Mar 3 2008
The Climate Savers Computing Initiative today announced Novell has joined its ranks. The Initiative is a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing computer power consumption by 50 percent by 2010. Together, Novell and the other industry-leading members of the Initiative will work to increase the adoption of energy-efficient PCs and servers, and increase awareness and use of computer power management.
"By participating in the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, Novell is demonstrating a meaningful commitment to furthering the adoption of energy efficient technology and IT practices," said Pat Tiernan, HP's representative on the Climate Savers Computing Board of Directors. "Their leadership paves the way for more companies and individuals to follow, so that together we can dramatically reduce global CO2 emissions from the operation of computers."
"Addressing the needs of the environment along with our customers' needs is critical to the long-term growth of both Novell and the global economy," said Jeff Jaffe, Novell executive vice president and chief technology officer. "Novell is committed to providing better power management technologies as part of SUSE Linux Enterprise as well as working with the Climate Savers Computing Initiative to enable the reduction of power consumption across the computer industry."
As a member of the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, Novell is committed to reducing energy consumption from a majority of its computing equipment by:
- Pledging to purchase high-efficiency computer equipment that meets or exceeds Energy Star ratings;
- Optimizing existing computer systems to use power management capabilities, such as hibernation and sleep modes; and
- Ensuring in subsequent years they purchase computing equipment with increasing levels of efficiency.
In a typical desktop PC, nearly half the power coming from the outlet never reaches the processor, memory, disks or any other computing components. The wasted electricity is dispersed as heat and increases the cost of powering a computer, as well as the emission of greenhouse gases. In offices, homes and data centers, the added heat from inefficient computers can increase the demand on air conditioners and cooling systems, making the computing equipment even more expensive to run. Servers are more efficient than desktops, but still typically waste 30 to 40 percent of the input power.
Additional energy is often sacrificed because of poor power management settings. Even though most of today's desktop PCs are capable of automatically transitioning to a sleep or hibernate state when inactive, about 90 percent of systems have this functionality disabled. The use of power management can save an average of €46 per year in energy costs.