High Tech: Low Carbon The role of technology in tackling climate change 

Section 1: Improvements to our own products and services

AMD: PowerNow! Technology
AMD PowerNow! Technology is a power management solution integrated into AMD Opteron processors that helps to reduce CPU (central processing unit) power consumption in servers by 15% and up to 40% at idle. Correspondingly, this also lowers the electricity consumption of the cooling equipment. The result is increased performance by Watt because power and cooling requirements are reduced. Combined with other technologies, such as AMD CoolCore technology (which shuts off the flow of electricity to sections of the processor when not in use) energy consumption can be decreased even further. These systems should be implemented in as part of a holistic process of energy management– i.e. in data centers which have already been re-organised, i.e. unnecessary hardware removed, the system consolidated and virtualised.

AMD: PowerNow! Technology case study (PDF 159KB)

Eneco: new chip technology
Eneco is developing a revolutionary solid state energy conversion/generation chip that will convert heat directly into electricity, or alternatively refrigerate down to -200 degrees C when electricity is applied. Based on principles of thermionic energy conversion, whereby the energy of a hot metal overcomes the electrostatic forces holding electrons to its surface, these free electrons then pass across a vacuum to a cold metal and in the process creates an electronic charge that can be harnessed. The result is a solid-state energy conversion chip that can operate at temperatures of up to 600°C and deliver absolute efficiencies (in terms of how much heat energy is converted to electricity) of between 20 and 30%. There is scope for chips replacing high end lithium ion and polymer batteries, but the major scope is in integrating the heat conversion chips into computing devices to harness the heat generated by processors and turn it into electricity to power fans or other cooling technologies.

Eneco: new chip technology case study

EPSON: digitising textile printing
Traditional textile printing is a complex manufacturing process that requires several production steps before a fabric is printed and ready for use. Epson offers solutions, based on the patented micropiëzo print technology, that can be used to digitise the textile printing process. Digital printing eliminates several of the production steps required for traditional textile printing. The implementation of digital textile printing leads to significant reductions in energy and water use compared to traditional textile printing. By changing the traditional textile printing process to digital printing, energy reductions of 50% can be achieved, leading to savings in the area of 23.000 KWh per printer or 1,610,000kWh in total during 2007.

EPSON: digitising textile printing case study (PDF 34KB)

Fujitsu Siemens Computers: Data centre energy savings
Deployment of dynamic IT infrastructures have resulted in energy savings of up to 70%. Dynamic data centre solutions make IT operations more flexible and allows resources to be matched to requirements with an overall reduction in energy consumption. This is achieved by integrating monitoring and management tools so that IT resources are allocated in a more flexible way. These tools ensure that servers are only activated when they are needed and are switched off when workloads drop so they are not using energy running in idle mode. Disk capacity is also maximized through shared storage system. These dynamic data centre solutions also feature an energy efficient redundancy concept where backup servers are activated automatically in the case of server failure elsewhere, but can remain switched off until this happens.

Fujitsu Siemens Computers: Data centre energy savings case study (PDF 45KB)

Fujitsu: life cycle energy requirements of laptop and desktop PCs
Fujitsu published details of life cycle assessment of a desktop and a laptop computer which found that the desktop used more energy during its in-use phase (4510MJ) than in the manufacturing and disposal phases (2416MJ and -432MJ) whilst the laptop’s energy use was greater in the manufacturing and disposal phase (1655MJ and -19MJ) than the in-use phase (810MJ). Interestingly, this difference is a reflection of the lower energy requirement of the laptop in use - less than 20% of the desktop – and should not therefore be read as a negative aspect of laptops. It emphasises the importance of taking whole life energy use into account. In this case the total energy requirement of the laptop is less than half that of the desktop (2446MJ as opposed to 6504MJ).

Fujitsu life cycle energy requirements of laptop and desktop PCs image

HP: Dynamic Smart Cooling
Dynamic Smart Cooling is an advanced hardware and software solution that continuously adjusts data centre air conditioning settings and directs cool air to where and when it is required. Real-time air temperature measurements are taken by a network of sensors deployed on the racks of servers. An associated development, Thermal Zone Mapping, provides a three dimensional model of exactly how much and where the data centre air conditioners are cooling. From this information, air conditioning can be re-arranged for optimal cooling. HP predicts that customers can reduce data centre cooling energy costs by up to 45% using dynamic smart cooling and thermal zone mapping. Cooling costs comprise on average around 50% of a data centre’s energy use, so substantial energy (and cost) savings can be achieved this way. HP also provides a thermal assessment service which uses sophisticated modelling tools and techniques to determine the unique thermal conditions within a data centre. These are analysed and changes can then be implemented to optimise climactic conditions and maximise capacity.

