CO2 emissions reduced by 166,000 tonnes in Western Europe during 2007

Reading, London, 26 March 2008 – Thin clients are helping business in the battle against global warming, IGEL Technology reported today. The choice of thin clients over PCs on the business desktop has reduced CO2 emissions in Western Europe by 166,000 tonnes in 2007 - equivalent to the emissions of more than 540 return flights from London to New York.

The analysis is based on the latest IDC analyst figures and research carried out by the renowned Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, which used IGEL thin clients to investigate the power and CO2 emissions of thin clients against traditional business PCs and discovered significant power, ecological and financial savings.

“Energy consumption when in operation was up to 50 percent lower than for conventional PCs,” concluded Dr Hartmut Pflaum, the Fraunhofer researcher. “While PCs consume about 85 watts on average, thin clients including their server get by with 40 to 50 watts. In view of climate change and the need to reduce CO2 emissions, this is an important factor.”

With IDC figures reporting just over 3.4m thin clients sold in Western Europe since 2004 and an average machine lifecycle of 4 years, thin client-based businesses have reduced CO2 emissions by 166,000 tonne in 2007.

“This analysis proves that businesses are reducing their carbon footprint by simply switching from desktop PCs to thin clients,” said Stephen Yeo, Strategic Director of Worldwide Marketing for IGEL Technology. “However, the potential for savings is even more impressive. Today the thin client industry has just over 10% of the commercial desktops across Western Europe. If that percentage was to rise to 50% it would be a significant move in the battle to beat global warming.”