Verdiem Launch Free Software to Slash PC Power Use Up to 80 Percent
PC energy saving specialists Verdiem have today released free downloadable software designed to help users slash their energy use up to a massive 80 percent.
According to Allison Cornia, vice president of product management at Verdiem, “If we could get just 10 per cent of the world’s one billion PCs using [the product] properly we could save 32 billion kilograms of CO2 a year. That’s equivalent to taking half a million cars off the road.”
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The new Edison software package employs a desktop user-interface designed to make it easier for users to access functions embedded deep in their PC’s existing operating system, enabling them to set times at which the machine will automatically transfer to sleep mode. It also allows users to reduce the amount of time a computer lies idle before it switches monitor, PC and hard drive power off.
One of the main aims of the product is to raise awareness among consumers about how much power their PC actually uses, thereby making it easier for consumers to minimize the size of their IT-related carbon footprint. To enable this, a nifty feature of the software allows users to track their carbon and energy use savings in real-time, which should act as a powerful tool to change behavior.
Free products like these make it much easier for users to drastically reduce the environmental impact of their activities. However, you have to wonder why the PC manufacturers themselves aren’t bundling such packages as standard with new PC’s, so that from the moment they switch on, users are instantly aware of the best way to save money and energy.
Image Credit - totalAldo via flickr.com on a Creative Commons license
It is built into every computer… it’s known as Windows Power Management.
I figured I’d have to look at it before I could complain about how its total crap… its 28megs!! Well, here goes nothing.
Not much to say, never even got around to using it. The terms say it sends data to them and then it wanted me to register to be able to use it so I tossed it.
Besides being bulky, it depends on MS .NET 2.0 and MS Internet Explorer. Smells a bit off, to me. The only thing it does that I don’t do already is make a carbon-linked record of power usage, and I’m willing to bet if such a utility isn’t already available it will be as soon as some open source developer notices the need.
Pass.