HP: Dynamic Smart Cooling case study (PDF 35KB)

Merryl Lynch: Data Centre outsourcing
Merrill Lynch is a US investment bank which has recently adopted a virtualised, thin client approach in three business units, one in Glasgow and two in London.  The thin client approach delivered greater working flexibility which was particularly useful in London where there was a lot of staff movement.  The result was that desk requirement was cut by around 10%.  While the thin client approach saved power in the desktop environment – (power requirements being reduced from 160W to 120W per desktop PC) the data centre environment proved more challenging because capacity was moved into an environment where the servers were permanently switched on, which reduced the overall saving to around 20W per PC. However, the thin client approach does have considerable advantages in life-cycle energy requirements because the equipment is simpler and has a longer life expectancy.   Merrill Lynch is now investigating a distributed grid approach for its computing – partnering with an organisation that can provide computing on demand. 

Merryl Lynch: Data Centre outsourcing case study (PDF 72KB)

Nokia: charger alerts
For convenience, some mobile phone users may keep their chargers plugged into the wall constantly. From an environmental angle, such behaviour is undesirable. The charger consumes power (so-called standby consumption) even when it is not charging. Nokia decided to introduce an “unplug your charger” alert to some of its phone models. This application detects when the battery is fully charged and alerts the user to remind her to unplug the charger. If the charger is plugged into the wall all the time, the resulting standby consumption could amount to 60% of the mobile phone’s total lifetime energy consumption. Therefore, the “unplug your charger” alert may reduce the use-phase energy consumption of mobile phones by more than a half. Nokia believes that having the reminder in the mobile phone helps to make users more conscious about the standby electricity consumption of electrical devices at large. This consciousness, in turn, can inspire users to check their usage habits with devices other than the mobile phone. Thus, the “unplug your charger” reminder in the mobile phone can induce energy savings beyond mobile phone usage. It can also motivate the manufacturers of other devices that use re-chargeable batteries to implement the same technology.

Nokia: charger alerts case study (PDF 22KB)

Nokia: Minimising mobile phone packaging
Nokia has redesigned the packaging for its mobile phones with the objective of minimizing the size of each packed phone. The package is designed to fit the phone, user guide and accessories like the charger and battery. The user guide was reduced in size and the contents were rearranged with the help of a clever divider so that the overall pack size was reduced by 50%. As well as using 40% less material, the total package weight was also reduced to 123g as opposed to 217g and 900 of the new packages can be fitted onto one transport pallet, compared to 420 of the old sales packages. Nokia shipped 60 million phones in the new compact packages in 2006 and as a result used 1,200 fewer trucks to transport its products.

Nokia: Minimising mobile phone packaging case study (PDF 23KB)

NXP Semiconductors: power converter efficiencies
NXP has developed high efficiency power converters. These comprise a series of power controller integrated circuits that integrate the basic functionality of a power converter and additional IP to increase the efficiency of the converter. The result is a cost-effective power converter with increased overall efficiency and wide applications in consumer electronics and lighting. Specific products include the GreenChip and STARplug controller families. NXP has established a long term roadmap with regards to increasing the efficiency of power converters. The goal is to increase the efficiency at all loading levels from minimum to maximum load. The energy savings potential is estimated at 500TWh+ in 2010 and of 2000TWh+ in 2020.

Philips: SmartPower
Philips SmartPower is an innovative technology that allows the back-lighting intensity of TVs to be adjusted according to the way that the TV is being used. SmartPower not only reduced the energy demand of TVs whilst they are on, but the technology also turns off the TV automatically when it is not in use. This application is aimed particularly at facilities like hotels and hospitals where multiple TVs are spread across the premises.

Philips: SmartPower case study (PDF 48KB)

Sharp: Super Green initiatives
Sharp’s objective is to balance its emissions by energy creating and energy saving technologies. This is being achieved through Sharp’s Super Green initiative which is a combination of environmental best practice in five areas: products and devices, in technologies, in factories, in management and in recycling. The objective is to ensure that every aspect of Sharp’s activity has an environmental focus.

Sharp: Super Green Initiatives case study

Sharp: Super Green Initiatives image

Sharp: Super-Green Kameyama plant
Sharp’s new Kameyama manufacturing plant in Japan has implemented Sharp’s super green principles in its construction and function and was the company’s first Super Green factory. The factory generates its own energy – 12 MW through LNG co-generation and 5 MW through solar panels and 1 MW from four environmentally friendly molten-carbonate fuel cells, the largest fuel cell system of its kind in Japan. It uses the waste heat generated for air conditioning, hot water supply or steam. 100% of the manufacturing process wastewater (up to 9,000 tonnes a day) is recycled and re-used. The factory generates zero waste. The Kameyama Plant was recognised for its outstanding environmental management by being chosen from among 125 applicants for the highest honor, the Sustainable Management Pearl Award, in the 2004 Japan Sustainable Management Awards.

