Energy saving ecobutton launched
An energy saving device which puts computers to sleep when not in use was launched this afternoon.
The device, known as the ecobutton, connects to a computer through a USB cable and makes the computer go into a deep sleep or eco mode once one clicks on it. It was launched by Innovative Solutions.
A programme downloadable from eco-button.com calculates the carbon units and money saved by the device, which costs €19.99, once the computer specifications and electricity tariff details are inputted.
The European Union consumes about 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from computers being left idle each year. 355 million tonnes of carbon dioxide are emitted annually worldwide.
It is estimated that there are 185 million computers in the EU and one billion worldwide. It costs about €7 billion to power them all.
Household use of the devise would save one an average of €65 a year and 135 kilogrammes of CO2.
A business with 100 computer stations put on eco mode for about three hours a day could save around €6,000 a year.
A €1 from each of the first 1,000 devices sold in Malta will go to Inspire - the Eden and Razzett Foundation.
Resources Minister George Pullicino, who was present for the launch, said that a draft report on CO2 emissions by Malta commissioned a year ago was expected to be concluded in the coming days.
The report, which was to be presented to cabinet, should offer guidelines for Malta to reach the 2020 targets for CO2 emissions.
Mr Pullicino said that in the next few days the government would also be launching a carbon neutral programme - a facility on the ministry’s website which would show how many trees had to be planted for the CO2 being emitted.
While in 1990 Malta emitted 1.4 million tonnes of CO2, these had increased to 2 million tonnes by 2005.
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Jianni Grima
May 19th 2009, 23:16
"The button is all about making A LOW POWER MODE easy and accessible INSTANTLY unike hibernate or sleep"
Start >> Sleep Button
It doesn't get easier than that. That 20 Euros is only for the program, while it isn't even worth that much. You know it, I know it, everyone reading this knows it. Green ideas at Young Enterprise deserve more attention than thievery such as this. Unfortunately, ignorance is bliss.
Thomas Verdelle
May 18th 2009, 09:37
It seems to me that none of you have understoof the point of the ecobuttonand unfortunatley as usual got the entire story wrong, for starters the ecobutton is not backed up or linked politically or to any party it is a british invention brand ( not something Malta came up with) represented by a local company you could learn more about it on www.eco-button.com and saves me the wasted energy that it takes to type an explanation to a chain of critics who did not even do THEIR homework before commenting. The button is all about making A LOW POWER MODE easy and accessible INSTANTLY unike hibernate or sleep and shows the savings insantly, creating an awareness. ...please see the website for your own general knowledge. I use the button and my family does... because of the awareness it has created the kids now take care of every appliance and switch they turn on not just the pc!
J. Portelli
May 15th 2009, 18:41
Energy saving device !! I can't stop laughing at this article. Who do they think they're fooling ? I'm just angry and frustrated at these politicians who try to rip 20 Euros for a device that does NOTHING. DON'T BUY THIS DEVICE. Well said Mark Anthony Cachia and all. The latest processors have built-in power managment and would go to lower power states when not so much computing power is needed. Power managment in computers has incorporated thoughout all layers of a PC for over 15 years. (BIOS, hardware layer, software support). An old power supply wastes energy too. The older it gets the more power it wastes as heat. Changing the power supply to a new one (from a well known brand) can save ~30% computer power. As of 2007, 93%-efficient power supplies are available, compared to the 70% you find in the usual power supplies. I can write a whole book about power efficiency in PCs! Why don't I get paid thousands like Pullicino's X Spurts ? Wishful thinking. Malta kemm ghandek halqek kbir mhux kemm int kapaci!
Graham Crocker
May 15th 2009, 01:34
This is sadly a gimmick: The hibernate or sleep function does the same thing....for free.
Hibernate means that most of the internal components are off, but will return the Operating system to the exact same way you left it. Sleep means components are on, but low powered, I usually opt for the hibernate, but I keep daily back ups just in case.
If they did Government did their homework, which they didn't. They would have looked into pushing SSD as a primary storage medium, which consumes less and wakes up OSs faster.
They can do this by sitting back, waiting for the market to sort itself out (like the adoption of LCDs over CRTs) or by offering some sort of incentive.
I know wikipedia is a bad reference, but anyways http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_computing.
