PC vendors that want to gain marketing leverage by displaying an "Energy Star" sticker on their computers have nine months to meet a tough new specification announced Monday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Pending adoption by the European Union, Energy Star version 4.0 will take effect on July 20, 2007.

The changes mark the first time the government has updated its spec since July 2000, raising the bar for manufacturers of desktops, notebooks, tablets, workstations, low-end servers, and game consoles. The spec does not apply to large and midrange servers, thin clients and blades, or handhelds and PDAs (personal digital assistants).

Federal regulators moved to set stricter standards because 98 percent of eligible PCs were meeting the previous Energy Star target, the agency said.

"Energy Star adds value by making it easy for consumers to identify computers that are more energy efficient than conventional models. Therefore, EPA does not intend to set an Energy Star specification that all models can meet," EPA Product Manager Craig Hershberg said in a memo to vendors and manufacturers. "In order to ensure that Energy Star continues to differentiate the market for energy-efficient computers and accelerate the market penetration of energy-efficient technologies, the existing energy efficiency criteria must be evaluated and revised."

Indeed, only 26.9 percent of notebooks capable of playing TV tuners would meet the new idle cap of 22 watts, the agency said. EPA regulators plan to announce an even stricter, Tier 2 standard by Jan. 1, 2009, set to include only the top 25 percent of efficient PCs.

The new requirements apply mainly to a PC's efficiency in idle mode, not how well it runs under a maximum workload. For instance, vendors must set qualifying PCs to switch their displays into sleep mode within 15 minutes of user inactivity, and switch the entire computer into sleep mode within 30 minutes of inactivity.

Furthermore, desktops, low-end servers and gaming consoles must consume no more than 2 watts of power in standby mode, or 4 watts in sleep mode. Notebooks and tablets must use no more than 1 watt of power in standby mode and no more than 1.7 watts in sleep mode.

"This translates to huge energy savings if the power management feature remains enabled after it gets to the end user," said EPA spokeswoman Katharine Osdoba. "We have been very successful in getting to high enabling rates with monitors and are aiming to do the same with computers." The agency hopes its new standard will push PC vendors to include power management technology in 40 percent of computers by 2010, 60 percent by 2012, and 80 percent by 2014.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.