AMD Fusion APUs can reduce carbon footprint by up to 40% vs. previous generation products

The study calculated the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, or carbon footprint, of the systems from the silicon fabrication through the use phases of the product life cycle. The findings showed that the AMD Fusion APU reference system generated 40.2kg CO2e of GHG emissions compared to 67.4kg CO2e of GHG emissions for the previous generation products – a 40.3% reduction in overall GHG emissions associated with the APU product over its estimated lifetime. While the study showed some reduction in carbon footprint at the manufacturing stage, the largest carbon benefits for the APU stem from lower energy consumption when the product is used.

The lower carbon footprint of the AMD E-350 APU, as compared to the test system, largely results from the innovative integration of the computing and graphics processors onto a single piece of silicon. This eliminates the chip-to-chip linkage between CPU and GPU that can add latency to memory operations and reduce power.

“AMD’s commitment to reduce our impact on the environment spans our operations, our behaviors and the products we design,” said Nigel Dessau, Chief Marketing Officer, AMD. “AMD Fusion APUs are a remarkable example of how a company’s business interests and environmental interests can align and result in innovative products that deliver incredible experiences, value, and significant energy and cost savings for consumers and businesses alike.”

The study compared systems with the following specifications: the AMD Fusion APU system featured the AMD E-350 APU (18 watts Thermal Design Power), which is a single-chip processor that combines a dual-core CPU with a DirectX11 discrete-class graphics processing unit (GPU); while the reference system featured a dual-core AMD Athlon™ Neo II CPU and a discrete ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5430 GPU card.

AMD Fusion Accelerated Processing Units

AMD Fusion APUs mark a significant leap forward in technology innovation to address evolving workloads and users' needs for smaller, more power-efficient form factors that enable richer visual computing experiences such as:

* Outstanding Web browsing experiences in terms of speed of response, quality of graphics, quality of animations;
* Smooth video playback of HD and 3D content in even the most portable form factors;
* Optimized experience in popular GPU-accelerated productivity applications such as Microsoft PowerPoint where AMD Fusion enables smooth transitions, better animations, easier video editing;
* Enhanced content management capabilities to help organize the millions of digital media files created and stored by consumers everyday;
* User interface innovations designed to rapidly evolve as new technologies such as gesture recognition and voice command take advantage of the massive parallel processing capability of GPUs as evidenced by the hundreds of gigaflops of compute power in the AMD Fusion APU codenamed Llano.

The potential carbon footprint savings from AMD Fusion APU technology is dramatic. The AMD Fusion APU tested in the Carbon Footprint Study was found to save an estimated 27.2 kgCO2e over its lifetime compared to the non-APU product. As to the product use, which was by far the greatest source of carbon emissions, the study found that a single AMD Fusion APU-based system could save an estimated 9 KWh of energy/year.2

Based on the latest IDC Worldwide PC Forecast, the 2011 worldwide portable PC market - the primary market for which the AMD Fusion APU Model E-350 is targeted - is estimated to total approximately 233 million units in 2011.3 If AMD Fusion products were to be installed in approximately one-third of that market – or 77 million units - that could result in a total carbon dioxide emission equivalents savings of nearly 500,000 metric tons annually.4 That is the same amount of annual GHG emissions from 95,160 passenger vehicles or the same amount of electricity used by 60,399 homes for one year.