Oil prices spur green technology

Oil prices near $145 a barrel and high electricity bills mean electronics makers such as LG that develop green, energy-efficient products such as mobile devices, desktops and notebooks, and market them effectively to customers may get an edge in a gloomy global economy, states Eweek.com.

These days when customers walk into electronics stores, the first question they ask is how much electricity the fridge, washing machine or laptop computer they are contemplating buying consumes.

"Energy savings were not exactly a hot topic among customers last year," said Kim Dong-han at South Korean electronics retailer Hi-Mart. "But this year, nine out of ten people ask point blank whether a product will help them save money."

Consumer laptops and desktops could get faster and more power-efficient when Intel releases chips built around its new Nehalem micro-architecture in the second half of 2009, says IT World.

Further details about the new chips are set to be revealed at Intel Developer Forum, to be held in San Francisco between 19 and 21 August.

The chips will first be targeted at high-end desktops and servers, but later scaled down for consumer desktops and laptops.

Driven by continued strength in the notebook market and the additional momentum created by the arrival of low-cost ultra-portables, PC shipment growth exceeded expectations in EMEA and recorded a 24.5% increase in the second quarter of 2008 compared with the same quarter last year, according to preliminary data released by IDC EMEA, reports Verivox.

Notebooks continued to drive overall market growth at over 53% year-on-year while desktops also performed a little better than expected at 0.7%.

Growth came in even slightly faster than in the first quarter and highlighted the sustained buoyancy in the notebook market, which continues to drive intense vendor competition and stimulate demand across the EMEA region, despite global economic pressure and rising energy costs which have increasingly affected country economies during the quarter.