The impact of a power supply on the environment A power supply is a subsystem in an electronic product that has great impact on the environment. Far more than many would think. The choice of components and manufacturing methods does of course affect the environment, but more important is in fact the power supply efficiency. This is a measure on how much power loss the power supply has, i.e. how much “unnecessary” energy is consumed.

This can be clarified in the following example: A device requires 100 watt of power and a power supply with 75% efficiency is used. 133 watt is consumed from the network and 33 watt is pure loss. When choosing a power supply with 87% efficiency only 115 watts of power will be drawn from the network, i.e. 15 watt loss. The efficiency loss is thus reduced from 33 watt to 15 watt, i.e. 18 watt, which is 55% less losses.

18 watt may not sound so much, but in a wider perspective, let’s say over a production run of 10,000 devices that will be in operation for 5 years and the device is in operation during 12 hours a day. Then the savings are: 18 watts (saving) x 10,000 (units) x 5 (years) x 365 (days in a year) x 12 (hours of operation/day): 3.942.000 kW hours. A normal house with electric heating consumes approximately 25,000 kW hours per year. The savings thus equivalent to the electricity consumption of 157 homes for one year! This is an example of how a seemingly small saving of energy in a wider context has great effect.

For us at Powerbox this is an example of how we, through an active environmental awareness, together with our customers could affect the global environment in a broader perspective.

Powerbox New Standard Products are in the lead with regards to efficiency and as decribed above this has a true impacy on our environment.

By using propriatary one-step conversion topology, the component count in the new 225 W open frame and the external adaptors are reduced to half or less compared to a modern conventional switch mode converter. This has a direct positive impact on the environment.

Several of the new Powerbox Standard products meets the European power efficiency directive, ErP, many years ahead of when they do become mandatory.

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