Microsoft has made energy efficiency a key design element of Windows 7, focusing on better power management for end users and centralized tools for IT pros, company executives said Friday.
Company engineers sought to make power management features more accessible than previous versions of Windows while at the same time, giving people the ability to customize settings.
The operating system, which will be released in October, by default is smarter about what to turn on when, according to company executives. For example, the Bluetooth wireless services won't be activated until a device is connected and the DVD spindle will not fire up as often.
Juice meter: Windows 7 lets end users pick power management from the battery meter.
(Credit: Microsoft)By default, there is an automatic sleep mode and laptop displays will dim after a short period of time. End users can adjust the power management settings from the battery meter on Windows 7 without having to go into the Control Panel.
"Just by providing that information when they hover over the battery and make a change with one click makes it really simple and we get the behavior we want," said Francois Ajenstat, director of environmental sustainability at Microsoft.
Microsoft is also working with hardware partners during the beta of Windows 7. The company will be sharing energy-related data in an effort to resolve driver conflicts that prevent a PC from going into sleep mode.
IT professionals, meanwhile, get enhanced tools for centralized power management, including a command line program that diagnoses why a specific PC is not running efficiently by identifying problems such as driver conflicts.
Windows Vista added 30 new features for energy efficiency and Windows 7 enhances some of those. For example, Windows 7 has a "wake-up LAN" feature so that Wi-Fi-connected PCs can get roused out of sleep mode to get software updates.
"We tried to make it so you don't have to change anything but if you have a specific-use case, you can make changes through group policies," said Jason Leznek, group project manager for Windows 7.
The savings for a business from active PC power management are significant. Continental Airlines, which has thousands of PCs, saved between $1.5 million and $2 million a year by using the tools in Vista, according to Microsoft.
Microsoft expects that there is still a need for third-party companies that also do PC power management. Verdiem, for example, generates reports and works with multiple versions of Windows, said Leznek
Because there are so many variables, Leznek and Ajenstat shied away from giving a specific number on how much more efficient a Windows 7 PC can be. But they expect a significant cumulative effect.
"Probably 70 percent of business users leave PCs on at night for various reasons. That's a lot of wasted energy," said Ajenstat.
The government's Energy Star program and the tech industry's Climate Savers Computing Initiative will work over the next three years to develop more-efficient standards for consumer electronics.
"Today's partnership announcement unites Energy Star and industry in an effort to rally the technology industry to reduce computer energy consumption and fight climate change," said Bob Meyers, principal deputy assistant administrator for the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, in a press release.
Energy Star, launched in 1992 by the Environmental Protection Agency, is considered the first "green" U.S. consumer label for electronics and household appliances.
The Climate Savers collection of businesses and environmental nonprofits aims to halve the power consumption of computers by 2010. Leading members include Google, Microsoft, Pacific Gas & Electric, and the World Wildlife Fund. The group of some 180 enterprises also includes Starbucks.
From now on, Climate Savers will recommend that businesses and consumers follow Energy Star specifications--or even tougher--when buying computers, in addition to using power management tools. The two partners will also pool some marketing efforts.
The move marks a step toward standardizing various consumer labels related to sustainability.
Along similar lines, the utility-funded 80 Plus label marks power supplies that achieve at least 80 percent efficiency.
Shoppers seeking rankings of sustainably-crafted, power-sipping PCs can also look for the nonprofit-led EPEAT label, which is being adopted this year by online retailers.
Marvell has released chips for PC and notebook power bricks that can will substantially cut down the amount of electricity required to run these machines.
The chips, a type of power factor correction (PFC) controller based around a digital signal processor, effectively determine the amount of power an application will need and optimize accordingly. The chips also try to keep peak current at the lowest level.
The chips, which will be included in power supplies, are made to comply with new Energy Star requirements that require that 80 percent or more of the power pumped into PCs actually gets used by the computer. Right now, inefficient computers can lose around half of the power through heat or in the AC to DC conversion process. Pick up that power supply connected to your notebook. Feel the burn! These chips will reduce it.
Optimizing power cuts down on power consumption and, of course, global warming-causing greenhouse gasses. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that there are more than 10 billion AC-DC power supplies attached to computers out there. More efficient power supplies could save nearly $3 billion in electric bills annually.
Other companies out there working to revamp the oft-overlooked power supply include iWatt, which has received money from Vantage Point Venture Partners.
Marvell has chips out now but will crank into volume in the first quarter of 2008. That means the chips will likely be seen in PCs coming out for the fall of 2008.
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