PowerConsumption
Latest
SmartSynch intros GridRouter for smart meters and the electric companies that love them
The last time we heard from SmartSynch it had inked a deal with AT&T to provide communications between its smart energy products and power companies. Now the company's back with a little something called the GridRouter, an IP-based device based that connects appliances, smart grids, and utilities -- no matter which communication protocol is used. The device is built on an open platform since the current grid is a mish-mash (or a hodge-podge, if you will) of proprietary hardware and software, and includes WiMax and Wi-Fi capabilities. Sounds like it just might be the thing for utilities struggling to catch up to the 21st century smarter energy revolution -- and those of you who are really, really into Google's PowerMeter beta. Want to give it a spin? Hit the source link to get in touch with the company. PR after the break.
Windows 7 bested by XP in netbook battery life tests
The venerable 2001 classic of an OS, Windows XP, strikes again. The scribes over at Laptop have put together a rather damning battery life comparison between old greybeard and the fresh Windows 7, which finds that on average netbooks get 47 minutes less battery life with the upgraded software. In the case of the ASUS 1008HA, that deficit was a meaty 57 minutes, or 16.7%. Liliputing and jkOnTheRun have run their own tests which invariably reached the same conclusion. Adding these data to an earlier comparison with Snow Leopard, where Windows 7 was again markedly worse than its competitor, leads us to the conclusion that perhaps Microsoft's 7th heaven hasn't quite been optimized for the mobile mavens out there... yet. Read - Stick with XP? Windows 7 Battery Life Worse on Netbooks Read - Windows 7 + netbooks = lower battery life? Read - Netbook Battery Tests: Windows XP vs Windows 7
TV TrickleSaver cuts off power to rogue game consoles
It's no secret that some game consoles consume a whole lot more power than others, and it looks like that fact hasn't escaped the folks at TrickleStar, who've now rolled out their TV TrickleSaver device aimed at cutting down on some of that rogue power consumption. As you can probably guess from the looks of it, you simply plug both your TV and game console into the device (it'll also work just fine with a power bar, thankfully), and then the device itself works its magic to completely cut off power to the game console or consoles whenever your shut off your TV. Of course, it'll also work just fine with devices other than game consoles, but TrickleStar goes out of its way to single out the PlayStation 3 as its primary target, followed closely by the Xbox 360 -- each of which should consume more than enough power to eventually cover the $34.95 price tag for the TrickleSaver.[Via OhGizmo!]
Microsoft unveils Hohm beta for overanalyzing your home energy usage
Since Google can't be the only multibillion-dollar technology company having all the home energy monitoring fun, Microsoft's jumping in with "Hohm" -- like a portmanteau of "Home" and "Ohm," get it? We're not entirely sure just how it works yet, but according to the company, using both user input / feedback and analytics licensed from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the US Department of Energy, the program provides suggestions for energy conservation. However, it's the future uses we're more excited about -- eventually, you'll be able to upload energy usage data into the system automatically, provided you're getting voltage from one of the partner companies. First West Coast utilities to join up include Puget Sound Energy, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Seattle City Light, and Xcel Energy, and nope, none of those overlap with PowerMeter's first enlistees. The sign-up page for the beta is now live, so hit up the read link if you want a chance to participate.[Via Yahoo! Tech]
Google announces first PowerMeter partners, we beg for more
At last, we have the first partners in Google's quest to make your personal power consumption visible on your home computer. As the thinking goes, if you can't measure it, you can't improve it. So Google wants to give consumers near real-time visibility to their consumption and usage patterns via Google's PowerMeter software and utility-supplied "smart meters." The hope here, is that those aware of their energy consumption habits will change them to save money, and in turn, the planet. The initial list of partner utilities represent millions of homes spread across cities and country-sides in the US, Canada, and India: San Diego Gas & Electric® (California) TXU Energy (Texas) JEA (Florida) Reliance Energy (India) Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (Wisconsin) White River Valley Electric Cooperative (Missouri) Toronto Hydro–Electric System Limited (Canada) Glasgow EPB (Kentucky) Google has also partnered with Itron to embed its PowerMeter software into Itron smart meters. While we applaud the effort, seeing energy consumption for the entire house, only, is far too macro (though a good first step). What we're waiting for is the marriage of this with home automation and monitoring solutions based on Z-Wave and ZigbBee, for example, so we can gain visibility and control down to the device level. Imagine a single software view that lets you drill all the way down to see how much energy your computer, lights, or home theater projector is consuming and then shut 'em down when not in use or to avoid vampire drain. Hey Nokia, you're working on a Home Control Center... you reading this? Google's looking for partners.
