“How Low Can You Go?” The role of power electronics in achieving higher levels of efficiency for desktop computers

Every year desktop computers in America´s businesses consume as much electricity as all of Idaho, costing those businesses $1.85 billion in utility bills and resulting in 14 million tons of CO₂ emissions, a major contributor to global warming. The US Department of Energy predicts staggering growth in the personal computer market over the next two decades and anticipates energy consumption associated with this growth will increase by 100%. To push the limits of energy efficiency Ecos and the electric power research institute (EPRI) collaborated with computer platform developers Intel, AMD, and Via Technologies to build and test office productivity desktop computers. Thanks to improved platform engineering and the burgeoning assortment ´green´ components, high performance office productivity desktop computers were built that use 70% less energy than current ENERGY STAR requirements.