A Green PC?: New System Uses Less Power

If you’re looking for a low-cost, hassle-free, environmentally correct PC, consider the Zonbox that uses 20 times less power than a standard PC.

The device runs on 15 watts of power, compared to an average, full-size PC, which uses 175 watts of power. Compared to a standard desktop or laptop, consumers should save about $10 a month on their home electricity bills and should save one ton in CO2 emissions per year. The Green Electronics Organization, a non-profit in Portland, gave the device its highest award as a “gold” product. It was the first consumer PC to be labeled as such.

The Zonbox uses the Gentoo version of Linux as its operating system. Because the Zonbox design includes a low-power consuming chip from Via Technologies, and no hard drive or fan, it requires less energy. It uses a 4-gigabyte flash drive instead of a hard-disk drive for storing files, photos and music, in addition to the 25 gigabytes of storage capacity available for the monthly service via Amazon’s S3 service. It also comes with 20 open-source applications pre-loaded.

Zonbox’s developers are not planning to compete head-on with the highly cut-throat PC industry. They are targeting the second-PC market…one you might use in the kitchen or den.

Other developers have also been developing green PCs. Everex just launched a consumer PC at $298 for back-to-school with OpenOffice. Hewlett-Packard introduced an ultra-slim, energy-efficient PC for business users — it also received a gold rating from the Green Electronics Organization — starting at $849. Two OptiPlex desktop PCs from Dell for business users rounded out the gold category.

In addition to the Zonbox’s $99 price, consumers must prepay the two-year service agreement ($13/month for data storage) which can be canceled at any time. The Zonbox is available for $249 without a two-year service commitment for back-up and storing data. A keyboard, monitor and mouse are not included. The company encourages its customers to reuse older add-on devices.

Info gathered from: Copyright © 2007, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.