[LINK] Australian energy standards for computers

[Tom Worthington]

The Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO) is working on energy 
efficiency standards in Australia and NZ, for personal computers and 
monitors. AGO has released "Analysis of the Potential for Minimum 
Energy Performance Standards for Computers and Monitors" 
<http://energyrating.gov.au/library/pubs/200712-computers-monitors.pdf>. 
Comments are due by Friday 7th December. My summary of the proposals 
is at 
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2007/11/mandatory-energy-efficiency-standards.html>.

The one change I would like to see is a new category of "thin client" 
desk top computers of 25 Watts or less. Units such as the Zonbu 
<http://www.tomw.net.au/technology/it/it_carbon_footprint/#thin>, 
consume less than 20 Watts, which is far less than the smallest 50 W 
category in the ENERGY STAR computer specifications V4.0.

Speaking of low power computers, I got an ASUS Eee PC on the weekend. 
This $500 sub-sub-notebook computer shows promote 
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2007/12/asus-eee-pc-first-impressions.html>. 
Zombu have also announced a "carbon neutral" notebook which looks 
like a regular (cheap) laptop 
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2007/11/zonbu-thin-linux-client-energy.html>. 
I expect we will now see a flood of such devices, offering low cost, 
low power and open source software and by the end of 2008, such 
devices will be the first option for people wanting a computer 
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2007/11/green-linux-pc-tipping-point-to.html>.

I will be talking about this at conferences in Sydney and Melbourne this week.



Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617                      http://www.tomw.net.au/
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, ANU