The energy inefficiency of office computing and potential emerging technology solutions

Abstract

Energy consumption, the associated green house emissions has now caught the attention of mainstream organizations. Soon organizations will be required by legislation in many modern economies to report their contribution to green house emissions through their energy consumption. Office computing is a significant contributor to greenhouse emissions through electricity energy consumption. Until recently little thought has been given to making office computing more energy efficient. Organizations and individuals have become complacent in using computers, turning them on first thing in the morning and leaving them on all day. The time it takes to load up modern operating systems has reinforced this inefficient behaviour. In this paper we outline the energy inefficiencies of office computing and outline recent advances in energy efficient technologies. We focus on two emerging technologies: smart power blocks and splash top which have potential to drastically cut the energy consumption of office computing. We believe that our initial evaluation of these energy efficient technologies shows tremendous promise for reducing the energy consumption and greenhouse emissions of office computing. In future work we plan to conduct live experiments in modern office complexes to evaluate the actual energy savings and the fit of these technologies with current work practices.