Intel’s new microprocessor was designed with two things in mind, the environment and speed. The company claims the chip is not only rocket fast but is also extremely energy efficient.

Codenamed Nehalem or Bloomfield, the label Core i7 doesn’t have a deeper meaning in terms of new technology, but rather continues the identity of the successful Core 2 and Core IV brands.

“Going into this project … we insisted on energy efficiency … and power,”

Said Steve Gunther, an engineer for Intel. Adding more processing speed to a chip usually requires more power, so meeting this challenge was not an easy one, he notes.

Using the Intel Nehalem microarchitecture, engineers had to tweak the chip’s clock cycle as well as its operating voltage, both of which drain a lot of energy.

The biggest energy cut came from reducing usage on an idle machine. Studies show that a large percentage of the chips life-cycle is spent idle, so it seems logical to reduce the power consumption while the chip is not in use.

One major problem engineers faced was the chip still needs to be active enough to receive instructions. Historically, chips remained fully powered during idle stages in order to read any instructions thrown their way—not anymore, Intel have found a way around this.

The company estimates that switching to Nehalem processors could save $2 billion dollars in energy costs and up to 20 terawatt hours. What’s more the company also suggests that 2 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions globally are from computers, a figure that could also be reduced if the majority of users switch over.

Released dates for the new Core i7 are varied, some sources claim the chip was scheduled for release on the 3rd of November but all that was released was a price listing for the new chip, other sources say the chip will be available by the 17th of November.

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