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TAG: Energy Star 4.0

March 24, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Xerox develops Sustainability Calculator for doc tech

Add Xerox to the list of vendors adding green-o-meter functionality to their wares. The company Tuesday will unveil what it dubs a Sustainability Calculator, designed to help customers evaluate the environmental impact of their document-technology systems, such as printers, faxes, and copiers.

Part of the company's Xerox Office Services, the Sustainability Calculator measures the waste and greenhouse gas emissions associated with powering printers, copiers, fax machines, and multifunction devices. It also measures the differences, in environmental terms, resulting from practices such as printing single-sided documents instead of double-sided, or using different types of ink.

In addition to the aforementioned version, which Xerox reps would use during an assessment for a customer, the company also has developed a slimmed-down Web-based version.

Both calculators require a user to input information about the various machines in his or her organization. They then employ "proprietary algorithms and document assessment research to deliver data about a company's entire fleet of office products, from printers to multifunction devices and copiers, regardless of the equipment supplier," according to Xerox.

Once a customer has a glimpse of the inefficiency of its document-tech systems, the next step (Xerox hopes) is to show customers how to gain efficiency by, say, in retiring various older copiers, fax machines, and printers for fewer, newer MFDs.

It might be tempting for to dismiss this type of tool as simply a marketing scheme to exploit CXOs who've caught a case of the green fever that's swept the U.S. and beyond. But the reality is, there are cost savings to be had from certain sustainable practices, and making adjustments to your company's network of printers and other document-technology products is one of them. That includes moving to fewer multi-purpose machines as your older ones are ready for retirement.

First, a new model MFD should be Energy Star compliant, which means it has a significantly lower power draw -- as much as 70 percent, according to Xerox -- than that of its one-function predecessors combined. Also, from a green perspective, manufacturing and shipping four machines -- a copier, a scanner, a fax machines, and a printer -- requires more resources than does building and shipping a single MFD that can do the work of four.

According to Patricia Calkins, vice president of environment, health, and safety at Xerox, many customers have been asking for more information about the green benefits of consolidating doc-tech systems and improv-ing their printing practices. "I was very surprised as I've been doing customer roundtables," says Calkins. "We talk about optimizing the office, and people have said, 'We understand the financial benefits. We want to talk about the environmental benefits."

Global defense and technology company Northrop Grumman worked with Xerox at one of its sectors to reduce a fleet of 2,000 printers, hundreds of MFDs, and stand-alone copiers to fewer than 1,100 devices. According to the Sustainability Calculator numbers, the change resulted in a savings of 27 percent in energy usage while reducing GHG emissions by 26 percent and solid waste creation by 33 percent.

Posted by Ted Samson on March 24, 2008 09:55 PM

February 28, 2008 | Comments: (0)

MacBook Air vs. ThinkPad X300: Which is greener?

Imagine, if you will, that you're a sustainability-minded individual charged with procuring eco-friendly PCs for your company's workforce. You hop on over to the EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) Web site, where you can find a searchable listing of machines with ratings of Bronze, Silver, and Gold to reflect their varying levels of greenness.

It may be tempting to go straight for the Gold, drawing on the assumption that the category represents the eco-friendliest of the bunch. You might take a moment, however, to probe more deeply as to just what separates a top-tiered machine from a silver-stamped competitor. As I learned this week by comparing the EPEAT standings of Apple and Lenovo's respective, recently released ultra-thin notebooks, a vendor can reap a couple of precious points to boost a product's rating a full color grade by meeting criteria that arguably don't translate into meaningful green benefits for the buyer.

As a bit of background, Apple stirred up some excitement at the MacWorld show with the unveiling of the MacBook Air, a remarkably slender laptop weighing in at a mere three pounds. Just this week, Lenovo answered back with a slightly lighter yet thicker model (one that actually includes a built-in CD/DVD drive, optionally) dubbed the ThinkPad X300.

Beyond the general cool factor of these lean machines (and the back relief they provide weary road warriors), both offer green advantages over rival notebooks. Both boast low-power processors and are Energy Star 4.0 compliant. They not only use fewer materials, thanks to their smaller form factors, but they both exceed the restrictions on dangerous materials set out in the European Union's RoHS (Restriction on the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment) directive. Both are designed for easy disassembling for end-of-life management. Yet the ThinkPad has Gold EPEAT status and the MacBook Air has Silver. Why the difference?

