CAIRO: What could computer companies and environmentalists possibly have in common? Save the Earth's climate. That is what technology titans Intel and Google confirmed yesterday as they unveiled the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a global environmental program that aims at making energy-saving computers the norm. "The goal of the initiative is to drive the efficiency of computers and increase use of power management tools, said Erik Teetzel, Google's technical program manager. At the core of the initiative lies an effort to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by introducing more energy-efficient personal computers and server systems. "Today's reality is that an average desktop computer wastes nearly half of its power, and servers lose approximately one third of their power, explained Teetzel. He added that half of these machines' power is lost as heat which again adversely affects the surrounding environments, be they offices or homes, by adding more heat and thus requiring more power for air conditioning. "This initiative will, [eventually] reduce energy waste, the computing industry's carbon footprint and lower costs for consumers of these products, Teetzel added. By adopting more energy-efficient components, computers and servers can utilize 90 percent or more of the electricity delivered to them. Besides, improving computing energy efficiency by 50 percent, power-efficient computers have a collective impact on the environment. "They can collectively save $5.5 billion in energy costs as well as reduce global CO2 emissions from computing platforms by 54 million tons per year, equivalent to the removal of 11 million autos, or to eliminating 20 coal plants from the planet, or to planting 25,000 sq. miles of trees, said Gordon Graylish, vice president sales and marketing group, assistant general manager at Intel in the EMEA region. Even if an eco-friendly computer implies a higher cost for consumers, it still helps them save money elsewhere. "An initial price premium comes at $20 for desktops and $30 for servers. Energy savings over the first 1-2 years as well as utility rebates will offset costs, and [consequently] price premium is expected to decline to virtually zero, Teetzel pointed out. Obviously, the main keyword for this equation is lower electricity bills. "A machine that does not consume that much energy will save money. Particularly, for corporations, this is significant. In a corporation that uses 100 computers, for example, the electricity bill is a major concern, said Khaled El Amrawi, Intel's general manager in Egypt and North Africa. "Energy costs in Egypt are increasing and more and more companies are starting to become conscious of how much energy they consume. As volumes of these computers increase in the market, El Amrawi added, the extra cost for efficient computers would eventually drop. "Today, they could be slightly more expensive to purchase. But as manufacturers start to produce more of these, older less-efficient computers will become [obsolete] and this new technology will become less expensive. Indeed, Intel and Google tempted other computer manufacturing companies such as Dell, HP, IBM, Microsoft, among others to go green and join in the initiative, a step that will further drag end-users with them. "Globally, manufacturers commit themselves to deliver and market energy efficient products. Governments are engaged in increasing the adoption of power-efficient computers, and several NGOs are educating people to make the most of their energy consumption in face of today's technology, Teetzel pointed out. On a local scale, the initiative is also raising awareness among local computer assemblers of the benefits of using this technology. "We are trying to raise the public's awareness as well as educate local assemblers and engineers of the benefits and means of deploying this new technology, El Amrawi stated. With global support, we expect this new technology to rack up in volume and to be adopted very fast in Egypt and other developing countries, El Amrawi added.
