Showcasing what the future holds in the computing arena, chip-maker Intel today unveiled a computer with a processor running on a postage stamp-size cell powered by solar energy.
Underlining Intel’s efforts to push the boundaries for reduced power consumption in computing activities, its Chief, Mr Paul Otellini, today demonstrated such a system during his keynote speech at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) 2011.
Asserting that power innovation would reach unimaginable levels, he said Intel’s researchers have created a chip that powers up a computer processor on a solar cell the size of a postage stamp.
The computer had its solar-powered CPU drawing sufficient power to run animation and other Windows-based computing processes from two small overhead reading lamps. However, only the processor was being powered by the lamps and other parts of the computer were powered through a traditional power supply.
Mr Otellini, however, clarified that the solar-powered computer was not yet a planned product and he was only demonstrating the company’s efforts to cut down power consumption in computing processes.
Terming the demonstration a lab experiment, he said much more work would be needed to make an entire computer system work on solar power and it was a challenge for the company to figure out how it could take such a system from the laboratory to production lines.
“But it shows our direction. A Pentium-class processor running on solar (power), that was unheard of even six months ago,” he said.