The 85-pound charger
First, it helps to understand how the EPEAT ranking works. In order for any piece of hardware to achieve Bronze status, it must meet a full set of 23 required criteria. On top of those requirements, EPEAT has 28 optional criteria. If a product boasts at least 50 percent of the green options (14 or more), it earns Silver status. Seventy-five percent or higher (21-plus) brings home the gold. (Vendors are responsible for self-reporting their products, by the way. The Green Electronics Council, or GEC, maintains the registry and performs spot-checks on occasion to ensure vendors are being honest.)

As it turns out, Lenovo's ThinkPad earns 21 optional points, earning it a Gold rating; the MacBook Air has 19 optional points, putting it squarely in the Silver camp. At first glance, a two-point difference might suggest that Lenovo simply went the extra green mile to make its offering that much more eco-friendly. But you may think differently if you consider how Lenovo earned them.

First, Lenovo meets the optional EPEAT criterion of making available a "renewable energy accessory": "[The covered product] shall have a commercially available accessory for powering the product that uses renewable energy." That certainly sounds eco-friendly. But for U.S. and Canadian customers, that accessory turns out to be a $1,200 85.5-pound solar generator/panel package, the Solar PowerPac II, offered by a partner company called Advanced Energy Group.

Notably, Lenovo also offers, through AEC, the Solar PowerPac Euro, which is available only in European countries. It's slightly more practical than the Solar PowerBehemoth, weighing in at a mere 14.9 pounds with a price tag of $499. But -- no disrespect to AEC for its product line -- neither of these "renewable energy accessories" strike me as particularly practical for the vast majority of users. Nevertheless, by the EPEAT standard, it makes Lenovo's ThinkPad one point "greener" than the MacBook Air.

Lenovo's not the only company offering the AEC's solar-power chargers as a renewable energy accessory; HP, for example, has received EPEAT Gold status for products by offering the same gear.

Lenovo's second extra point comes from the fact that it, unlike Apple, compiles a corporate report based on the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative). Developed under the auspices of the United Nations, the GRI provides a standardized, global reporting framework "for publicly disclosing an organization’s economic, environmental, and social performance," according to the non-profit organization.

Anyone familiar with Apple's reputation for secrecy shouldn't be surprised to learn that the company doesn't deliver a GRI report. Apple has faced its share of slings and arrows from groups such as Greenpeace for refusing to openly disclose its sustainability practices -- even though Apple has demonstrated support for eco-friendly initiatives. Does Apple's decision not to embrace GRI mean the MacBook Air is less green than the ThinkPad? I'm not convinced.

A work in progress
I called on the vendor-neutral Green Electronics Council to weigh in on the subject. Again, the GEC is charged only with managing the EPEAT registry and verification system, not with developing and updating the criteria. The latter task falls on the shoulders of the subscribing members of EPEAT, which includes environmental advocates, private and public purchasers, manufacturers, recyclers, environmental-purchasing specialists, and researchers.

The GEC's outreach director Sarah O'Brien provided some informative responses. "The two points you mention -- the renewable energy accessory and the GRI reporting -- both fall into the 'stretching the envelope' category," she writes. "When stakeholders developed the standard, they wanted to include points that laid down direction for future efforts-- in order to not just reward immediate/accessible design improvements (which the bulk of the criteria do), but also to reward innovation leading to future progress. So while the immediate environmental benefit of these two products may not be significantly different because of the two criteria you mention, the future direction of the market may well be."

Shedding light on the thinking behind the GRI criterion, O'Brien writes, "Stakeholders (in particular purchasers, who want to be able to fairly compare company environmental performance) felt that this step toward consistency and support for global reporting protocols was important and should be rewarded."

O'Brien notes that the stakeholders behind EPEAT always have the freedom to propose and adopt changes to the criteria -- and acknowledges that there's always room for improvement. "Keep in mind also that the EPEAT standard is still in its shakedown stages -- as subscribers begin to meet some of the criteria that have been more of a stretch, we are all discovering ways that the criteria language should be made more precise or clarified to eliminate loopholes," she says.

In the context of the "available renewable energy accessory," for example, "this may be an instance where language which narrows the criterion down to clarify what 'available' means -- more reasonable pricing or size -- will be merited going forward," she writes.

My two cents on the matter: EPEAT provides an invaluable tool for helping companies and individuals select the eco-friendliest of electronic products. Stakeholders obviously put a lot of thought into developing the criteria, which covers a broad range of environmental considerations: materials used in the product, materials used to package the product, power consumption, and many, many others. As O'Brien notes, though, the standard is still young. It will benefit from ongoing tweaking to ensure that products are properly and fairly rated in a manner to reflect meaningful green benefits that they bring to buyers.

