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 JIM CARLTON
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, estimates a 2007 report by the Alliance to Save Energy, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C.
That's roughly the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that come from driving a car for two months. In all, the group estimates upwards of $1.7 billion 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 PC energy expenses. And technology manufacturers are responding. For instance, Array Networks Inc. last November announced that its DesktopDirect program would let people remotely access their desktop even when it is turned off. Dell Inc. says the displays on its laptop computers 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," says Satjiv Chahil, senior vice president of personal systems world-wide marketing for H-P, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif.
Returns on Investment
Guidance Solutions Inc., an e-commerce developer, says 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 and laptops from H-P use about 40% less power than earlier models. "It's a return on the investment of being green," says Jon Provisor, chief technology officer and co-owner of the Marina del Rey, Calif., firm.
Hewlett-Packard says its TouchSmart all-in-one PC uses 55% less metal and 37% less plastic than standard PCs.

Another H-P customer, Molina HealthCare Inc., began converting its 3,000-PC fleet to energy-efficient models in early 2008 and has realized more than 30% energy savings on the machines it has replaced so far, says Sriram Bharadwaj, director of infrastructure and operations. He says the savings came as a by-product of the company's main intent in replacing the computers: making work stations more comfortable for workers of the Long Beach, Calif., health-care provider by taking out bulky, older models that took up too much space and often produced too much heat.
"It is definitely a good by-product," Mr. Bharadwaj says.
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.
"I think what motivates PC companies to be green is two things: One, the customers are asking for it. And the other big driver is pure competition. As we enter the 21st century low-carbon economy, they are going to have to do it," says Andrea Moffat, senior director of programs at Ceres, a Boston-based network of investors, environmental groups and others interested in pushing corporations to be greener.
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 Mark Hurd took over as chief executive and asked, "What more can we do?," Mr. Chahil says. 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 desktop and Latitude laptop lines 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. "It's eating your own dog food, if you will, but we practice a lot of this," says David Lear, Dell's director of environmental affairs.
In a packaging-design challenge from Wal-Mart Stores, H-P almost completely eliminated packaging waste by shipping a line of notebook computers in recyclable messenger bags.

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. Verdiem Corp.'s Surveyor program, for example, lets IT managers remotely adjust energy use of computers—such as being able to shut them off when not in use. The Seattle company says its 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 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. Mr. West says the efficiency gains add to those the company has achieved by using energy-saving Dell computers.
"This really does just take it up a notch," Mr. West says.
--Mr. Carlton is a staff reporter in the San Francisco bureau of The Wall Street Journal. He can be reached at jim.carlton@wsj.com.