Efficient Power Supply Contest

A reader writes: "In the June (paper) issue of Scientific American, there is a mini-article descibing the energy being wasted by power supplies in computers. Those things are only 60-70% efficient in converting line-voltage AC to low-voltage DC, and there are so many millions of them out there that a modest efficiency increase could trim $1billion or more from the annual energy costs of the USA. Well, various governmental agencies are seeking to get improved power-supply efficiency into the marketplace. The central "clearinghouse" site is at efficientpowersupplies.org, and details of their contest are in this PDF."

Comments

What about Mega Power Supplies

[Marillion]

Some large buildings have very large flouresent ballasts in the basement (or where-ever) because they can more effectively provide that power as a large unit rather than hundreds of small units.

What if the same idea where applied to computers. Right next to the standard wall outlet would be a world standardized jack with six or eight pins for each of the required voltages.

Low voltage computer mains would make UPS systems less complicated too.

I've even heard of vendors who make telco friendly rackmount PC's that take 48v DC mains.