Climate Savers Computing Initiative

Last updated

The Climate Savers Computing Initiative was a nonprofit group of consumers, businesses and conservation organizations dedicated to promoting smart technologies that improve power efficiency and reduce energy consumption of computers. Formed in 2007, it was based in Portland, Oregon. [1] In July 2012, Climate Savers Computing Initiative combined with The Green Grid and its programs continue within that organization.

Contents

Participating manufacturers committed to producing products that meet specified power-efficiency targets, and members committed to purchasing power-efficient computing products.

By 2010, the initiative sought to reduce energy consumption by computers by 50 percent and reduce global CO2 emissions from the operation of computers by 54 million tons a year. [2]

Goal

The goal of the new environmental effort was to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by setting targets for energy-efficient computers and components, and promoting the adoption of energy-efficient computers and power management tools globally.

The typical desktop PC wastes more than half of the power it draws from a power outlet. [3] Servers typically waste 30-40% of the power they consume. This energy is wasted as heat. As a result, offices, homes, and data centers have increased demands on air conditioning which in turn increases energy requirements and associated costs.

By increasing the effectiveness of power-management features in computers as well as implementing these features and aggressive power-management policies, the average business desktop can save 60% of the electricity consumed, with no compromise to productivity. These results combat climate change and cut costs. With individual member and company participation, this effort worked toward a 50% reduction in power consumption by computers by 2010, and committed participants aimed to collectively save $5.5 billion in energy costs and 54 million tons of CO2 emissions a year. [3] That would be the equivalent of taking 11 million cars off the road every year.

Participants in the Climate Savers Computing Initiative represented both the demand and supply side of the computer industry, including computer manufacturers and chip makers, as well as environmental groups, energy companies, retailers, government agencies and more. Supporters of the initiative included Intel Corporation, Google, Dell, EDS, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Microsoft, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), World Wildlife Fund and others.

Specifications

The Climate Savers Computing Initiative operated in a manner similar to the U.S. Government's Energy Star program. It was intended to promote both the deployment of existing technologies and investment in new energy-efficiency technologies. The Energy Star 4.0 standard for desktops, laptops, and workstations, which took effect in July 2007, requires power supplies to be at least 80 percent efficient for most of their load range. In addition, it puts limits on the energy used by devices when inactive and requires systems to be shipped with power management features enabled.

PCs

The Initiative started with the 2007 Energy Star requirements for desktops, laptops and workstations (including monitors), and gradually increased the efficiency requirements over the next four years, as follows:

  1. From July 2007 through June 2008, PCs must have met the Energy Star requirements. This means 80 percent minimum efficiency for the power supply unit (PSU) at 20 percent, 50 percent, and 100 percent of rated output, a power factor of at least 0.9 at 100 percent of rated output, and meeting the maximum power requirements in standby, sleep, and idle modes.
  2. From July 2008 through June 2009 the standard increased to 85 percent minimum efficiency for the PSU at 50 percent of rated output (and 82 percent minimum efficiency at 20 percent and 100 percent of rated output). Equivalent to 80 Plus Bronze level.
  3. From July 2009 through June 2010, the standard increased to 88 percent minimum efficiency for the PSU at 50 percent of rated output (and 85 percent minimum efficiency at 20 percent and 100 percent of rated output). Equivalent to 80 Plus Silver level.
  4. From July 2010 through June 2011, the standard increased to 90 percent minimum efficiency for the PSU at 50 percent of rated output (and 87 percent minimum efficiency at 20 percent and 100 percent of rated output). Equivalent to 80 Plus Gold level.

Servers

In addition, the Initiative set the following high-efficiency targets for volume servers (1U/2U single- and dual-socket servers):

  1. From July 2007 through June 2008, volume servers must have had 85 percent minimum efficiency for the power supply unit (PSU) at 50 percent of rated output (and 81 percent minimum efficiency at 20 percent and 100 percent of rated output), and power factor of at least 0.9 at 100 percent of rated output.
  2. From July 2008 through June 2009 the standard increased to 89 percent minimum efficiency for the PSU at 50 percent of rated output (and 85 percent minimum efficiency at 20 percent and 100 percent of rated output).
  3. From July 2009 through June 2010, the standard increased to 92 percent minimum efficiency for the PSU at 50 percent of rated output (and 88 percent minimum efficiency at 20 percent and 100 percent of rated output.

