Intel Technical Articles

Improving power management for PCs and devices offers value in three
important areas: user experience (UX), operational expenses (OpEx), and
responsibility. For any mobile device effective power management is key to
providing long battery life and facilitating an instant-on, always-connected
experience. As any manager of a large number of systems will attest, whether
they are data center servers or corporate desktops, even a small reduction in
power use per system can yield significant annual savings in energy.
The ICT industry consumes a significant amount of energy globally with
the attendant emissions of greenhouse gases, mercury, and other poisons and
pollutants. Keeping the energy use of the IT industry at a reasonable level will
reduce the likelihood of regulation of energy use and emissions, allowing the
IT industry to retain room to innovate.
In Windows 7*, Microsoft made significant improvements in efficiency and
power management. Windows 8 builds on Windows 7 in three key areas: OS
platform efficiency (idle hygiene), runtime device power management, and a
Metro style application model.
Some of the improvements are at the OS level and benefit all customers and
applications, but in order to realize the full potential of Windows 8 advances,
developers will need to integrate their applications with the new power
management capabilities.