Gaming Computers Offer Huge, Untapped Energy Savings Potential

Required Snark writes: According to Phys.org, a study by Evan Mills at Berkeley Lab shows that "gamers can achieve energy savings of more than 75 percent by changing some settings and swapping out some components, while also improving reliability and performance" because "your average gaming computer is like three refrigerators." Gaming computers represent only 2.5 percent of the global installed personal computer (PC) base but account for 20 percent of the energy use. Mills estimated that gaming computers consumed 75 TWh of electricity globally in 2012, or $10 billion, and projects that will double by 2020 given current sales rates and without efficiency improvements. Potential estimated savings of $18 billion per year globally by 2020, or 120 terawatt hours (TWh) are possible. Mills started the site GreeningtheBeast.org. You can read the full paper as a PDF.

Comments

Here's an obvious power saving solution...

[__aaclcg7560]

Wouldn't it be easier to TURN OFF the gaming computer when you're not using it?

Re:And?

[Archangel Michael]

So, what you're saying is that dropping from 1000 frames per second, to 950 FPS is all it takes to die?

My dad had a saying, I think it applies here: "A poor workman blames his tools"

Re:Power saving settings are annoying

[lesincompetent]

Mod parent up. There's a time and a place for energy saving and sometimes it's NEVER.

Re:If you read the article

[bobbied]

If you read or even browse the paper, all he really says is if you use newer components, they are more energy efficient. Which is like well, pretty much everything else on the damn planet.

I wonder... Do they take into account the resources necessary to BUILD these new components and scrap the old ones?

I read once that it's more environmentally friendly to keep using an old building, car, etc over having to scrap the old one and build a new one...