Energy savings from using mobile smart technologies

Abstract

This paper presents the most recent results of energy saving benefits from the convergence of consumer products into a multi-function smart device, such as a smartphone or tablet, compared to single-function products (e.g., an electronic clock). Although individual users are predominantly driven only by the marked trends and the individual energy savings are moderate, the sheer number of users makes this global trend promising and a model for sustainable energy. The energy consumption of selected smart devices was tested using 42 frequently used applications and utilities (e.g., portable gaming, scanning, music players, etc.). A range of Operating Systems (OS) were selected for testing: Android OS (Google), Blackberry OS (RIM), iOS (Apple), and Windows 7 OS (Microsoft). Testing was conducted using the following smartphones: Blackberry Curve 9300, iPhone 4, Samsung Focus, Samsung Galaxy S; and tablets: iPad 2 and Samsung Galaxy Tablet 7″. In order to investigate the battery consumption, two programs were developed in-house for iOS and Android platforms. For the Windows phone, the built-in program was utilized, while a third-party application was used for the Blackberry phone. To further test the battery, each device was also decoupled from its battery and hooked up through a measuring device, and experiments were then repeated. This study shows smart devices save consumers up to $150 annually compared to single-function devices in a range of applications. The results from this study demonstrate how smart devices are transforming our society by providing superior functionality at a lesser cost in energy, paving the way for other technologies to be integrated into smart devices, and energy reduction to continue. The error in measurement was estimated using standard techniques utilizing 95% confidence scoring for each of the measurements. According to these results that assume normal distribution of measurement error, we show that our measurements were done correctly and the results are significant to within margin of error of ±0.0249 and ±0.0775 for intrusive measurements for smart phones and tablets and for non-intrusive measurements for smart phones and tablets, respectively, of ±0.497 and ±0.325.