Windows Vista Power Management Features Can Help UK Companies Reduce Their Carbon Footprint
New Research Highlights Additional Power Management Benefits of Windows Vista for Businesses
Reading -UK – 21st March 2007 - Microsoft today announced the results of an independent study1 carried out by PC Pro Labs into the energy consumption of Windows Vista and the potential reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. The study compared energy usage between Windows XP and Windows Vista and clearly showed that the power management features in Windows Vista could help massively reduce the carbon dioxide generated by an organisation, equal to 45 tonnes per year for a business with 200 desktop PCs. In addition, these features could also deliver savings on energy bills of up to £46 per desktop PC per year.
The study is based on the real-world usage of desktop computers in the work environment2, highlighting in particular the habit of users leaving their PCs running even when not in use. The cost savings and carbon footprint offsetting arise from the power management features of Windows Vista which helps to address these areas through the default ‘Sleep’ mode which automatically activates after one hour of non-use. Typical PC usage patterns included:
| • | Light tasks, such as typing in Word or answering email, which are the primary use of a computer (approximately 40 percent of the time) |
| • | The second most common “task” is simply to be idle (approximately 30 percent of the time) |
| • | 30 percent of users leave their PC on at work at the end of the day |
| • | 25 percent leave their PC on at work over the weekend |
Jonathan Shopley, CEO The CarbonNeutral Company, said: “Every organisation – from services though to manufacturing - produces global warming gases as a by-product of doing business. As more and more businesses rely on technology, the number of PCs in the workplace is only going to increase. PCs consume a lot of power which can be really wasteful when they are left idle. Our role is to help organisations measure and reduce the CO2 from some or all of their operations. We therefore fully encourage companies to take any steps that they can to lower carbon emissions in this area.”
Windows Vista is Microsoft’s most energy efficient operating system to date with its power management system, functionality, reliability and default settings focused on helping to reduce overall PC energy consumption. The key areas where the Sleep mode in Windows Vista has been improved compared to the equivalent Standby mode in Windows XP include:
| • | Enter Sleep mode after being inactive for 60 minutes |
| • | In Windows Vista, it is much easier for users to change the power management settings themselves |
| • | The Sleep mode is more reliable than Windows XP’s Standby mode, both in terms of entering the mode and safely resuming back into Windows |
| • | Windows Vista is much quicker at resuming from Sleep, now taking two to three seconds compared to five seconds for Windows XP |
“UK companies are increasingly aware of the need to address inefficient power usage as spiralling energy costs and environmental regulations become the focus in the boardroom. Ideally, the best means of reducing power consumption would be to ensure that PCs are switched off every day before users go home in the evening. Unfortunately altering human behaviour overnight is unrealistic, so this is where the IT industry can help,” said Cynthia Crossley, director Microsoft UK Windows Client Business Group. “With its default settings for Sleep, Windows Vista can be one part of the power management puzzle – something which really seems to appeal to our enterprise customers.”
The advanced power management features of Windows Vista are particularly important to Microsoft customer Brockenhurst College, a Beacon College and one of the most successful in the UK. Situated in the heart of the New Forest National Park, environmental issues have fast become a key priority and Brockenhurst College wants to adopt a more proactive stance in reducing its carbon emissions.
“We currently have an installed base of 1,200 PCs, 25 servers and supporting air-conditioning units and fully understand the impact these have on power consumption. Interestingly, a lot of our energy usage and running costs stem from when the college is shut rather than open, which is where Windows Vista is going to be hugely beneficial,” said Robin Gadd, head of information services, Brockenhurst College. “Out of the box, Windows Vista has much better power management capabilities compared to Windows XP and migrating to the new operating system is no doubt going to support us on our quest to be more environmentally friendly.”
1. The full study entitled Power Consumption, Windows Vista versus Windows XP is available upon request
2. Based on a sample size of 800 desktop PC users visiting the PC Pro website
Notes to Editors:
Testing methodology:
Hewlett-Packard UK supplied PC Pro Labs, a research division within Dennis Publishing, with three PCs for testing, all of which were pre-loaded with Windows XP Professional. PC Pro Labs then created a new partition on each hard disk and loaded the final version (RTM) of Windows Vista onto them as a clean install.
Two of the desktop PCs are from HP’s current range, the third is approximately three years old.
Desktop PCs
| • | HP Compaq dc7700: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU. |
| • | HP dx5150: AMD Athlon 64 X2 CPU. |
| • | HP Compaq D530S: Intel 2.8GHz Pentium 4 CPU. |
Power testing was conducted using a calibrated power meter and followed Energy Star test methodologies. Each computer was successfully tested in seven different power states, three low power (sleep, hibernate and standby) and four high power (on-idle, screensaver, 3D image rendering and Microsoft Word document typing).
None of the tests include the power consumed by monitors.
About The CarbonNeutral Company
The CarbonNeutral Company is the world’s leading carbon offset and climate consulting business. We enable businesses and individuals to tackle their climate change impacts in a way which delivers value – commercial, environmental, personal.
The company works with over 200 B2B, B2C, NGO and government clients including BSkyB, Honda, Avis Europe, Barclays Bank, The World Conservation Union, Berkeley Homes, Ricoh and the Radio Taxis Group as well as celebrities and 50,000+ consumer clients.
CarbonNeutral® is the registered trademark of The CarbonNeutral Company (TCNC). It is the leading brand mark and quality standard for action on climate change. It means global warming emissions have been measured, reductions recommended, and the remaining emissions ‘offset’ in accordance with the CarbonNeutral protocol. This protocol assures quality of offset projects, and carbon footprint assessments. TCNC commissions an independent verification of CarbonNeutral programmes to further underpin their carbon promise.
For more information please go to www.carbonneutral.com or call 0207 833 6000.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realise their full potential.
| • | Visit the Microsoft UK homepage for further information on Microsoft products |
Contact information
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| 1 | The full study entitled Power Consumption, Windows Vista versus Windows XP is available upon request |
| 2 | Based on a sample size of 800 desktop PC users visiting the PC Pro website |