Relationship with The Green Grid

On July 19, 2012 Climate Savers Computing Initiative and The Green Grid announced a joining of the two organizations resulting in Climate Savers Computing Initiative's programs and membership being moved under The Green Grid brand to build on TGG's success in improving resource efficiency in information technology and data centers. TGG and CSCI fused their separate but closely aligned resources together to accelerate the implementation of energy efficiency and sustainability within the IT and communications industries. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Server (computing)</span> Computer to access a central resource or service on a network

In computing, a server is a piece of computer hardware or software that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called "clients". This architecture is called the client–server model. Servers can provide various functionalities, often called "services", such as sharing data or resources among multiple clients or performing computations for a client. A single server can serve multiple clients, and a single client can use multiple servers. A client process may run on the same device or may connect over a network to a server on a different device. Typical servers are database servers, file servers, mail servers, print servers, web servers, game servers, and application servers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ATX</span> Motherboard and power supply configuration

ATX is a motherboard and power supply configuration specification, patented by David Dent in 1995 at Intel, to improve on previous de facto standards like the AT design. It was the first major change in desktop computer enclosure, motherboard and power supply design in many years, improving standardization and interchangeability of parts. The specification defines the dimensions; the mounting points; the I/O panel; and the power and connector interfaces among a computer case, a motherboard, and a power supply.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Energy Star</span> US energy efficiency program

Energy Star is a program run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that promotes energy efficiency. The program provides information on the energy consumption of products and devices using different standardized methods. The Energy Star label is found on more than 75 different certified product categories, homes, commercial buildings, and industrial plants. In the United States, the Energy Star label is also shown on the Energy Guide appliance label of qualifying products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Data center</span> Building or room used to house computer servers and related equipment

A data center or data centre is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems.

Green computing, green IT, or ICT sustainability, is the study and practice of environmentally sustainable computing or IT.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Low-energy house</span> House designed for reduced energy use

A low-energy house is characterized by an energy-efficient design and technical features which enable it to provide high living standards and comfort with low energy consumption and carbon emissions. Traditional heating and active cooling systems are absent, or their use is secondary. Low-energy buildings may be viewed as examples of sustainable architecture. Low-energy houses often have active and passive solar building design and components, which reduce the house's energy consumption and minimally impact the resident's lifestyle. Throughout the world, companies and non-profit organizations provide guidelines and issue certifications to guarantee the energy performance of buildings and their processes and materials. Certifications include passive house, BBC - Bâtiment Basse Consommation - Effinergie (France), zero-carbon house (UK), and Minergie (Switzerland).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fuel economy in automobiles</span> Distance traveled by a vehicle compared to volume of fuel consumed

The fuel economy of an automobile relates to the distance traveled by a vehicle and the amount of fuel consumed. Consumption can be expressed in terms of the volume of fuel to travel a distance, or the distance traveled per unit volume of fuel consumed. Since fuel consumption of vehicles is a significant factor in air pollution, and since the importation of motor fuel can be a large part of a nation's foreign trade, many countries impose requirements for fuel economy. Different methods are used to approximate the actual performance of the vehicle. The energy in fuel is required to overcome various losses encountered while propelling the vehicle, and in providing power to vehicle systems such as ignition or air conditioning. Various strategies can be employed to reduce losses at each of the conversions between the chemical energy in the fuel and the kinetic energy of the vehicle. Driver behavior can affect fuel economy; maneuvers such as sudden acceleration and heavy braking waste energy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urs Hölzle</span> Swiss computer scientist

Urs Hölzle is a Swiss software engineer and technology executive. As Google's eighth employee and its first VP of Engineering, he has shaped much of Google's development processes and infrastructure, as well as its engineering culture. His most notable contributions include leading the development of fundamental cloud infrastructure such as energy-efficient data centers, distributed compute and storage systems, and software-defined networking. Until July 2023, he was the Senior Vice President of Technical Infrastructure and Google Fellow at Google. In July 2023, he transitioned to being a Google Fellow only.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Power supply unit (computer)</span> Internal computer component that provides power to other components

A power supply unit (PSU) converts mains AC to low-voltage regulated DC power for the internal components of a computer. Modern personal computers universally use switched-mode power supplies. Some power supplies have a manual switch for selecting input voltage, while others automatically adapt to the main voltage.