In the meantime, if you're shopping for a green machine, or a fleet of them for your workforce, take a moment to study differences among products. A shinier metallic distinction or a higher price tag doesn't necessarily mean it's a significantly greener product.

Ted Samson is a senior analyst at InfoWorld and author of the Sustainable IT blog. Subscribe to his free weekly Green Tech newsletter.

Posted by Ted Samson on February 28, 2008 03:00 AM

November 07, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Govs pledge to buy greener hardware for state governments

If you're a hardware vendor and "energy efficiency" isn't high on your product-feature list, you're risking losing some valuable customers -- perhaps as many as 50, with names such as Kansas and Minnesota.

The National Governors Association (NGA) today announced a partnership between the NGA chair's Securing a Clean Energy Future (SCEF) initiative and the Climate Savers Computing Initiative (CSCI) to spur deployment of more energy-efficient computers and servers in state offices and agencies.

Two governors, NGA Chair Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, have committed to the partnership thus far, and they will work to encourage their 48 peers to follow suit.

The move would certainly have eco-friendly benefits. Moreover, it would result fewer wasted tax dollars. Underutilized hardware can spell costly waste. For example, powering down PCs that aren't in use can result in as much as $45 in energy savings per system and $30 per monitor, per year, according to Energy Star.

"The average desktop PC currently wastes half of the power it receives," said Gov. Pawlenty in a written statement. "Having states increase the energy efficiency of their computing equipment will save consumers and taxpayers money, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change."

Under the terms of the agreement, these states have committed to reducing energy consumption from a majority of their computing equipment by:

- pledging to purchase high-efficiency computer equipment that meets or exceeds federal Energy Star ratings;

- optimizing existing computer systems by educating employees about more efficient and effective computer power-management strategies, such as better using hibernation and sleep modes;

- and ensuring in subsequent years states purchase computing equipment with increasing levels of efficiency.

Beyond preserving precious tax dollars, the initiative could spur citizens and merchants to embrace more sustainable practices themselves, observes Bill Weihl, co-chairman of the CSCI board of directors and Google's green energy czar. "[Their] actions will provide leadership for residents and local businesses looking to implement effective emission reduction policies," he said in a written statement.

CSCI, an initiative started by Google and Intel, brings together manufacturers, businesses, organizations and individuals to significantly increase the energy efficiency of computers and servers. The group is led by representatives from nine board of director companies, including Dell; Electronic Data Systems; HP; Intel; and Microsoft.

For more information about the SCEF Initiative, go to nga.org/ci. For more information about CSCI, visit climatesaverscomputing.org.

Posted by Ted Samson on November 7, 2007 10:24 AM

November 01, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Dell tailors Inspiron desktop for green

Even before Energy Star 4.0 went into effect, we saw business-oriented workstations available from vendors including Dell and HP. Now Dell has unveiled a line of ES 4.0-compliant systems for home users: greened-up versions of the Inspiron 531, apparently with enough oomph to run Vista.

"We are committed to providing consumers a choice that helps protect the environment without sacrificing the performance needed to maintain a rich, high-definition digital experience," said Karen Plotkin, director of consumer desktop marketing, in a written statement. "Consumers using this energy-efficient Inspiron 531 can reduce their carbon footprint while also reducing their electric bills."

The Inspiron 531s are powered by 80-percent efficient power supply, as required by ES 4.0. Additionally, Dell has configured the machines to enter a low-power sleep state after 15 minutes of inactivity. (Powering down systems that aren't in use can, indeed, shave money off your energy bill.)

Moreover, the company is touting the fact that the system "includes a forest-friendly paperless owner's manual," which, I, as an advocate of paper-waste reduction, do appreciate. I do wonder if it means more calls to the Dell support people from non-tech-savvy users who can't manage to get to the paperless manual to begin with.

The entry-level configuration of the Inspiron 531 comes with Vista Home Basic and includes an AMD Sempron 3600+ processor, a 1GB2 Dual Channel3 DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs; a 160GB4 SATA drive (7200RPM), as well as a CDRW/DVD combination drive and NVIDIA integrated graphics.

On the other end of the spectrum, there's a configuration running the AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 5000+ with 2GB2 Dual Channel3 DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs; and a 500GB4 SATA 3Gbps drive (7200RPM). This one, which has Vista Home Premium installed, is listed at $1,184.

More information is available here.

Posted by Ted Samson on November 1, 2007 12:50 PM

August 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Green trickling down to local government

Every so often, I'll google the term "green technology," just to see what's going on in the green-tech-o-sphere. An interesting nugget popped up today: Erie County, New York (population of around 925,000) has passed a law requiring county officials to purchase Energy Star appliances when possible.

