Watts down: Monitors burn no juice on standby

Fujitsu Siemens Computers will release LCD monitors this summer that use no power during standby mode, and charge the same price for their existing monitors. Standby mode typically consumes very little power with LCD monitors; an EPA Energy Star qualified monitor must use 2 watts or less in standby and 1 watt or less in off mode. Two watts can add up, however: that's nearly 9 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year, which can cost as much as one or two bucks, depending on your electricity prices.

You may ask: why does a computer pull power in standby or off mode, anyway? Isn't "off" off? Of course not. Just as in Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where the eponymous guide's power-down feature changed at one point to "Mode Execute Ready," so, too, does all our electronic equipment that doesn't have a satisfying power switch clicker await our instant bidding. In off mode, monitors anticipate that you'll press the soft switch--a software controlled button--to turn them on; in standby mode, they're listening for signals from the computer to spring to life.

Fujitsu Siemens says that their monitor uses a simpler circuit that detects a signal from a computer, and that's brought their standby usage down to zero; the circuit is activated by the signal.

Five to 10 dollars over the lifetime of an LCD (perhaps five years) isn't enough to spend more for the feature. But companies that can include a zero-watt option may be able to shift firms spending the same dollars on their products instead of competitors.

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