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80 PLUS: Market Impacts and Lessons Learned

Panel: Market Transformation: Taking Efficiency Mainstream

Authors:
Ryan Rasmussen, Ecos Consulting
Geoff Wickes, Ecos Consulting and Industrial Efficiency Alliance

Abstract

In March 2004, Ecos Consulting (Ecos) announced an ambitious program called 80 PLUS during ACEEE's Market Transformation Symposium. Research has shown that energy consumption of nearly all desktop computers and desktop-derived servers could be reduced 15 to 25 percent by simply utilizing AC to DC power supplies that were power factor corrected and at least 80 percent efficient. Simultaneously, ENERGY STAR® announced plans to revise its Version 3.0 desktop computer specification that was released in July 2000 and had remained unchanged ever since. Despite the significant energy savings opportunity (85 kWh per desktop, 301 kWh per desktop-derived server), the market infrastructure was not established to take advantage of these specifications. It was a perfect opportunity for a market intervention effort, but time was short. Could the program attract enough sponsors to entice key market actors to respond? Could the infrastructure be developed to the point where ENERGY STAR could justify including the 80 PLUS power supply specification in Version 4.0, which was scheduled to take effect July 2007?

Within 2.5 years, approximately 300 power supplies from over 50 manufacturers were certified 80 PLUS, 14 sponsors across North America were offering more than $5 million in incentives, major OEM Hewlett-Packard had joined the program, and ENERGY STAR had included the 80 PLUS specification in Version 4.0. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the 80 PLUS initiative by: 1) quantifying the energy savings impact (for the program and the market as a whole); 2) evaluating the program's effectiveness through other metrics; 3) identifying key lessons learned; 4) assessing its duplicability for similar product categories; and 5) discussing the transition to an ENERGY STAR program effort.

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