Pioneer responds to recent plasma ban reports with more of the same
Just last week, a report in the DailyMail got everyone worked up over the possibility of certain plasmas being barred from sale in Europe. Now, Pioneer is passing along a response made by the European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association that seems to say more of the same. We quote: "According to the pertinent EU Directive a technology such as plasma cannot be banned from the market as long as the TV sets (using this technology) comply with energy efficiency requirements." That said, the EU and its member states are still hard at work on new regulations to ensure improved energy efficiency across all display technologies, and we're told that "all manufacturers will be required to meet these minimum efficiency standards in order to continue producing, importing and selling TV sets in Europe." So maybe we're way off base, but is this not confirmation of what we'd already heard?[Via HDTVLounge]
Sony's BRAVIA VE5 series brings zero-watt standy, HCFL backlighting
During the run-up to CES, we heard through the grapevine that eco-friendly and well-connected HDTVs were going to be all the rage in early January, and so far, those premonitions are spot on. Sony's new BRAVIA VE5 line sucks down around 40% less power than many of the company's other LCD HDTV models, and there are two main developments to thank. First, the 52-inch KDL-52VE5, the 46-inch KDL-46VE5 and the 40-inch KDL-40VE5 all tout a zero-watt standby switch, which -- when flipped on -- cuts power usage to "nearly zero watts." Additionally, this Energy Star 3.0-compliant trifecta is the first from Sony to sport the micro-tubular Hot Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (HFCL), and as if that wasn't enough, there's even a motion sensor that can turn the set off if no action is sensed and a ambient light sensor for good measure. All greenness aside, each of the three also boasts Motionflow 120Hz technology, a USB port for loading up digital media files, the BRAVIA Engine 2, BRAVIA Sync, four HDMI inputs and 24- True Cinema. Check 'em this summer for currently undisclosed prices; full release is after the break.
JVC brags about smashing Energy Star 3.0 requirements
With just about every new set out besting those newfangled Energy Star 3.0 requirements, we're not so sure why JVC would choose to brag about it. Unless, of course, it has really trumped practically every other set out there in terms of efficiency. As fate would have it, that's exactly what the outfit is claiming, noting that in the 32-inch class, JVC is "tied for the most efficient TV," while in the 40- to 42-inch and 46- to 47-inch classes, it "swept the first four places, in every case significantly more efficient than the Energy Star requirement." All in all, JVC's sets managed to outperformed the baselines by anywhere from 29- to 60-percent, instantly skyrocketing them onto the must-buy list of tree huggers the world over. Check the full release after the break.
Athlon 64 2000+ at 8-watts outperforms, draws less energy than Atom
AMD's going through some rough times, no doubt about it, but for fanboys of the CPU maker (wait, do CPU fanboys still exist?) here's your feel-good story of the year. The always-thorough Tom's Hardware has pit Intel's 1.6GHz Atom 230 processor against AMD's Athlon 64 2000+, and the results just might surprise you. The 1GHz Athlon (with a core voltage of 0.90 volts and a power draw of just 8 watts) managed to best the aforementioned Atom in both energy consumption and processing power tests. The gurus at Tom's credited the more modern 790G platform and the highly efficient K8 architecture as big players in the Athlon's strong showing, finally deeming said chip "more economical, faster and quieter" than the Atom. We know you're in disbelief -- good thing there are 14 pages of proof waiting in the read link.[Thanks, Carl]
SSD-maker responds to nasty report, says it'll do better next time
If you were shaken to your very core at the recent report that SSDs may not be as power-friendly as you'd been led to believe, drive-maker STEC wants to talk you down from the ledge. According to the company's Patrick Wilkison, the Tom's Hardware article which benchmarked (and gave failing grades) to power-consumption of the non-mechanical drives was flawed because, "They are using legacy drives, none of which will be used by any major PC OEM." According to Patrick (whose job, you might note, is to sell SSDs), new versions of the drives will / do have intelligent power management which circumvents the issues that report shed light on. Wilkison goes on to say that, "Drives will need to have very intelligent power management systems. Some of these SSDs will have them, and those (that) do not have such power intelligence will not be used (by PC makers)." So it's sort of like saying a car you buy in the future will get better gas mileage than the one you own now, provided the automaker cares about fuel efficiency. Small solace, we'd say.Update: We've gotten a statement from Micron concerning the report -- you can check it out after the break.
SSDs save battery power, right? Wrong.
If you just shelled out some pretty pennies for the a high-speed, low-power SSD, Tom's Hardware may have stumbled onto some findings that won't sit well. According to a rigorous benchmarking session, they discovered that not only do the drives not save you battery power... they eat more of it. How is this possible you ask? Well mechanical drives only hit peak drainage when the actuator has to move the heads, whereas SSDs use full power whenever they're in use, so the end result is actually a diminished efficiency. What that means is that the hype over "green" drives may be just that: pure hype. On the other hand, you're still getting a drive with no moving parts, which at least makes your data more secure, if not more eco-friendly.[Via Eeeuser; Thanks, Tony]
Sony and Idemitsu announce luminous efficiency breakthrough in OLEDs
Although Sony's mesmerizing XEL-1 has been picked apart (and not entirely in a good way), the firm has just announced a breakthrough in OLED technology in conjunction with Idemitsu Kosan. The two have teamed up to achieve 28.5-percent internal quantum efficiency (IQE) in deep blue fluorescent OLED devices, the "world's highest level of luminous efficiency for this technology." Though there's quite a bit of technobabble behind all of this, the gist is this: blue OLEDs are the most energy-intensive of the three primary RGB colors, and the development is expected to "significantly reduce the power consumption of OLED panels." Granted, most of the release is just bragging, but we ought to find out what this really means for consumers in the not-too-distant future.[Via FarEastGizmos]
Auto-brightness to be the first step in LCD TV green status
Summer is coming, and that means the plasma TV that bathed you in warmth all winter will soon become between you, your air conditioner and comfort. Yes, we love the images that are pumped out by the emissive cells of a plasma display, but as a general rule, LCDs spin the electric meter more slowly. This benefit is not lost on The LCD TV Association, which has launched its GreenTV logo program to tout the fact. The baseline requirement for an LCD TV to wear the badge is ambient light sensors that adjust the backlight brightness, a feature good for at least a 30-percent reduction in electricity consumption. The association has more plans as well, so expect to see environmentally-conscious features like recyclable parts, fewer heavy metals, and LED backlights get billing as well. With the EPA's Energy Star ratings coming to TVs this year, being "green" could be a real differentiator in the market -- and we all know that more badges on the box mean more sales, right?
