Ibm Ready With `green' Pc

The Age

Wednesday May 26, 1993

BIG Blue is about to go green. IBM is preparing to introduce a compact computer that addresses key environmental issues _ energy conservation and electromagnetic radiation.

The typical desktop computer uses 250 to 300 watts of power. IBM's offering belongs to a new generation of computers, popularly called ``green PCs," that will cut energy usage to less than 60 watts.

Many of these new computers, as well as printers and monitors, are expected to be introduced next month as part of the US Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program for encouraging conservation in the PC industry.

In terms of energy costs, IBM's green PC (it has not been named) will use about $US15 in electricity a year. Conventional office PCs have an annual cost of $US125 to $US150.

Steven Anzovin, author of `The Green PC', said: ``In corporations that have hundreds or even thousands of PCs, the savings in energy costs can be substantial.

Beyond the power consumption of the computers, ``there will also be significantly reduced cooling costs for offices", Anzovin said.

``Conventional computers generate a lot of heat." And because the green machine does not need an internal cooling fan, as conventional PCs do, it is also quieter.

Whether the energy cost savings will be offset by higher prices for Energy Star products is not certain. When IBM showed its green PC prototype last year, it vowed that there would be no cost penalty for buying green.

Companies committed to environmentally friendly policies will find another reason besides cost to consider the green PC. IBM says the active-matrix color screen emits none of the very low frequency and extremely low frequency electromagnetic radiation produced by conventional monitors that use a cathode-ray tube.

Electromagnetic radiation from video display terminals has long been suspected, but never proved, as a possible cause of cancers and other health ailments among PC users.

The machine is also likely to gain friends because it is so small and lightweight _ 30 centimetres square by about five centimetres tall.

It can slip neatly into a desk drawer or be tucked on a bookshelf, and including the screen weighs three-and-a-half kilograms. The main system comes with a bolt to fasten to a desktop or the side of a desk.

The IBM green PC draws heavily from technologies developed for portable computers. When all its components are in use _ hard disk, floppy disk, keyboard, mouse and processor _ the computer uses just 30 watts, and the display 21 watts. At full capacity, it uses less energy than a 60-watt lightbulb.

The real savings come when the computer is inactive but still plugged in. According to IBM, a typical end-user duty cycle _ the time a worker actually spends using the computer on the job _ is about three hours a day. The rest of the time the computer sits idly, drawing power.

Once it has detected no activity for a certain period, typically 10 minutes but longer at the user's discretion, the green PC begins a gradual drift into sleep. Power consumption falls to 16 watts, just enough for the computer to snap back to life when the user touches the keyboard. New York Times