PC Energy Star Rating Getting Badly Needed Upgrade

Since the EPA last updated its Energy Star program for PCs seven years ago the world has changed. These days, even the most inefficient computers classify for an Energy Star label. But in the next year, the EPA will become much more strict. Computers across the board will have to be around 65% more efficient that previously to receive an Energy Star certification. Neither AMD or Intel are likely to have a hard time meeting the standards, but it's good to put a little government pressure on them anyhow.

The EPA says that the efficiency upgrades could save American consumers up to $1.8 billion in the first five years, and prevent the release as much greenhouse gas as 2.7 million cars.

Via InformationWeek

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Enough with the hardware...
written by GTW, October 29, 2006

They should come up with a similar efficiency rating for software. If the software requires more resources to accomplish the same use case than another software, it should be given a low rating.

Similarly, people should be rated for their efficiency too... the energy consumed vs. productivity or productive involvement and decrease/increase their taxable income amount.

I look forward to the day when everything's tailored for every individual the way they have earned it. :)

Software Efficiency
written by Hank, October 29, 2006

GTW...another idea from you that I have never pondered, it sure is good to have you wondering these shores. It's true that the software you run can have a huge impact on the power consumption of your machine, though there are already reasons (namely load times and avoiding being labeled a memory hog) for companies to design lean software.

But that doesn't mean more can't be done, and I'm all for some agency taking up the difficult task of testing software power consumption.

Testing individual efficiency, on the other hand, sounds like a darned scary idea to me. I'm all for people doing their part, but I'd like to avoid 1984 as much as possible, even if it would be an environmental revolution.

...
written by Disabled, May 05, 2007

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Today in russia day mourning, moderate;temper first president Boris Elicin
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