Intel wins green award for low low computing power

CHIPMAKER Intel has won an environmental award for its 48-core concept vehicle, the Single Chip Cloud Computer.

The 48 cores require 25 watts in idle mode or 125 watts when running at maximum performance, which is roughly comparable to the consumption of a standard household light bulb. Green computing is seen as necessary because information technology now causes carbon emissions comparable to that of civil aviation.

The chip can do this by determining how much energy is needed at a given time and for a given task. Intel says, "Clock frequencies and voltages can be set to different levels across the chip depending on application needs. Cores or even entire banks of cores can sleep and wake as needed."

The computer won Chipzilla €25,000 as the German Innovation Prize for Climate and the Environment in the category "Environmentally Friendly Technologies". Intel plans to match the €25,000 and donate the €50,000 to a scholarship program that sponsors talented, high-profile students in Germany.

The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and the Federation of German Industries presents these awards each year. µ