Energy Commission Presents Energy Savings with Computer Standards

 

California Energy Commissioner Andrew McAllister released proposed energy efficiency standards for computers and monitors during a teleconference with news reporters today.

Listen to some highlights above: California is preparing to adopt its first computer and monitor standards for energy efficiency that will save consumers hundreds-of-millions of dollars every year. Before the Energy Commission adopts the standards, the public will have a chance to comment, including an opportunity at a workshop on April 15 in Sacramento.

Computers and monitors, together, are among the leading consumers of energy. Efficiency standards could save enough energy to provide power for all residences in San Francisco and Santa Clara. Commissioner McAllister said a report last year indicated consumers have a strong desire to reduce computer energy use. Computers sit idle about half the time they are powered on.





Proposed standards will require computers and monitors sold in California to be designed to cut energy use when they aren’t being used, but without affecting the core functions of the computers. A $2 increase in the costs of manufacturing a desktop computer could save consumers $69 in energy over the five-year life of the computer.

After the April 15 workshop, the public will get another chance to comment on revisions to the standards before they are adopted by the Energy Commission.