OK, so in and of itself, that's not Earth-shattering news. Perhaps Earth-hugging news, though. But more important, it's a good example of how green-tech awareness has infiltrated the consciousness of politicians at not only federal and state levels, but also local levels.

The move is good news for Erie County, because it means lower energy bills. It also good news for companies like Dell, Fujitsu, and HP, and others that have been working diligently to keep up with the latest Energy Star standards for PCs and laptops. (Of course, the law applies to all other types of appliances that earn Energy Star ratings, including air-conditioning units, lighting, and the refrigerators and televisions that might show up Erie County government building's break rooms.)

It's difficult to keep a tab on what individual cities and counties are doing, but if you happen to live in one that's passed similar laws, please drop me a line and let me know (or comment below).

Posted by Ted Samson on August 20, 2007 12:52 PM

June 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Dell Latitude D630 notebook scores gold status for green

Latitude D630 the first and currently only notebook on market to meet the highest EPEAT rating

Dell Latitude D630 notebooks scores gold status for green Dell has added a bit more gold to its green credentials, having released the first notebook on the market to achieve Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) gold status: the Latitude D630.

Dell announced the Latitude D630's gold distinction late last week, not long after HP announced the first EPEAT gold-status desktop on the market, the rp5700. Dell has a couple of EPEAT gold desktops itself: the OptiPlex 740 and 745 Energy Smart mini-tower systems.

EPEAT is a procurement system that helps purchasers evaluate, compare and select products based on environmental attributes. Products meeting all required criteria and at least 75 percent of the optional criteria are recognized as EPEAT Gold.

Among the Latitude D630's eco-friendly attributes that helped it earn EPEAT gold, the system meets Energy Star 4.0 requirements, plus it has a lifecycle of about three to four years, according to Dell spokesman Jeremy Bolen.

The D630 packs an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, an upgrade from the D620, and offer integrated graphics for longer battery life, according to Dell. The hard drive is of the SATA variety, up to 160GB in capacity.

The system is also ruggedized (Dell calls it RoadReady) for longer life with full magnesium-alloy construction.

Power options include a 65-watt or 90-watt AC adapter with cord wrapping. Additionally, Dell uses 25 percent post-consumer recycled content in cardboard packaging.

For more information, go here.

Posted by Ted Samson on June 12, 2007 02:41 PM

June 01, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Dell responds on OptiPlex, Energy Star 4.0, and Vista

Yesterday, I wrote about Dell's new OptiPlex systems, which are designed to meet the Energy Star 4.0 standards [PDF].

The thrust of my post was to explore whether or not it was possible to buy a desktops -- from Dell or any other company -- that would both meet ES 4.0 and would run Windows Vista effectively for the average business user.

Specific to Dell, I also wanted to know how a buyer could tell whether he or she had selected a configuration on the Dell site that met the Energy Star 4.0 criteria.

Dell spokesperson Jeremy Bolen was kind enough to offer a response to my post, which follows:

I just wanted to clarify a few things. First, customers can find Energy Star 4.0 systems by going to www.dell.com/energy -- a site with
information about our energy initiatives -- and through the regular OptiPlex online sites by clicking on Energy Star logo when you select either the OptiPlex 740 or 745.

There you will find systems that are fairly robust in configurability for commercial users. And, you'll find that our systems are available with either Windows XP or Vista that are perfectly capable of running Ultimate with up to 4GB of RAM and optional 256MB video cards.

As you probably know, Energy Star 4.0 divides systems into three categories, basic, mainstream and power user scenarios that have different energy consumption requirements. Depending on how a customer configures their system, it will fall into one of those categories (more information on this can be found at www.energystar.gov).

We feel that our offerings are transparent and our teams worked countless hours to ensure that Dell OptiPlex systems meet Energy Star 4.0 guidelines.

First off, thank you, Jeremy, for the reply. I do have some points to make in response:

1. Going to the regular OptiPlex section of the Dell site, I see no mention of Energy Star 4.0 at all.

2. Going to the Dell Energy page you reference, and clicking around a bit, leads you to another place from which to customize and order one of these new OptiPlexes.

Just above the Customize It button, there is a caveat: "Select configurations meet Energy Star 4.0 requirements."

See, that is the stumbling point for me, and my questions remain:
1. What does "select configurations" mean? Is there someplace a user can find them?

2. Is it really possible to get one of these systems that is Energy Star 4.0-compliant yet still capable of running Vista -- with Aero activated -- while meeting the average business user's needs?

