The following post comes from Neil Hartigan, channel director for NEC UK. Hartigan details a piece of intelligent automation developed by his firm that could lead to more ecologically efficient use of computer displays for users in all verticals.
The UK government insists that all public sector bodies reduce their power consumption and carbon footprint across their “total estate” and most will now have individual sustainable targets to hit.
The corporate user is of course no different with power consumption of the computer display now always a requirement on any tender document. Corporate and public sector “specifiers” are therefore highly receptive to IT equipment offering genuine ecologically aware features which help to achieve their carbon saving targets and quantify their efforts whilst generating significant operational cost savings.
The human sensor
The “human sensor” is a smart feature available on the NEC EX and EA series of business monitors to automatically power the screen on and off depending on the user’s presence. Such is the demand for organisations to reduce their overall power consumption, the ability for the display to turn itself off when the user is no longer present is of compelling interest.
In 2011, NEC Display Solutions conducted research aimed at understanding business users’ office environments, their attitude to green IT issues and the length of time that they are away from their desks. The results threw up a convincing case for the use of power saving features on desktop displays, such as the human sensor.
Usage survey results
“NEC’s survey identified that 73% of respondents moved away from their desk between three and ten times per day for a short period of time for tasks such as making a drink, talking with colleagues or visiting the bathroom. A significant 18% were away for 11 or more short periods throughout the day. Additionally, the survey identified that all respondents were absent from their desks for at least one long period each day for lunch or for meetings — and 45% declared three or more long periods of time away from their desk each day.”
The pattern of behaviour identified by the survey recognised that there are several, often long periods of time when the desktop display is not in use, providing a very real, quantifiable argument for the use of sensitive power saving functionality.
The human sensor acknowledges when the user moves away from his desk and therefore not using his or her desktop display, by powering down immediately and powering up only when he or she returns. This smart device assists businesses in cutting power usage and in so doing helps to realise operational cost savings.
Neil Hartigan, Channel Director, NEC Display Solutions
Quantifiable savings
The survey results suggest that on average, a period of three hours is spent away from the desk throughout the day. A direct usage comparison between an NEC desktop featuring the human sensor and a similar display without a sensitive power down function, calculates a potential saving of over 30% in terms of both operational cost and carbon output. For businesses, managing an estate of often thousands of displays over several years, the savings are clearly very significant both to its operational budget and its carbon usage targets.
A number of government departments have already adopted NEC’s range of business displays as a result of their genuine eco-related features having rigorously tested their performance and analysed the resultant reduced power consumption.