The PC Goes on an Energy Diet

Personal computers suck up enormous amounts of electricity—often when they aren't even being used. Manufacturers are tackling the problem.

By The Wall Street Journal

Some of the biggest energy hogs in a company sit in front of workers everyday: their PCs.

For a company that has 10,000 personal-computer desktops, for example, just leaving most of them turned on all night can cost more than $165,000 a year in electricity bills, while spewing more than 1,380 tons of carbon dioxide into the air per year.

That's roughly the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that come from driving a car for two months. In all, estimates are upwards of $1.7 billion that is being wasted in the U.S. with about 15 million tons of carbon emitted by desktops left on overnight.

As a result, corporate IT managers are clamoring for ways to rein in their PCs energy and expenses. And technology manufacturers are responding. For instance, Array Networks Inc. last November announced that its Desktop Direct program would let people remotely access their desktop even when it is turned off. Dell Inc. says the displays on its laptops use 43% less energy after older cathode screens have been swapped out with more efficient LED ones. And Hewlett-Packard Co. says its has saved 41% energy consumption on its lineup of PCs, compared with 2005 models, because of fewer components and other factors. Many other technology manufacturers are going green, as well.

In the end, this all adds up to smart business.

Returns on Investment

Developers say its desktop energy consumption has stayed roughly the same despite increasing the work force to 50 from 30 employees since 2008 because it switched to more efficient machines. The company's 200 desktops, laptops and refurbished laptops from H-P use about 40% less power than earlier models.

The move to greener PCs has picked up steam over the past five years, following mounting pressure from shareholders and environmental groups to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions that most scientists believe cause global warming. The PC makers have also faced heat for not doing enough to keep obsolete models out of the scrap heap. Many have since launched computer take-back programs, and have also switched to more recyclable materials.

Leading the Way

Three of the more active manufacturers in green PCs have been Dell, H-P and Apple Inc.

H-P, which has long operated an environmental program, ramped up its efforts on PCs in 2005 after someone asked, "What more can we do?," H-P redesigned its entire PC product line in 12 months, beginning in 2006, to include green features such as more efficient power supplies and the ability to go into power-saving sleep mode faster.

More recently, H-P in 2008 launched an EliteBook line of laptops that lets the user access email, calendars and contacts without having to power up the computer. The laptops use a technology called QuickLook, a separate, miniature operating system that doesn't require booting up the machine's main OS. QuickLook is also a feature on H-P's ProBook line of laptops.

Earlier this year, the company began shipping some consumer laptops featuring batteries that can hold a charge for as long as three years. That saves energy because they don't have to be recharged as much, H-P officials say.

Meanwhile, Dell over the past few years has revamped its OptiPlex desktops and Latitude laptops to include energy-saving features. Last year, the Round Rock, Texas, company introduced Latitude models that also can access email and Internet sites without booting up the computer; these models also have batteries that last twice as long as those of the previous model—six hours instead of three. One of the biggest savings, Dell officials say, has come from the shift to LED screens on laptops.

Among the biggest beneficiaries of the energy savings: Dell itself. The company more than a year ago installed night shut-off software in 50,000 desktops and notebooks across a number of its operations world-wide, achieving an estimated $1.8 million in power savings annually.

At Apple, company officials play up another benefit of green PCs: their reduced carbon output. The Cupertino, Calif., company calculates the amount of carbon each model uses. In the case of the MacBook Air laptop launched in 2008, the company says 43% of its carbon emissions come from the energy it uses. So to cut down on energy, the MacBook is equipped with features such as more efficient power supplies and enhanced sleep mode. The new 13-inch MacBook Pro released earlier this year draws just 15 watts when idle with display on—a quarter of the power needed to run a single household lightbulb—versus about double that for some other new laptops.

Remote Control

Software makers are also stepping up to address the problem of PC energy. Some programs currently being used let IT managers remotely adjust energy use of computers—such as being able to shut them off when not in use. They say their customers have saved more than $30 million in energy costs since it began offering the service about three years ago.

One customer, Cox Communications Inc., says it has seen a 40% drop in energy consumption in 15,000 desktops and used laptops since the company began deploying Surveyor last April. The Atlanta cable firm, a unit of Cox Enterprises Inc., uses Surveyor to remotely turn on desktops at night when they need software updates, and then turn them back off when the download is complete, says Peter West, vice president of IT and operational development.