NBC Study Says DVR Users Do Pay Attention To Ads

New Technology Blamed For Its Energy Consumption

from the the-green-tube dept

Thu, Jul 5th 2007 2:37am — Joseph Weisenthal

Environmental activists have increasingly been pointing fingers at the tech sector due to the amount of energy that gets consumed in the construction and use of various devices. When it comes to corporate IT, however, this concern seems rather misplaced, since the adoption of technology is typically done with an eye towards increasing efficiency. Rather than there being a conflict between the environment and new technology, new technology is a boon to efforts at reducing energy consumption. A new report out of the UK implicates consumer electronics for their energy use, noting that new high definition TVs, for example, consume more electricity than old tube-based sets. That may be true, but consider the various unseen cost savings. Old TVs weren't a substitute for driving to the theater or the video store. It's also hard to imagine that the production of a "clunky" old TV was a particularly clean process given the various raw materials involved. Almost all new consumer electronics are a replacement for something that was more wasteful (MP3s vs. CDs). Fortunately, the author of the study isn't calling for anything too drastic, though she does encourage consumers to at least turn off their devices when not in use. Whatever your view on the question is, that sounds like good advice.

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13 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 5 Jul 2007 @ 10:09am

Big boob tube
"for example, consume more electricity than old tube-based sets."

My HDTV *is* "tube-based". So I guess I'm using 10 times the power of an old tv? Riiight.
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that guy, 5 Jul 2007 @ 10:10am

Something needs to be done with the massive amount of waste heat generated by corporate servers. It should be re-routed to heat the building in the winter and maybe used to heat the hot water year-round. Right now the solution is to build huge air conditioners and not worry about it.
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- mac84, 5 Jul 2007 @ 10:18am
  
  Re:
  goes back to that simple economic principle. The simple way to make corporations look at these more novel means of saving energy is to make it in their economic best interest. an accross the board tax increase in the tax on energy is all that is needed.
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  - gdwntx, 5 Jul 2007 @ 10:48am
    
    Re: Re:
    You must be one of those left wingers that thinks the government can run things better then we can. Get the gov. out of buss. and buss. will run it better cheaper and much more efficent. We cause the demand for more power and we do demand it. NO MORE TAXES YOU IDIOTS
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    - Anonymous Coward, 5 Jul 2007 @ 1:18pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      getting the government out of business will not be great. while its hit or miss with each regulation/law on how well the government regulates things, it does do a significant amount to protect consumers (there are many regulations, quality assurance, and what not in place because of the government. false advertising is a good example). Plus cheaper isn't always best for the consumer OR the environment OR EVEN efficiency. Cheap != efficient and unfortunately big companies prioritize cheap over efficient A LOT of the time.
      
      and who is "we" referring to anyway in your first statement?
      
      and i have no clue what your point is about "we cause the demand for more power and we do demand it." what does that mean? what are you trying to say?
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- Anonymous Coward, 5 Jul 2007 @ 1:21pm
  
  Re:
  the problem is the need for how quickly the servers need to be cooled. there's no practical system that could keep them at a constant cool temperature. nothing can transfer the heat away quickly enough other than just putting something really cold (whether it be air or some other material) on it.
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  - that guy, 5 Jul 2007 @ 2:02pm
    
    Re: Re:
    "the problem is the need for how quickly the servers need to be cooled. there's no practical system that could keep them at a constant cool temperature. nothing can transfer the heat away quickly enough other than just putting something really cold (whether it be air or some other material) on it."
    
    Yeah, then you take that working fluid (water, air, refrigerant), and instead of dumping the heat outside as traditional A/C units do, dump that heat inside during the winter.
    
    Without some regulation businesses will usually pick the cheapest alternative. Do you think _any_ industry would impose emission standards on themselves? They wouldn't, and they didn't in the past. They just built the smoke stacks high enough that your neighborhood didn't get sprayed with soot.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 5 Jul 2007 @ 6:58pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Until some company decides to offer to build a device or A/C that allows the working fluid (which isn't actually always hot after its used) to be re-used, I don't expect a company to all of the sudden become engineers and devise a way to bring the heat created by the AC (which isn't always there). Chemical Reactions can absorb heat (hence they feel cold). Temperature isn't always a zero-sum game. If something goes up 5 degrees, it does not mean something else went down 5 degrees. Energy is lost in several forms.
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Haywood, 5 Jul 2007 @ 10:13am

I've noticed PC power supplys keep getting bigger
100-250 watt power supplies at one time were the norm, now 500w may not get it. I notice the heat coming out of the case more now as well. No one forced me to build a dual SLI gaming rig, and I wouldn't want to go back. More powerful electronics draw more power, duh, but most of us wouldn't want to go back to the old stuff.
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- Anonymous Coward, 5 Jul 2007 @ 1:22pm
  
  Re: I've noticed PC power supplys keep getting big
  thats not completely the point. they're saying that instead of just continually increasing the power of electronics, we should focus on making what we already have much more efficient.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Jul 2007 @ 12:32pm

Except for the occasional Enron or Healthsouth Debacle...
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Mark, 5 Jul 2007 @ 4:07pm

Liquid-cooled turbo-charged PCs. Technology is coming that will draw much less energy (magnetic/bubble memory, light based circuits, solid-state "drives") but like anything else it isn't here quite yet.

If HDTVs and other devices use so much energy, why is it several can be used on a single 15A circuit? The old RCA TV from my youth would sometimes pop the breaker just turning it on. Anyone remember the clunk from those old power supplies as the caps charged?
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Chronno S. Trigger, 5 Jul 2007 @ 5:42pm

This issue hits close to home.
I just moved into my own apartment. I have to pay the electric bill. Since I run a server 24/7 I would have it no other way. With the server, 32" HD LCD TV, Xbox, 360, GQ, Wii, PS2, ext... they combined use less than 10KW/h. Turning on the AC (not even that high) kicks it up to 50+. Now I'm no electrician nor do I really understand exactly what a KW is but I know that it costs me $100/m with the AC on. So all you Greenpeace people out there, I'm sweating my ass off just to save power. Be happy. (and I moved 20min closer to work to save gas.)

I do remember hearing my TV turn on before I got the LCD.
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