News

Spotlight on low-carbon technologies: Freemote from Powerdesk

11th September 2008

dcarbon8 is pleased to announce that we have been engaged to complete a Life-Cycle Analysis of the carbon emitted in the manufacture, use and disposal of Freemote, a revolutionary new technology that saves energy and optimizes space in the workplace.

Freemote is a duplication of a PC ‘s controls, which allows freedom from the PC tower by bringing the on/off button, mic, headphone VoIP, USB and optical drive to the user’s workspace. A simple plug and play technology, it is connected to the PC by the simple installation of a PCI card.

This new design results in power, energy cost and carbon emissions reductions, because it allows staff to easily and ergonomically turn the PC on and off at the touch of the button, resulting in more frequent ‘off’ states. A commissioned study by Symantec calculated that using Freemote to switch off an office PC every evening and weekend saves 1,224 kWh of electricity per person/per pc per year. In the UK this equates to 0.66 tonnes of carbon equivalent, or 2 round-trip flights from London to New York.

The Freemote also allows the ability to place the PC towers up to 10 metres away from the use. This typically creates 20% more usable space than in a normal desk where the PC is positioned below the work surface. By repositioning the PC into areas of the desk or floor plate that are not utilised by employees on a daily basis, this enables an increase in workable space of between 250mm and 300mm. If the PC towers are grouped together away from users, this will allow less interference with adjacent workers during IT team work or upgrade to equipment and a reduction in the need for powered floor boxes for every desk.

Finally, the Freemote encourages better workspace health and ergonomics. If positioned well, users no longer have to bend down to insert a CD or USB stick, or turn the PC on and off.

Read more news