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Korea in the digital vanguard

by Kevin (Kilmo) Kang, Korea

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1W PC is coming, Korea government expands law of standby power limits to PC.

Aug 9, 2009 21:25

As we see there is rising consumer (and business) awareness of energy efficiency globally. Governments are responding, by mandating energy efficiency.� Korea has become the first nation globally to make standby power limits a law.

Korea operates 3 types of energy efficiency programs which is Energy Efficiency label and standard program since 1992, High-efficiency appliance certification program since 1996 and e-standby program since 1999. Last month, Korea Energy Management Corporation's expand e-standby program to PC, monitor, printer, set-top box and other 3 more products from TV only in the past.

The e-standby program attempts to promote energy saving in products by reducing standby power based on manufacturer's mandatory participation. This program was started from last August, and Korea was a first-mover. An energy Boy label is attached to those consumer electronic appliances and office equipment which will affect to its sales and promote their brand as green & clean tech as well.

Now, PC is included in this program because of various reasons but main reason is PC trend become more than single PC per person like one desktop and sub laptop (Netbook) not like single PC per house in the past. What you can see is PC and monitor is key products that defiantly need these kinds of requirements and it holds about 1% of total energy usages in worldwide. Government order to those manufacturers produces standby power (off-mode) under 2 watts for desktop PC and 1 watt for laptop which has power supply over 1000W embedded.

It seems those manufacturers need to achieve 1 watt standby power to have competitiveness with other PCs and appeal to their technology to customers as well. But, this isn't possible by those manufacturers. PC industry lead by Intel and they can manage CPU and else power usages on motherboard too.

Intel already response for this requirements with key players like Atom CPU and recent motherboards claims 1 watt of standby power too. Whereas previously an Intel-designed motherboard would use about 3W in its lowest power mode, today most new Intel boards enable the desktop to consume less than 1W in lowest power mode. PCs with this feature use less power and generate less heat � so for every 12 million PCs sold, 123 million kilowatt-hours of energy can be saved, resulting in 91 million kilos of global warming gases eliminated.

If 1 watt PC became a popular some of you may not unplug all the time after using PC to save your energy cost and PC manufacturers will promote their PC is green tech or friendly to potential customers as well. And, their PCs can be an export opportunity to internationally if played right and companies commercialize effectively.

This isn't first requirement from Korea government. Mobile phone adaptor was targeted in few years back. Government was request to follow new 24-pin standardization adaptor for all mobile phone selling in Korea. This works out well and very convenience for customer side. One adaptor can charge all branded mobile phones and no need to replace or purchase again with new mobile phone too. I heard EU also set this type of law and standard pin is mini-USB.

Korea is well-known as window on the future of IT and government push hard in energy saving lately they focus is the whole range of electronics products (i.e. not just PCs... white goods too). Hope this policy works out well and benchmarked from other nations too.

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About Kevin (Kilmo) Kang

Kevin (Kilmo) Kang is a self-professed IT-savvy guy who's been having the time of his life making tech deals with new business partners in the Asia-Pacific areas. Like every Korean, he's gadget-crazy and is glad he lives in a country with one of the fastest-growing tech markets in the world. His taste for international work, however, arose from a nine-year stay in New Zealand where he fortunately made more friends than there are sheep.