How Green is the New iPad - part 2: comparing energy efficiency with the iPad 2

The new iPad has been with us almost 4 months and we decided it's about time to analyze its carbon footprint. Yesterday we started a 7-part series in which we explore the carbon footprint of the new iPad, compare it to the carbon footprint of iPad 2 and try to figure out if Apple has made any progress from environmental perspective with its new iPad and what's the new breakeven point between books and ebooks on the iPad.

Every day we'll look into another part of the carbon footprint of the new iPad. Yesterday we talked about production. Today we're looking at energy efficiency.

Energy efficiency:

Here is the information on the energy efficiency of the new iPad (source: Apple's report):

iPad uses power-efficient components and software that intelligently manage power consumption. In addition, the iPad 10W USB Power Adapter outperforms the stringent requirements of the ENERGY STAR specification for external power supplies. The following table details the power consumed by iPad in different use modes.

Mode	100V	115V	230V
Sleep	0.65w	0.65w	0.70w
idle - display on	5.26w	5.26w	5.46w
power adapter, no load	0.07w	0.07w	0.09w
power adapter efficiency	80.90%	80.80%	79.90%

And here is the information on the energy efficiency of the iPad 2 (source: Apple's report - revised version):

iPad 2 uses power-efficient components and software that intelligently manage power consumption. In addition, the iPad 10W USB Power Adapter outperforms the stringent requirements of the ENERGY STAR specification for external power supplies. The following table details the power consumed by iPad 2 in different use modes.

Mode	100V	115V	230V
Sleep	0.46w	0.41w	0.45w
idle - display on	3.10w	3.08w	3.16w
power adapter, no load	0.07w	0.07w	0.09w
power adapter efficiency	80.90%	80.80%	79.90%

Here's a comparison of the data presented in these tables, showing the change in %:

Mode	100V	115V	230V
Sleep	41%	59%	56%
idle - display on	70%	71%	73%
power adapter, no load	0%	0%	0%
power adapter efficiency	0%	0%	0%

Here's our take: When it comes to energy efficiency it looks like the iPad hasn't made any progress. It either moves backwards, using more power (sleep and idle mode) or shows no change at all (power adapter - no load, power adapter efficiency).

Is it really important? The answer is yes! Customer use is about 25 percent of the carbon footprint of the iPad, so better energy efficiency generates substantial improvements in the carbon footprint, which unfortunately is not the case here.

Bottom line: Apple has failed to make any improvements whatsoever in the energy efficiency of the new iPad. If anything, it only made it less efficient.

Next part on our series: Packaging.

More resources on how green is the iPad can be found on our website at www.ecolibris.net/ipad.asp

More resources on the ebooks vs. physical books environmental debate can be found on our website at www.ecolibris.net/ebooks.asp.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!