Energy uses of ICT

[paulpmp4]

I am trying to write an ICT newsletter with a green(eco) theme. I have some information but I was looking for specific figures on the use of certains types of equipment. Things like energy savings of LCD over CRT monitors or how much each monitor would cost if they were continually left on standby.

Also any other links to ideas articles on this theme would be fantastic.

[DevilsAdvocate]

Nicked this from an A+ book I have -

A typical CRT monitor consumes approximately 120 watts. During a catnap or power-down mode, the energy consumption is reduced to below 25 watts, while enabling the screen to return to use in less than 10 seconds. Full shutoff is accomplished by eliminating all clocking pulses to the monitor. Although this reduces power consumption to below 15 watts, it also requires anywhere from 15 to 30 seconds to restore a usable display.

A typical LCD monitor, in contrast, uses less than half the electricity that a CRT uses. A 19-inch, 4:3 aspect-ratio flat panel, for example, uses around 33 watts at peak usage and less than 2 watts in DPMS mode. Larger LCDs use more power at peak usage than smaller ones.A 21-inch wide-screenmodel, for example, might draw about 75 watts at peak, but still drop down to less than 2 watts in DPMS mode. Swapping out CRTs with LCDs is a great way to save on your electric bill.

[Sirbendy]

If you'd like some figures, I'll dig out my energy monitor plug and do some comparative checks...but it'd have to be tomorrow, as it's at home.

I know our Dell 17" TFTs draw about 9 watts on standby, and the same after you've turned them off which is quite naughty. I did a full run around my flat taking measurements for everything when I had a big flip at NPower for overcharging my bill..I'll see if I can dig out the power usage of my 19" WS here..

Optiplex GX60's use about 45-50 watts constant..

I'm very tempted to do this as well..NM says poweroff at night is "not needed" and "saves no money, as PCs don't USE much power when not used.."

Amazing how many other staff don't see it either..I had a big argument with the entire maths dept about it where I demonstrated that unless PCs are off AT THE MAINS, they will ALWAYS use power, and in use or not, they never drop down to the few watts of standby until powered down. The maths dept were quite stunned.

Especially when I did the costs of 1pc for 24h, then multiplied it by the number of PCs in the building, , PLUS the monitors, plus the aircon to cool them..they all went VERY quiet indeed.

I'm just running PowerOut now..every PC goes down if not in use for 30 mins after 6pm. If they complain, I just pull out the figures and say "we'll take it out of your budget, shall we?".

[enjay]

I tested a load of our kit earlier in the year; results were:
15" CRT - 47W on, 3W standby
17" CRT - 69W on, 2W standby
17" TFT - 29W on, <1W standby

PC in normal operation - 90-120W (not including monitor)
PC idling, with HDD turned off - 70W
RM Ecoquiet PC in normal operation - <50W
RM Ecoquiet PC idling - 30W

I also found that the Ecoquiet's drop back to 30W very quickly, much quicker than the normal ones drop back to 90W.

Another point to note is that projectors on "blank" still draw as much power as one which is actively projecting.

Printers are the real killer - our colour lasers idle at anywhere from 39-170W, even "energy saver mode" still draws 22W; they peak at over 1kW when printing. Even our little baby inkjets want 9W just to be turned on.

Your equipment will, of course, be different, as different models have different efficiency, but this is what I found here. I did note that our TFTs typically pull less power than the manufacturer's spec says they do, so it would be worth testing them yourself.

[ChrisH]

I have been going beserk over our electricity bill at home and been testing everything to see what was using up all the power. I tested my Dell 21" Inch Trinitron monitor last night and found that in a 24 hour period were it was just plugged in and not even turned on it managed to use nearly a quarter of a KWH unit!

[enjay]

As I alluded to in my earlier post, as well as looking at energy efficient hardware and turning things off when not in use, also consider the power management of your existing equipment. I've set our PCs to turn the monitors and hard disks off after a few minutes of inactivity which saves us something like £3/computer/year, and the energy saving modes on laser printers can have dramatic savings too.

The biggest single difference which we can all make is probably in turning classroom lights off when rooms are empty.

It is also worth noting that the power button on the front of some TFT monitors doesn't make any difference - if the power cable includes a transformer, this will draw a 1-3W regardless of the state of the power button on the monitor itself.

If you haven't already done so, buy yourself an energy meter (£15?) and get testing - you might be surprised just how much energy something is using while "off" (as ChrisH mentions above).

[Butuz]

Nick out of interest how did you test the wattage of your various equipment? I would like to do this.

Butuz

[enjay]

Nick out of interest how did you test the wattage of your various equipment? I would like to do this.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?...source=15&SD=Y

I'm sure you can get them cheaper than that though...

[sidewinder]

Wow, I didnt realise lasers used so much power, I knew it was more but not that much!
And I also assumed that in energy saving mode they dropped down to a few W

[Sirbendy]

Got my meter for £23 delivered..I did an eval of everything in the flat. The PC hibernates after 10 minutes, on an intelliplug. The corner stack (TV/Wii/DVD/Freeview) runs off a multiway that gets turned off when not in use.

I've even got my router on one of those cheapie segmented timeswitches so that it's off when we're not there.

[FN-GM]

You might want to comment on how "greenly" you disposed of the old monitors.

[john]

I can agree with Chris, my old Dell Trinitron monitor guzzled electricity, my new Sony TFTs, despite having a pair of them are much better and friendly to the environment.

[JonnyAcousti]

Is this something you are still interested in as I would like to have a chat with you about it and have a read of your article if it finished already.