html
Guidelines for Energy Saving on Computer Equipment. (2002, February).
PC Power Management FAQ. http://www.tufts.edu/tie/tci/pcpowermanagement/FAQ.html