Low power consumption -Economical and “green” digital signage & kiosks

In a pilot system involving a limited number of media players and monitors at a handful of sites, the power consumption of each unit is perhaps not the first thing you think about. But in a fully operational system with perhaps hundreds of media players it should to be taken into consideration.

A successful digital signage or self-service kiosk system will grow. By numbers the total power consumption of such a system can be significant. Therefore the power consumption of media players and media monitors used as kiosks are an important part of the total cost of ownership. Unfortunately many people forget to calculate the total energy costs for a system during its depreciation period. Both from an economical and environmental point of view, this should be taken into account.

Conventional PCs may have power consumption up to 150W depending on various factors. Industrial PCs with passive cooling may have a power consumption of 35 watts and more. Sometimes you may get better performance from a computer with higher power consumption but it comes with a cost. 

Each 50 W of power consumption means 432 kWH/per year. With an electricity cost at 0,1 Euro/kWh (which is only applicable in European countries with a very low price tag on the electricity) this means 43,2 Euro/year. During a 5 year period this corresponds to 216 Euro which is a considerable part of the initial cost for the individual media player.

To make more calculations on power consumption you can use the “MultiQ Kiosk Cost and Environmental Impact Estimation calculator”:

http://multiq.com/doc/developers/cost_saving_using_multiq_media_monitors.xlsx

The MultiQ media players consume less than 10 W and the media monitor with integrated media player consumes less than 50 W.

The power consumption is decreased further by scheduling the display hours. This means not only saving energy but also increase the lifetime of the monitors since the panels are preserved when the monitor is set to standby mode.

Also, electronic equipment that consumes less power emits less heat. In most cases less power dissipation means longer lifetime expectancy. Calculating the total energy consumption during the entire lifetime of the system is good both for the wallet and the environment.

Using media players and monitors with low power consumption (media player <10W and media monitor with integrated media player <50W) combined with scheduled display hours (outside which the monitors are set in standby mode) assures for low total power consumption.

Lars-Ingemar Lundström
Documentation and Training Manager, MultiQ