3. How does a user know, once he or she has configured a system, that it is still Energy Star 4.0 compliant (i.e. that he or she has chosen a "select configuration")?

I do want to stress that I applaud Dell for being among the PC vendors tackling energy efficiency. I like that the company is making 80-percent efficient power supplies standard in these systems.

But at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I still want to know if any company -- not just Dell -- is capable of doing what I'm talking about here: developing a desktop (not workstation, as defined by Energy Star) that can take adequate advantage of Vista? If so, I'll be impressed. Given the system requirements of Microsoft newest desktop OS, I think the company has made it challenging for hardware vendors.

I also would urge PC vendors to make it crystal clear to buyers which configurations of their systems do meet Energy Star 4.0. It also would be cool if you could see how adding, changing, or removing components to a configuration affects a system's energy consumption.

Posted by Ted Samson on June 1, 2007 01:41 PM

May 31, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Dell vague on Vista-friendliness of its Energy Star 4.0 PCs

Dell offers OptiPlex variants that meet the new standard and run Vista -- but which ones and how well?

Ever since HP announced its Energy Star 4.0 PCs earlier this year, I've wondered if any hardware vendor out there would be able to produce a business-worthy ES 4.0-compliant system not just simply capable of running Windows Vista -- but running it well.

Currently, HP's ES 4.0-configured systems just ship with XP -- even though the company "recommends Vista" all over the PC-sales areas of its Web site. When I spoke to the company about that last March, they basically told me that they hadn't devised a way to design a system that good meet Vista's system requirements and user needs while still meeting the wattage limits to bear the Energy Star 4.0 distinction. (Higher-end components such as processors and cards boost a system's energy consumption, even when it's in sleep mode.)

Now Dell announced this week a set of PCs that are Energy Star 4.0-compliant, the OptiPlex 740 and 745. The company touts the systems' included 80-percent-efficient power supplies, as well as their pre-installed Dell Energy Smart Power Management Settings. "Configured with flat panel monitors, these systems can help customers save up to 77 percent in power consumption compared to previous generation systems when combined with Energy Smart power settings," the company says.

Moreover, Dell notes that the system's chassis is "designed specifically for thermal effectiveness, maximizing the OptiPlex's internal fan's performance."

OK, that's great, right? (Right.) But suppose you head over to the OptiPlex page of Dell's Web site in the hopes of ordering one of these lean, green machines. You'll see that, lo, you have the option of ordering a system installed with either XP or Vista. But right below that bit of information, it says that "Select configurations meet Energy Star 4.0 requirements."

Well, good luck in figuring out which configurations that includes. Suppose you have your heart set on Vista. Once you click the "Customize with Windows Vista" button, you're taken to a screen where you can pick and choose your OS (one of three flavors of Vista: Home, Business, and Ultimate); processor; memory; optical device; video card; and so forth.

But after tinkering with a couple of configurations, choosing both the lowest-end option that would meet the bare-bones Vista requirements (more on that in a moment) as well as a higher-end configuration that would certainly run Vista and Aero, it wasn't clear whether or not I'd ended up with a system compliant with ES 4.0.

Now surely that low-end configuration could technically run Vista, but would it run well enough to be of any use? According to Microsoft, all you need for reaping "good" Vista performance is 512MB of RAM, an "integrated or discrete graphics memory," and at least 15GB of free hard drive space. But with that, you can't run Aero, and the company says that OS configuration is "great for booting the operating system -- without running applications or games." I’d wager most companies would prefer an OS that does more than just boot up.

The next level is of Vista performance is "better," which in Vista parlance means you can run basic applications, and Aero is enabled by default. The minimum requirements there: at least a 1GHZ processor, a 128MB graphics card, 1GB of RAM, and a 40GB hard drive -- but with that setup, Microsoft says that Aero performance will suffer if you open too many apps or run your system in dual-monitor mode.

Now, as I said, HP hasn't found a way to meet these Vista requirements in an ES 4.0 configuration -- at least one that it wants to offer business and consumers. And I sure would love to know whether Dell has managed the feat. I suspect people and companies that want or actually are required to purchase Energy Star 4.0-compliant systems would like to know what their options truly are.

But alas, I've been asking the company since yesterday morning for a chance to talk to someone and to get more information, yet no one at Dell seems available to speak with me, for some reason. Maybe I've been blacklisted because I wasn't sufficiently impressed with the company's "Plant a Tree for Me" program?

Posted by Ted Samson on May 31, 2007 04:04 PM

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