The Dream of Silicon Chips!

When we see new personal computers in retail stores, we get the impression that they are superior products in regard to saving energy. With the revolutionary, rapid advances in technology, higher capability new models come out every three months, and compared to their performance, savings in energy are rising rapidly.

Whether desk top or tower type, the main products on sale now use 200 watts at most. If we suppose the average consumption of electricity to be 50 watts, and also use a seventeen inch display at 100 watts, it would use 1,200 watt hours or 1,032 Kcal if it is left on the whole time for eight hours a day. That is 1/2 eu. A laptop computer with a liquid crystal display, which recently is the main item sold, uses only thirty to sixty watts, so it would use less than one-third of that. They say that the fastest personal computers today have the calculating ability of the super-computers of just a short while ago. And now we can use them at home with the same amount of electricity as an electric light bulb.

Energy Star

Personal computers for sale in stores often have a sticker on them with a logo like a neon sign that says "energy.It is called the energy star. The mark was first begun by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to put saving energy into practice for personal computers, copy machines and other office equipment. By now Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) also recognizes it. The program is called the International Energy Star.

Personal computers and displays that conform to the standards of this mark have a function that automatically turns it to an energy saving mode that uses less than thirty watts of energy if it is left unused for several minutes. By now this mark is affixed to almost all new products so we do not think of it as wonderful as we used to. Separate from this, personal computers (magnetic disk equipment) has been designated under the energy saving laws.

The IT Revolution and Saving Resources

No matter how much progress we have made in saving energy, personal computers now sell at the rate of more than ten million a year so even a little energy use comes to a lot in total. And today many personal computers are used as network terminals so that it is meaningless to calculate the energy use of single units. We must now calculate the energy used by the whole system of the social infrastructure which includes peripheral equipment and servers and also the use of telephone circuits.

The first question, aside from the use of electricity by personal computers, is how much resources are saved through the widespread use of computers. There must be many examples of saving resources, by cutting wasteful production and distribution just because we have computers. Even if we limit these to the examples directly attributable to the revolution in information technology, one would expect to see huge savings of resources.

According to the calculations of Mr. Harunori Tsuchiya(of the Systems Technology Research Center, when, for example, newspapers and books are done electronically, paper production and printing distribution can be cut for a savings of 47 times and 221 times respectively. And when the postal service is traded for facsimile, it is nine times better. The sudden and steady spread of the internet since these calculations were made make us aware of the time coming when newspapers will not be needed. We can also look forward to a tremendous change in the social structure, with savings in transportation and city functions due to television conferences and telecommuting.

On the other hand, management of information may become tighter so it is hard to tell whether or not the society of the future will be a better place for us to live in.

A New Product Every Three Months:

Few new products become obsolete so soon. A ten-year-old TV set is not rare, but how many of the personal computers made only five years ago, before Windows 95 came out, are still in use? Eventually they will all be thrown out. TV sets are covered under the Home Appliance Recycling Law in Japan, but personal computers are not, so far.

Consumption of Electricity:

The load on office air conditioners is hardly to be laughed at, since the electricity used is almost all converted to wasted heat. As for the amount of it, imagine that two or three light bulbs are turned on inside a laptop, for example.

Energy Star:

See the web site of the Energy Conservation Center, Japan. This site gives details of the energy saving law.( http://www.eccj.or.jp/index_e.html)
Also, the Green Purchasing Network site has a table of the ecological functions of personal computers. Booklets are also for sale.

Telephone Circuits:

The use of telephone circuits is rising surely. NTT's energy consumption, at the present rate of increase, will triple. That is, if NTT's monopoly continues.

The IT Revolution:

Trial calculations are given in the Science and Technology Agency's Resources Council's "City Life, Information, Energy" (published 1997, Ministry of Finance Printing Office). The above figures are from a paper by Tsuchiya in "What Are the New Development Patterns?" edited by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (soon to appear, published by Chuo Hoki). Also see Tsuchiya et al "Key Technological Policies for Cutting CO₂ in Japan" (1997, WWF Warming Prevention Campaign).