What is your console up to when you aren't looking? hardCOREware.net has a great article calculating and comparing the power usage of the big three gaming consoles on the market. They break down the power usage for gaming, movies and being "off". This article isn't exactly new, but it's still relevant. The results of the gaming power consumption tests aren't all that surprising; the PS3 and XBox 360 are both fairly power hungry, while the Wii, with its underpowered efficient graphics processor, uses far less energy.

Image source: www.hardcoreware.net

Read the full report here: hardCOREware.net - Power Consumption Report

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image source: gizmodo.com

Every wonder how OLED displays work? How can they be made so thin? And, why are OLED TV's so damn expensive if they are just made out of pickles? $2,499 for an 11" screen seems like highway robbery for a couple of decent sized English cucumbers.

OK, so they aren't made out of pickles and it's obviously not that simple, however, an MIT scientist demonstrates that the basic principles are the same. He also gives some details on the differences between LCD and OLED displays.

Sony recently announced they will be haulting sales of OLED TVs in Japan. Until new manufacturing techniques are perfected, OLED TVs that are ~2-20 times more efficient than modern LED LCD's will remain prohibitively expensive. Oh and good luck finding a 60" OLED TV (you can't). For now, the best green option continues to be LED LCD TVs which can boast a 50~75% improvement in energy efficiency over their CCFL LCD cousins.

Make your own pickles! http://www.pickyourown.org/makingpickles.htm

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Press Release – Boulder, Colo. – March 18, 2010 – Tendril, a leading energy management technology provider, will debut its next generation in-home display next week at DistribuTECH, the nation’s leading trade show focused on utility energy distribution and efficiency. The Tendril Vision is a revolutionary device that allows people to link directly with their utility to get meaningful, real-time information about their energy use and cost. The results are greater energy efficiency as well as opportunities for utility customers to reduce their consumption by an average of 10 to 15 percent, according to Tendril CEO Adrian Tuck.

“For the first time, people at home can receive real-time information through a highly intuitive device. It allows them to take an active role in how much energy they use in order to change their behavior and see immediate results,” Tuck said. “Utilities realize that they need to engage directly with their customers in order to drive efficiency and energy reduction. Vision provides the means of immediate communication and action that has been missing in consumers’ homes until now.”

Working with design consultant IDEO to develop Vision, Tendril completed extensive research unique to the utility industry and its consumers. This research involved a thorough examination of human behavior and desires, including how people interact with their surrounding environment, how they want their energy providers to communicate with them in their homes, and effective methods for promoting behavioral change. The team also studied behavior economics in order to understand how a simple, but well-designed device can encourage and enable continuous energy savings.

Among the unique features of the Tendril Vision:

• It is anchored in a household appliance similar to a digital clock. This promotes active engagement with utility customers because it provides continuous information via a device that is unobtrusive, intuitive and an accepted part of everyday living.
• Vision displays upcoming, real-time events so customers can plan accordingly. For example, Vision will display a visual cue for an upcoming demand response event and peak pricing period. Seeing this, a homeowner could wait to run the dishwasher, turn down the thermostat, or leave the house to run errands in order to save money during that time.
• The real-time data display is also accompanied by a web portal service that allows customers to look at detailed information online as well as create, and manage, their own customized energy use plan.

The Tendril Vision is approximately 8 inches by 6 inches and weighs less than two pounds. Vision integrates seamlessly with the Tendril platform, which includes utility applications for Demand Response, Energy Awareness, Load Control, Distributed Generation and Electric Vehicles.

Source: Tendril, Image Source: earth2tech

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