How Green is a Green PC ?

Though in documentaries, like Inconvenient Truth, disturbing facts and

alarming enough predictions were shown, but to change ways for the sake of the

environment alone didn't manage to make that big an impact. The main reason

behind this being industries and corporates. The question to be answered,

remained a rather simple one for them, where is the business value in going

green?

As more than anything, it's profits and revenues that drives an organization,

the question was important. Therefore the right answer could create a win-win

situation for both, organizations across the planet and for the planet itself.

The answer came in the form of energy efficient devices ranging from CFLs to

more serious equipment like processors etc. And after all, in a financial crisis

like one in hand, saving money sounds nothing less than a great idea. Because

computers have become omnipresent and lie at the heart of information

technology, we scrutinize everything around them, inside-out in order to find

the greenest options available for you. At last, don't forget, green is also the

color of money.

What is a green PC?



Any personal computer that's low on power consumption and is environment
friendly can be called a green PC. Though many manufacturers don't have specific

products under this category, finding a green option that fulfills your

requirements isn't rocket science. A green PC should be assembled with

environment friendly components. These might be built with recyclable products

and must be low on energy consumption. Components that consume less energy not

only save the planet but would also result in lower energy costs hence savings.

What makes a green PC green?



Building a green PC isn't a difficult job. There are a number of components that
are manufactured to be easy on the environment and when using them savings come

as a byproduct. Let's dig deep into how.

Processors: Processor manufacturers have been constantly coming out

with new products that consume less power than their predecessors and are better

performing. The main thing to keep in mind here is the kind of performance you

want your desktop to deliver. The more the better might be your first answer,

but it also means an increase in power consumption. If you're planning to buy

new PCs for employees in your organization, then first find out the

requirements. For example, if running basic productivity software and surfing

the Internet is what's required, then going for low power consumption processor

like the Atom might be a good option.

The power consumption of a desktop computer running on the Atom which costs a

little more than 15k is around 20 watts as compared to a Pentium 4 based PC

which consumes 75! That's a whooping 70% less power consumption while

performance being similar, sufficient enough for running Windows XP and other

basic productivity apps. Let's see how much money can you save by using them.

Assuming that an employee uses a PC for 10 hours daily and comes to work on

250 days in an year, a Pentium 4 based machine consumes Rs 1500 worth of

electricity considering the cost of energy at Rs 8 per unit. On the other hand,

running an Atom based desktop costs only Rs 400. That means you save 1,100 per

annum on each machine that is just used for basic productivity!



Even though the price of these devices is quite less, people still find the
thought of getting a more powerful PC in the same price range way too tempting.

But, what more than often gets overlooked is the downside of buying a powerful

machine when not needed. Power consumptions and running costs of a Core 2 Duo

and Core 2 Quad based machines are also shown in the graphs.

Motherboards: When talking of green, there is more to this component

than just an efficient design. Motherboard manufacturers have been developing

technologies that would make their products smart enough to consume less power.

Technologies like Asus's Energy Processing Unit helps motherboards in analyzing

the actual CPU loading and dynamically regulates system power saving and

performance parameters to create an optimal energy saving configuration. We

tested the Asus P5Q Pro which sports the EPU technology against another

motherboard (Gigabyte EP45 UD3P in this case) with a similar setup, one that

didn't have this technology. We found out when running a Core 2 Quad processor

the reduction in energy consumption to be as high as up to 40 watts!

Time for a little number crunching again to make things clearer. Assuming the

same employee again, who uses his computer for 10 hours daily and works 250 days

in an year. The amount of energy consumed by the CPU in an year while using an

energy efficient motherboard comes out to be 305kWh as compared to another

motherboard which consumes 405kWh. Converting into energy bills by taking the

cost of each unit of electricity to be Rs 8, the energy efficient motherboard

saves you Rs 800. That is savings of 80,000 for every hundred machines that run

on energy efficient motherboard!

Monitors, LCD vs CRT: Apart from being insanely heavy and difficult to

carry around, other disadvantages of a CRT monitor include their power

consumption. LCD monitors, apart from being aesthetically very pleasing to the

eye, slim and stylish, are also designed in a way to consume less energy than a

conventional CRT monitor. LCD monitors definitely hold the edge over CRT

monitors when it comes to being energy efficient. The huge tube in a CRT monitor

is the source of most of its energy consumption, and a comparably sized LCD may

use just a fraction of the electricity. When we compared the two, a 17” CRT

monitor consumed 72watts and on the other hand a 17” LCD consumed just 20 watt,

that's less than one-third of the CRT!

Let's see how stressful CRT's can be to the pocket. A 17” CRT being used for

10 hours a day, 250 days in an year consumes 180 kWh and at Rs 8 per unit costs

Rs 1440 to run. Whereas a 17” LCD being used for the same amount of time

consumes only 50 kWh. That makes each LCD consume Rs 1,040 worth of electricity

less than its CRT counterpart! Therefore a hundred LCDs would save you Rs

1,04,000 in electricity bills!

Initially the main reason which stopped people from switching to LCDs was

their price, but even that doesn't exist anymore as a number of options are

available in different price ranges. Therefore when buying a new monitor, going

for an LCD is a better option as they would not only consume less space, they

would also consume less power.

Hard Drives: There are options for storing your invaluable data while

consuming as less power as possible. Manufacturers like Hitachi have come with

their range of energy efficient storage solutions for desktop PCs. These hard

drives have advanced power management systems that make them consume less power

during idle periods and also an improved design for a higher power efficiency.

Even external hard drives come with efficient power management systems that push

them into sleep mode when not in use.

Other components: Graphic processing units to RAMs, research and

development teams across all segments are trying to keep upcoming devices as

energy efficient as possible. And apart from power consumption, use of

recyclable products is being considered wherever possible.

Make your current PC hug trees?



Using your personal computer judicially and intelligently can lower your
electricity bills significantly. Applicable to both desktop and laptop users,

these simple to implement tips can prove to be helpful for everybody. Here are a

few simple but crucial things that can make you help save the earth (and some

money too).

To download a file, finish a task, or perform an automated backup you don't

need to leave your PC on all night. You can use the schedule task feature in

Windows Vista or XP to wake your computer from sleep mode if you want to perform

a regular task like a backup in the middle of the night.

If you are downloading a file and tend to keep your PC switched on, then

check out Add-ons like Auto shutdown for Firefox and many others. These

automatically turn off your PC after all files are downloaded.

Even if not a Firefox user, you can find tools like Shutdown After and Winoff

to schedule a shutdown. Whether downloading a file or rendering a video, if you

have a rough idea how long it will take to finish the task. You can schedule

your PC to shutdown, hibernate, or sleep shortly after the task gets finished.

Though there are many reasons why people avoid upgrading to Windows Vista,

but one advantage of upgrading is that Vista offers a more detailed control over

your PC's power settings. When running in balanced mode, Vista throttles down

the CPU hardware when you're performing less CPU-intensive tasks.

Applications like CO2Saver helps reduce power consumption. While running in

the background of Windows XP or Vista machines, it adjusts power settings

automatically. When the PC is not being used the application kicks into action

and lowers your performance settings.

Simple things like turning off your monitor when not using, buying components

with energy star ratings can reduce the electricity consumption. Making such

things habitual can eventually lower your energy bills dramatically.