International Business Machines Corp.
is researching a way to cut electronic devices’ power consumption by 90
percent and reduce so-called vampire energy, or power used while machines and
gadgets are turned off.
IBM’s
Zurich
laboratory is developing a transistor that would regulate energy usage
more tightly than the current models, preventing energy from being used when
devices are left plugged into an electrical outlet, the Armonk, New York-based
company said today in a statement. It’s working on the project with European
universities and companies.
Reducing power consumption in products with transistors, which includes
supercomputers, laptops and smartphones, would help companies and home
consumers reduce energy bills, said Adrian Ionescu, a professor in the
nanotechnology lab atEcole Polytechnique Federale de Lausannein
Switzerland
, who is working with IBM on the project. It also would stretch battery
life in mobile devices, he said.
“Instead of having to recharge your
battery after two days, you might extend that to weeks,” Ionescu said in a
phone interview yesterday. “Imagine your laptop lasting 10 times longer.”
Power from machines in standby mode cost
U.S.
households a total of $3 billion in 2005, according to the most recent
Department of Energy figures, IBM said. Energy used by information technologies
and consumer electronics will double by 2022 and triple by 2030 to 1,700
terawatt-hours, the company said.
Mobile Devices
The project will last about three years,
followed by several years of development and trials, said Heike Riel, who helps
lead nanotechnology research at IBM’s
Zurich
lab. Consumers would have products with the new transistors in 2015 “at
the earliest,” Riel said.
Reducing power needed in mobile devices
such as smartphones may allow use of alternative energy sources such as solar,
Ionescu said. Mobile devices currently require more power than such energy
sources can provide, he said.
IBM, the world’s largest computer-services provider, spends about $6
billion, or about 6 percent of totalrevenue, on research and development each year.
IBMrose83 cents
to $140.67 at the close of New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The
shares climbed 7.5 percentthis yearbefore
today.