Instead of buying this device, I suggest that people buy a cheap computer with similar specs to that of netbooks, that is always online ( a computer for internet browsing/downloading if you will) and keep their main computers on hibernate (or off) to be switched on when the processing power is really needed.
K Ellul
May 14th 2009, 22:01
Yet another 'Green' gimick
KM Vella
May 14th 2009, 19:15
As some have already pointed out, such energy saving features are already available in all major operating systems. One may argue that their access and use may be compromised and limited to some less technical persons (to be politically correct), but surely a program that simplifies such tasks would have been the better solution.
Now just ask yourself this George, and put away the doughnuts for a moment, is it really Eco when there's already software performing the exact same function? Consider the environmental collateral of firing up yet another manufacturing enterprise, compare it to the few environmental benefits (if any) this product has, and the answer will be obvious.
Stephen Farrugia
May 14th 2009, 16:48
u ghal darb ohra, is sinjorini tal parlament regghu hargu b edea li ha ssalva milljuni ta nies...
MINALIHOM!
Julian Borg
May 14th 2009, 16:47
Every computer has this built in the OS, whether it's Mac, Windows, Linux, etc.
This is another stupid useless gimmick.
Alex Ellul
May 14th 2009, 16:46
The best environment friendly, zero CO2 footprint, carbon capture technology has been with us for billions of years. That is, the tree. New trees are in fact the best among trees, due to their fast growing potential. Old rain and tropical forests have much less CO2 capture capability, since dead trees and foliage produce CO2 as much as it is absorbed buy the old trees' new foliage.
But then CO2 may not be a bad gas after all. AGW is turning out to be more of a convenient way to tax people than an inconvenient truth. The planet has cooled during the last decade, while CO2 gas kept increasing. Many scientists have realised this, while politicians are still insisting on taxing us on the air we breath and the CO2 we exhale.
James Grech
May 14th 2009, 16:30
Maybe Mr Pullicino should think about giving each household a number of these devices comparable to the number of computers available. At least to compensate for the slip of his Prime when he promised the energy saving bulbs that were supposed to be handed to each household ages ago.
Andrew Cachia
May 14th 2009, 16:23
Who needs to ECO BUTTON when you can just switch off the computer when not in use. ????
Another stupid, money making device.
Where are the ENERGY SAVING BULBS ????
Alfred Rizzo
May 14th 2009, 16:19
@Adrian Cardona
Spot on Mr. Cardona!!
Most operating systems do contain energy saving commands from which one can choose and of course one can switch off the computer when not in use. So I do not think it is worth spending €20.
Joe Cordina
May 14th 2009, 16:06
£5.50 or less from mazon.co.uk
Adrian Cardona
May 14th 2009, 16:04
"once the computer specifications and energy tariff details are inputted"
Yeah right...just try inputting the energy tariffs in all their variants and complications, and we'll see if the eco-button can cope!
Marco Cremona
May 14th 2009, 15:48
It is incredible how Minister Pullicino continues to propogate the MYTH that planting trees helps in any way to reduce our carbon footprint.
I challenge the Minister to publish any SCIENTIFIC evidence that planting trees in Malta actually results in the net reduction in CO2-emissions. Indeed, scientific evidence from reputable international sources show that planting trees anywhere outside of the tropics CONTIBUTES to global-warming.
Indeed, nowhere in the draft Climate-Change Strategy report commissioned by experts appointed by the same Minister Pullicino is the planting of trees recognised as a measure to reduce our carbon footprint. Not only does it not make it to any of the 87 recommendations, but it is simply not even up for discussion!!
And now we have the Minister ignoring the advice of his hand-picked experts and coming up with his own solutions!! Why on earth do we spend the taxpayers' money on consultancies and reports (and the citizen's time in consultation) when we have a Minister who comes up with his own (scientifically-flawed) alternatives?
By all means let's grow trees for all the other right reasons but to have a Minister proposing the planting of trees to mitigate against CO2 emissions is downright irresponsible.
Mark Anthony Cachia
May 14th 2009, 15:36
Such technology is already implemented softwarewise by your OS (Windows).
You can choose energy saving timeouts of Monitor Turn-off, Sleep and Hibernate and so on from your control panel.
Additionally, new motherboards and CPU are already implementing energy saving features such as Voltage and Clock manipulation which lowers energy consumption even when the computer is in use but not all the computing power is required.