NVIDIA gets official with Hybrid SLI technology
We had a hunch NVIDIA was prepping Hybrid SLI technology, and although it's taken over half a year for it to go official, we suppose now's better than never. As we already knew, the tech's primary purpose in life is to increase graphics performance and decrease power consumption simultaneously, and apparently, it will soon be incorporated into a "wide variety of graphics and motherboard desktop and notebook products." In case you've forgotten, Hybrid SLI enables NVIDIA motherboard GPUs to work cooperatively with discrete NVIDIA GPUs when paired in the same PC platform, and only the GPU(s) needed will be called upon in order to save energy (and battery life in laptops). For more on what upcoming products will sport the technology, head on down to the read link.[Via HotHardware]
Nintendo Wii beats up on the competition in power savings
So, the graphics might just be warmed over GameCube fare, but the Wii sure does take those wimpy specs and runs with 'em. A new showdown between the big three home consoles and a mid-range PC doesn't compare games or GPUs, but rather power consumption, and the Wii wins by a landslide. The watts don't just bleed during gameplay, DVD playback seems to require immense effort from the 360 and PS3, and even the consoles in "idle" mode consume about ten times the watts of the Wii. Of course, the consoles consume a minimal amount of power in standby, which is substantially more when the Wii's Connect24 service is on, but not quite a deal breaker, just about a $1 a month of power. So if you're looking to shave a few bucks off your power bill or do your treehuggin' duty to the environment, it looks like the choice is fairly obvious -- though you'll naturally have to look elsewhere than the Wii to get your video playback kicks.[Via Joystiq]
360 eats electricity. A lot of it
The crew at HCW decided to compare the power consumption of all three major consoles. Just for good measure, they threw in a mid-range PC as well. The overall conclusion, both the Xbox 360 and PS3 suck up almost as much juice as a PC. The Wii, on the other hand, sips lightly on its electricity like a vacationing retiree drinking a mai tai. It's worth noting that the PS3 does consume more power than the 360. During DVD playback, the Xbox 360 uses somewhat less than the PC or the PS3, though HCW notes that 360 playback quality is low and the machine itself is noisy.Does any of this really matter? Nope, but it's interesting nonetheless, and it's sure to give fanboys some fuel for the forums. HCW will be comparing other aspects of the consoles in the coming weeks. We'll keep you posted.[Via Joystiq]
Bluetooth Mighty Mouse power save hack
When it comes to wireless peripherals, every little bit of battery life counts, so a modder named Ram Sripracha was a little concerned when he noticed that the LED on his new Bluetooth Mighty Mouse stayed lit even when the device was on standby. Since he was already handy with the tools of the trade, Ram cracked open the mouse to test its power consumption with his trusty multimeter, and discovered that it was actually sucking more juice when sitting idle (about .0450 amps) than when in use (around .0285 amps). With the rodent already splayed out on his desk, Ram decided to remove the LED himself and retest the current draw; sure enough, it only used .0017 amps without the light on, or about 3.9% of its draw in an unaltered state. Luckily for you, he also posted an illustrated, step-by-step guide on how to perform this surgery yourself, but be warned that Apple's crack design team made sure that disassembly is more difficult than just unfastening a couple of screws. Also bear in mind that this is just one person's experience, so you'll probably want to make sure that your Mighty Mouse is putting on this perpetual light show as well before you break out the silicone glue and soldering iron.[Via Hack-A-Day]
Samsung, Seagate show off ReadyDrive HDD prototypes
No surprises here: we've known since last WinHEC that Samsung was working on a so-called ReadyDrive hard drive that sports a 128MB flash buffer for enabling lower laptop power consumption, and just as we suspected, they've unveiled a working prototype of the technology at this year's conference. Also on hand with their own ReadyDrive was Seagate, who, like Samsung, plan to release their model when Vista finally starts shipping, as only the next-gen operating system will have the proper ATA driver command sets to allow for such a large buffer. PCMag was on the scene for one of Samsung's demos, and claim that a laptop running an office apps script only needed to access the hard drive every three to four minutes, which could result in ReadyDrive-equipped laptops sipping up to 40% less juice than models with those outdated, perpetually-spinning HDDs.
