Windows 7: Why Microsoft’s energy-saving claims don’t add up | Fred Pearce
Microsoft's low-light mode doesn't earn it the right to claim its new operating system is eco-friendly You will have spotted the ballyhoo by now - Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system is out today . And, rather as when Microsoft launched Vista three years ago, the company is trumpeting its energy-saving credentials. Windows 7 offers "more than just lip service" on eco-friendly features . Microsoft is not making any specific claims about how much power Windows 7 can save, though in a demo for journalists in California recently, a laptop playing a DVD achieved 20% more battery life with Windows 7 than with Vista. Microsoft's coyness is fair enough. The energy gains depend too much on the interface between hardware and software . Instead, it claims to offer green-minded consumers more options. When running Windows 7, individual users can more easily decide how bright they want their screens , for instance. And corporate IT departments will be able to run power-efficiency diagnostics (pdf) to optimise the operation of PCs within their networks. That is all to the good. Choice is important. But you have to wonder how many IT departments will take the trouble to explore the energy-saving possibilities of the new Windows when, according to Francois Ajenstat , director for environmental sustainability at Microsoft, "probably 70% of business users leave PCs on at night." First things first, you might say. Arguably Microsoft should be giving its users rather fewer choices and rather more shoves in the direction of using their machines more efficiently. Take the screen. The biggest energy user for most PCs and laptops, it typically consumes 40-50% of the power. As one of Microsoft's engineering blogs puts it : "The easiest way to save power on a desktop PC is to reduce the display idle timeout to something very aggressive, such as two or five minutes". So the best way for Microsoft to use its software to improve power efficiency would be to set an "aggressive" timeout as the default setting.
More:
Windows 7: Why Microsoft's energy-saving claims don't add up | Fred Pearce
Greenwash: Fujitsu’s ‘wind-powered’ laptop is powered by the most expensive green energy in the world, writes Fred Pearce
Fujitsu promises to buy 'green energy' to offset the emissions from the energy use of each of its new 'wind-powered' laptops. But consumers are being asked to pay an extortionate price for carbon-free guilt Every green should have one – the world's first wind-powered laptop . The idea of a little turbine plugged into a socket on the side is intriguing, even if the truth is a bit more prosaic. A lot more prosaic. In fact, to buy this machine you'd have to be green according to the definition preferred by my old dictionary. That is, "gullible". For this is probably the most expensive green power in the world.