Microsoft and Verdiem offer up PC power control via eco-friendly Edison. Image: Verdiem.
While processing and graphics muscle are often the main points of interest for prospective computer buyers, attracting environmentally-conscious consumers is fast-becoming an integral aspect for the computer industry.
So, bearing that in mind, meet Verdiem’s energy monitoring application ‘Edison’, a free software product that allows computer users to actively influence their CO2 output by controlling the energy consumption of their PCs.
Supported by Microsoft and developed for computers running on Windows operating systems, Edison gives users access to a consumer-friendly PC power settings control interface that enables them to personally address the annual PC energy consumption drain of around 506 billion kWh -- which equates to around 70 million cars on the road.
It is hoped that, by offering Edison as a free software addition, PC users will be willing to contribute to the Climate Savers Computing InitiativeSM and its goal of reducing the global CO2 emissions attributed to computers by 54 million tons by 2010.
Creator Verdiem is challenging PC users to “do their part” by helping to download 10 million copies of Edison, the equivalent of 1 percent of the worldwide PC population, over the next 12 months.
“PCs are the hidden energy hogs of the home and most users have no idea that they are needlessly throwing away 80 percent of their PC’s energy,” explained Kevin Klustner, president and CEO of Seattle-based power management specialist Verdiem.
“If just 1 percent of all PCs used Edison we could potentially reduce environmental impacts by 7 billion pounds of CO2, which is equal to taking more than a half million cars off the road,” he added. “By finding ways to embed offsets in our daily life -- even something as simple as downloading software -- we will create permanent reductions in energy use and have a huge impact on our environment and resource sustainability.”
Easy to set up and manage via a simple interface, the Edison software application offers user features such as Scheduling, which allows them to isolate and identify work and non-work schedules to optimise power schemes based on when the PC is in use or idling on standby.
Edison’s specific Settings feature provides an array of options related to power savings and enables the user to select and apply the most appropriate solution, while Estimated Saving Reports offers information that correlates PC power savings in relation to money, kWh and CO2 savings.
If your sense of eco-related guilt is leading you towards Verdiem’s Edison tool, then it can be downloaded right now, and completely free of charge, by visiting the official Verdium Web site.
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