Sharp: Super-Green Kameyama plant case study (PDF 160KB)  

Sony: best in class TV standby
Sony has reduced TV standby power consumption by over 90% over the last ten years. As of February 2007, all Sony Bravia LCD televisions sold in Europe achieved a standby power consumption below 1W, while many models are below 0.3W. Sony has also drastically reduced the power consumed in operating mode. TV producers historically ship their products in a bright picture mode most suitable for display in shops, but the brighter the picture settings, the higher the power consumption. Most customers do not modify the picture settings after purchase, so Sony now gives the user a choice of “home” or “shop” modes upon first switch-on. This results in a saving of more than 20% in power in operating mode and raises awareness among consumers about the fact that they can actively contribute to reducing power consumption of electronic products.

Sony: best in class TV standby case study (PDF 66KB)

Sun: data centre consolidation
Sun is improving the efficiency of its data centres through a number of measures – consolidation, compression and more efficient design. By consolidating its multiple European datacentres into a single, UK facility, it has achieved an 80% space reduction and around 50% reduction in electrical power and cooling costs. High density design now enabled expansion to five times current capacity yet using only 15% of the original datacentre space. Improved server design means that Sun’s servers can operate safely at higher temperatures – around 72° rather than 68° without harming reliability or performance. Each degree yields a 4% saving in cooling costs. On a worldwide level the move to new technology has enabled sun to reduce 267,000 square feet of data centre space to 133,000 and save around 4,100 tonnes of CO2 per hear. The new design can cut power costs by as much as 66% whilst increasing processing power by around 450%.

Toshiba: Factor T
Toshiba has introduced a novel approach to product design through its Factor T eco-efficiency indicator which is a simple but robust way to drive improvements in eco-design and product efficiency whilst taking into account improvements in performance and functionality. The eco-efficiency of a product is defined as the product’s value (in terms of quality, functionality, etc) divided by its environmental impact. The smaller the environmental impact and the higher the product value, the greater the eco-efficiency. The Factor T indicator is derived by comparing the eco-efficiency of a new product against the eco-efficiency of a benchmark product (in other words, by dividing the former by the latter). The greater the value, the more the eco-efficiency has improved. Factor T is a simple but robust way to drive improvements in eco-design and product efficiency without losing sight of improvements in functionality. For instance, the Factor T for Toshiba’s Notebook PC Portego R500 was 5.1 between 2000 and 2007. This means that the eco-efficiency of that product hafs improved by a factor of 5 over the 2000 version of the notebook.

Toshiba: Factor T case study (PDF 2MB)

Wyse Technology:  Thin client solutions for Reed Managed Services
Reed Managed services delivers managed IT across the Reed Group, whose IT estate encompassed over 4,500 Compaq and HP PCs, over 400 laptops and 300 servers.   Reed realised that its IT department could play a pivotal role in reducing carbon emissions and examined the way the infrastructure was managed and distributed. Servers were under-utilised and equipment was generating significant heat which then needed to be removed through air-conditioning.  After a successful 3 month trial, Reed implemented a thin client solution provided by Wyse Technology.  This was popular with end-users because it gave them more working flexibility and also enabled greener working practices to be implemented in day-to-day routines.

As part of the thin computing solution Reed also invested in blade servers in its datacentre.  Power efficiency of the server infrastructure was optimised through virtualisation which in turn reduced space and cooling requirements.  The virtualised solution provides a flexible infrastructure that can deliver desktop computing anywhere in the world. By migrating to a thin computing model, energy consumption was reduced by approximately 5.4 million KW hours of power, the number of storage drives was halved and the number of servers reduced by a factor of 20. It also resulted in a 20% reduction in Reed’s annual IT budget and has provided a more cost effective way of working which will reduce operating costs for years to come.

Reed Managed Services case study (PDF 29KB)

Xerox - designing for energy efficiency
Xerox follows a comprehensive approach to reducing product energy consumption. First, in the design phase, product teams evaluate the system as a whole as well as individual components to maximise energy efficiency. Second, during the customer use phase, features such as automatic power-saver modes lower the energy consumed. Finally, remanufacture and reuse programs do their part by requiring less energy than building new parts from raw materials. Together, these initiatives dramatically reduce the energy needs, generating cost savings for Xerox as well as for our customers – and notable benefits for the environment. Xerox has also developed a “secret e-Agent” used in the production of toner which reduces energy required in production by 22%, delivering 30mkWh of electricity savings by 2008. Xerox applies a systems approach to fuse technology and new electronics architectures to make its current products more energy efficient whilst enhancing functionality. Xerox is a Charter Partner in the Energy Star programme and the use of its several million energy star rated machines saved 1,000,000 MWh of energy in 2005 alone. A further 280,000MWh was saved by remanufacturing from re-used parts in the same year*.

* Source: Xerox 2006 Report on Global Citizenship