[LINK] Improving the energy efficiency of PCs and monitors in Australia

[Tom Worthington]

The Australian Government's Department of Environment, Water, 
Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) has asked me to help with a project to 
increase the energy efficiency of personal computers and monitors in 
Australia. This is for the Equipment Energy Efficiency Program (E3). 
Input from the ICT industry and other interested parties are welcome: 
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2008/09/improving-energy-efficiency-of-pcs-and.html>.

Energy Rating labelE3 run the Minimum Performance Energy Standards 
(MEPS) project, which is supported by the Commonwealth, State and 
Territory governments. MEPS works with industry to increase energy 
efficiency and consumer awareness, through initiatives such as Energy 
Rating labels applied to appliances. During 2007/2008 E3 has held a 
number of meetings with the ICT industry and consumer representatives 
to discuss energy saving initiatives for computers, similar to those 
for appliances.

More recently the meetings have concentrated on consultation with the 
industry and encouraging them to prepare submissions on MEPS or 
alternatives to be considered by DEWHA before being presented at the 
next meeting in September.

The Proposal

Energy Rating labelGreen ICT for the Australian Computer Society, and 
at the Australian National University, I was asked to speak at the 8 
February 2008 Labelling Workshop on Computers and Monitors. The 
proposal under consideration was to make the US Energy Star Standard 
V4.0/V4.1 mandatory for computer and monitors sold from October 2009. 
There is a Fact Sheet and Technical Report available on the proposal.

The new Minimum Energy Performance Standard would have applied to 
corporate, private and government computer purchases, with 
non-complying products being prohibited. Energy rating labels similar 
to those on consumer appliances would be attached to computers. 
Australian federal government agencies were already encouraged to 
purchase "Energy Star" standard computers (mandatory for US 
Government Agencies) under a 1997 policy on Measures for Improving 
Energy Efficiency in Commonwealth Operations.

The workshop covered the reasons for energy efficiency standards and 
labelling, why this should apply to ICT equipment, if the scheme 
should be voluntary or compulsory, how it could be implemented. A 
similar workshop had been held in 20 December 2007 on energy 
labelling for televisions.

At the computer meeting the consumer groups spoke generally in favour 
of the proposals, while the computer manufacturers had some concerns 
that a scheme designed for appliances would not be directly 
transferable to ICT equipment. Following the February 2008 meeting, I 
was asked by DEWHA to act as an independent consultant, collecting 
input from companies and propose an energy saving scheme in line with 
their views which would meet the government's objectives.

A further meeting was held with industry 29 July 2008 to discuss the 
issues of ICT energy efficiency. The general view of the meeting was 
that ICT products are internationally standardised and to introduce 
unique requirements for Australia would increase the cost to 
consumers and cause confusion. Australia should therefore not create 
its own unique energy labelling scheme for computer products. The 
emphasis should be on harmonised international standards and an 
introduction date of not earlier than April 2010.

Computer companies individually, in various non-profit initiatives 
and through formal national and international standards bodies have 
developed a number of initiatives for energy saving and customer 
awareness. My view is that it should be possible to build on these to 
provide a program of energy efficiency and consumer awareness for PCs.

Think Tank Report

The original concept was that I would prepare a report in conjunction 
with industry which would then be submitted to DEWHA. However, I have 
proposed to DEWHA, and they have accepted, that this be changed to an 
independent "think tank" style report. This will canvass input more 
widely and propose the possibility of an industry best practice or 
voluntary strategy, based on company, industry, national and 
international projects as models for possible wider industry 
engagement. It will draw on public source material about what the 
companies are doing, both domestically and internationally and 
propose to widen the operation of those successful company "pilot" 
projects as the basis for a complementary industry strategy.

This work is being funded by DEWHA, but will not necessarily 
represent DEWHA's views, nor that of any company or industry body. 
The report will inform the work of DEWHA will try to make some 
economy wide projections as to its greenhouse value of a voluntary 
programs as a basis for an Australian standard.

Other Areas to Be Investigated

Apart from areas relating to energy efficiency labelling and testing, 
other ways to encourage energy efficiency which might be fruitful to 
explore are:

     * Standardised Energy requirements for government tenders, such 
as in the DEWHA Request for Tender for Provision of Desktop, LAN, 
Helpdesk and Midrange Services (RFT 0708-705 7 August 2008), with 
detailed environmental requirements.
     * Energy Training for ICT Industry Staff: Such as the The 
Natural Edge Project's : Sustainable IT Lecture Series.
     * Information for consumers and small business: on the benefits
       of purchasing efficient computers. As these are computer based 
products, the web can be used as an information medium, in place of 
physical sticker on equipment and brochures.

Companies currently provide information on their product offerings, 
but these can be difficult to interpret and compare. Industry and 
government can work to make the energy efficiency and other 
environmental information about products available in an easily 
interpreted format.

Invitation to Provide Input

The ICT industry, researchers and others, are invited to provide 
input on how a voluntary scheme might work. Please note that his is a 
"desk exercise", involving a few days work, to produce a report of a 
few pages. It is not something on the scale of the Garnaut Climate 
Change Review or the Gershon Review of Government ICT.

The preferred method for input is by electronic mail to the address: 
pcmeps2(a)tomw.net.au>. Brief messages, with no attachments, citing 
publicly available web based sources are preferred: "Our company 
provides details of the energy rating of PCs sold at http://www ..." 
or "We have an energy saving scheme in Europe which could be 
introduced to Australia. See: http:/www...".

All input must be of a publicly usable nature. "Commercial in 
confidence" material cannot be used, as the final report is to be 
made public. I plan to have a draft report for DEWHA by 11 September 
2008, so early input would be appreciated.



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, Australian National University