Apple on Thursday released an environmental impact report regarding the company’s latest Mac Pro desktop, noting the cylindrical machine uses 74 percent less aluminum than its predecessor, while keeping greenhouse gas emissions low.
The importance of power electronic devices in controlling electrical systems is increasing as Governments introduce new standards and consumers demand lower power consumption and greater energy efficiency with ever rising energy costs, writes Reinhold Theurer, vice president EMEA, International Rectifier.
With its built-in Wi-Fi, the Smart Power Strip allows users to remotely control their plugged-in home appliances via a smartphone app. From the iOS or Android app, users can remotely switch an appliance on or off. Other app functions include programming a timer to turn the appliance automatically on and off at a certain time, setting up a push notification reminder when appliances have been on for too long, and monitoring the specific energy consumption of different electronics.
Meeting tomorrow’s energy challenges requires imaginative approaches and new techniques for producing, using, storing and saving energy. By 2025, information technology alone will consume 15 percent of the world’s electricity production. It is urgent that we use that power more cleverly.
New Buildings Institute (NBI) has developed what it calls the “first ever” set of plug load energy use metrics, which will allow easy insight into building energy use. A study of the NBI metrics to assess plug load energy use at PECI headquarters in the First and Main building in downtown Portland, Oregon revealed an 18 percent kWh reduction of PECI’s plug load.
Desk-based technologies and other electronics that plug into office building receptacles draw a considerable amount of power, some of it 24/7. In fact, “plug loads” account for roughly 25% of total electricity consumed within office buildings. GSA currently owns and leases more than 370 million square feet of building space in some 9,600 buildings nationwide. The size of this real estate portfolio alone suggests the possibility of enormous energy savings, if plug loads can be reduced.
The New Buildings Institute developed what the group says are the first ever plug load energy use metrics, which will allow commercial building owners and managers to more easily gain insight into their buildings’ energy use and become more energy efficient.
This report presents the results of primary research conducted to better determine the potential for energy savings through the utilization of advanced power strips (APS) in commercial environments, and to determine appropriate methodologies for assessing the savings.
Lucid’s Chief Creative Officer, Gavin Platt, sums up several key lessons about helping occupants become active energy managers in a contributed article on the Johnson Controls “What’s Possible in Building Efficiency” Blog.
Maybe you just got to the office, grabbed some coffee and pulled up to your desk to start your day. Your printer sits innocuously next to your lamp, computer and phone, but they feed an insatiable monster — they all draw electricity around the clock.
