Since the Environmental Protection Agency first created the Energy Star program in 1992, the familiar blue and white logo has appeared on thousands of appliances and home electronics — everything from lighting fixtures to copiers, external power adapters, fax machines, laptops, monitors, printers, scanners, water coolers, even some new homes and commercial buildings.

Now, the specification is set to receive a reworking, with the PC in mind. In just a few months, the EPA will release its first revision to the specification – version 4.0 – for PCs and other computing devices in more than 15 years.

Meant to connote the positive environmental effects of reduced energy consumption and greenhouse gases, the blue Energy Star sticker has historically meant that a given piece of equipment has met certain specifications for energy efficiency as laid out by the EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy.

In the past, it was intended to be a part of a series of voluntary programs that would underscore the potential profitability of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and overall power consumption—a non-threatening way for the government to provide a clear incentive for corporations to go green, all without forcing their hand through the institution of mandates and regulations.

That is still the case today. In fact, this has been a major selling point for Energy Star compliance, especially in corporate America. The question is, will it continue?

Sticker or not, your PC is likely Energy Star compliant

The program is regarded as potentially most lucrative for precisely this subset of buyers. Corporations and large businesses will typically receive large tax breaks by purchasing energy-efficient products, and the power saved by using Energy Star-rated devices is certainly an added bonus for a company with a vast network of PCs and servers.

According to the EPA, the Energy Star program alone delivered energy and cost savings equivalent to about $12 billion dollars in 2005 for businesses, organizations, and consumers. That, in turn, has led toward more energy efficient innovations such as LED traffic lights, fluorescent lighting, and power management systems for office equipment. Companies like Transmeta, Intel's Centrino program, and AMD's Cool 'N' Quiet, have also lowered the power consumption of PCs.

And as far as PCs are concerned, that means most computers are sliding easily under the existing Energy Star limits. Most commercial devices today are already in compliance with the old standard, whether they're Energy Star rated or not, explained Nancy Bowman, product marketing manager for commercial desktops at Hewlett Packard.

"What's interesting about the current spec is that pretty much everything meets it," said Bowman, whose company already has products that meet Version 4.0 available. "We needed to make this mean something, so the EPA decided to up the standard."

The specs

Under the new set of specifications – revised last October, and going into effect on July 20 – energy-efficient PCs, notebooks, workstations, and game consoles will all have to meet new power supply efficiency and "idle power" consumption requirements.

Eventually, there will be two tiers of compliance, according to the EPA. Tier 1 requirements, which are designed to distinguish the top 25 percent of all PCs as measured by energy consumption, will require that they use a power supply that converts at least 80 percent of incoming electricity for actual use by the PC, said Ernesta Jones, an EPA spokesperson.

The tier-1 specification also includes requirements for when a system is in idle mode, or fully on, but not running any applications. For example, to qualify for the program, a basic desktop PC must consume 50 watts or less when in idle mode, according to Jones.

Those PCs or laptops with multi-core processors and high-end graphics processors will get a little more wattage allowance, but not much. For example, a basic notebook must consume 14 watts or less of power at idle, while a notebook with a GPU has to consume less than 22 watts of power.

Beyond complying with the new eligibility criteria, there will also be stipulations on testing, how and where the Energy Star logo is used and placed, and a commitment by companies to further promote energy efficiency and the Energy Star program.

On July 1, 2009, Energy Star will also implement a tier-2 specification for PCs that will outline additional standards for computers outside the top tier. The EPA is also currently working on a specification one of the biggest consumers of electricity in today's homes, the flat-screen television.

But in light of these new requirements, and for all the talk these days of low power consumption, the question still remains: How important is earning the Energy Star rating for manufacturers of computers and other peripherals, especially given the popularity of today's high-performance gaming rigs and the consumer's habit of filling homes with an ever-increasing array of gadgets?

The answer, it would seem, is very—especially for those OEMs that cater to businesses and corporations.

Marijana Vukicevic, a power management senior analyst at iSuppli, says that the computer industry tends to be at the very top of the pile and proactive when it comes to energy compliance.

Computers were actually the first devices to earn an Energy Star rating, according to the EPA, and that commitment to energy efficiency apparently hasn't dwindled over the years.

Today, a brief survey of Energy Star rated PCs and notebooks shows that virtually every major manufacturer offers at least a handful of compliant products. By far, the largest are those who also typically sell enterprise-specific PCs, like Dell and Hewlett Packard.

Businesses looking hard at power

"Corporate and datacenter energy savings are big spenders of energy and money," said Vukicevic. "Compliance tends to be very important—at least from a bottom line perspective."

According to Hewlett Packard's Bowman, HP's engineers even worked with the EPA to help develop the new guidelines.

"In general, HP is trying to lead the way in this kind of thing," she said. "Within the desktop group, we try to get ahead of the curve on all the specs."

But as Bowman notes, despite the fact that HP now has version 4.0 compliant products available, it's not always easy to meet the requirements.

"It takes a lot of testing on our part," she said. "What makes 4.0 more difficult—it's a whole system configuration. Each component must meet idle settings. That's really the challenge. It's a combination of everyone working together and, in the end, I think it works for customers, businesses, and the environment. The savings that you're going to get through power will pay off in the end."

Despite these challenges, Mathew Wilkins, computer platforms principal analyst for iSuppli, does not think meeting the new specification will affect the company's bottom line much.

"Undoubtedly, meeting a tighter specification requires effort, and effort costs money," Wilkins said. "But I don't expect a significant impact on the bottom line of semiconductor suppliers or OEMS."

Dell, who is a little behind HP, has also said it is working hard to implement the new Energy Star specifications into its PC lineup. The company expects to have compliant products available for customers by July, according to a Dell spokesman.

And it's not just computer manufacturers that see clear incentives for taking the energy efficient route. Chip makers like Intel and AMD have also become increasingly concerned with energy efficiency.

"Both Intel and AMD are striving for higher performance with lower power consumption," according to Wilkins, who said that new products from both companies have demonstrated that this is becoming more and more of a priority.

So while meeting the new requirements may be something of a headache for many companies, the overall benefit of being Energy Star rated still seems to outweigh remaining uncertified.

"Energy efficiency is a very hot subject," said Wilkins. "IT professionals are growing increasingly concerned with performance per watt, and the efforts of Intel and AMD to produce more efficient processors will only add to this growing momentum."

And while the clear financial benefits may not translate for the average electronics consumer, the EPA says it is banking on fact that people still get a strong sense of satisfaction by purchasing Energy Star products and doing their part to help the environment. If nothing else, that is enough to make the logo important and relevant for many years to come, Jones said.