Efficient energy use, sometimes simply called energy efficiency, is the process of reducing the amount of energy required to provide products and services. For example, insulating a building allows it to use less heating and cooling energy to achieve and maintain a thermal comfort. Installing light-emitting diode bulbs, fluorescent lighting, or natural skylight windows reduces the amount of energy required to attain the same level of illumination compared to using traditional incandescent light bulbs. Improvements in energy efficiency are generally achieved by adopting a more efficient technology or production process or by application of commonly accepted methods to reduce energy losses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">80 Plus</span> Voluntary certification program

80 Plus is a voluntary certification program launched in 2004, intended to promote efficient energy use in computer power supply units (PSUs).

In computing, performance per watt is a measure of the energy efficiency of a particular computer architecture or computer hardware. Literally, it measures the rate of computation that can be delivered by a computer for every watt of power consumed. This rate is typically measured by performance on the LINPACK benchmark when trying to compare between computing systems: an example using this is the Green500 list of supercomputers. Performance per watt has been suggested to be a more sustainable measure of computing than Moore’s Law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Energy in Finland</span> Overview of the production, consumption, import and export of energy and electricity in Finland

Energy in Finland describes energy and electricity production, consumption and import in Finland. Energy policy of Finland describes the politics of Finland related to energy. Electricity sector in Finland is the main article of electricity in Finland.

Power usage effectiveness (PUE) is a ratio that describes how efficiently a computer data center uses energy; specifically, how much energy is used by the computing equipment.

IT energy management or Green IT is the analysis and management of energy demand within the Information Technology department in any organization. IT energy demand accounts for approximately 2% of global CO2 emissions, approximately the same level as aviation, and represents over 10% of all the global energy consumption. IT can account for 25% of a modern office building's energy cost.

Premium efficiency, when used in reference to specific types of Electric Motors, is a class of motor efficiency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Energy-Efficient Ethernet</span> Power-saving option for Ethernet network devices

In computer networking, Energy-Efficient Ethernet (EEE) is a set of enhancements to twisted-pair, twinaxial, backplane, and optical fiber Ethernet physical-layer variants that reduce power consumption during periods of low data activity. The intention is to reduce power consumption by 50% or more, while retaining full compatibility with existing equipment.

Plug load is the energy used by products that are powered by means of an ordinary AC plug. This term generally excludes building energy that is attributed to major end uses

The House Energy Rating (HER) or House Energy Rating Scheme (HERS) are worldwide standard measures of comparison by which one can evaluate the energy efficiency of a new or an existing building. The comparison is generally done for energy requirements for heating and cooling of indoor space. The energy is the main criterion considered by any international building energy rating scheme but there are some other important factors such as production of greenhouse gases emission, indoor environment quality, cost efficiency and thermal comfort, which are considered by some schemes. Basically, the energy rating of a residential building provides detailed information on the energy consumption and the relative energy efficiency of the building. Hence, HERs inform consumers about the relative energy efficiency of homes and encourage them to use this information in making their house purchase decision.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green data center</span> Server facility which utilizes energy-efficient technologies

A green data center, or sustainable data center, is a service facility which utilizes energy-efficient technologies. They do not contain obsolete systems, and take advantage of newer, more efficient technologies.

References

  1. ↑ Sustainable Business Oregon (2010-07-27). "Study: IT sector cuts CO2 emissions by 32M metric tons". Portland Business Journal . Retrieved 2010-07-27.{{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  2. ↑ This reduction in emissions was calculated based on IDC projections of desktop and server volumes in the years 2007-2011, using a baseline of 295 kWh/year energy consumption for a typical desktop in the first half of 2007, and assuming market penetration of 60% of desktop units shipped in 2010 being Energy Star, 25% meeting the 85% PSU efficiency standard, 10% meeting the 88% standard, and 5% meeting the 90% standard; it also assumed that 80% of desktop PCs shipped in 2010 use power management features. Under these assumptions, total power consumption for PCs shipped in 2010 was reduced by over 50%, for a total savings of 62 billion kWh in 2010, worth over $5.5 billion (at an average cost of $0.0885/kWh ). Note: the total savings in 2010 is based on power consumed by units shipped in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010.
  3. 1 2 Based on IDC projections of desktop and server units shipped, a baseline of typical desktop and server power consumption in the first half of 2007, and an average cost of $0.0885/KW.
  4. ↑ Call to action video at YouTube
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.