Green Ethernet

Green Ethernet is a common name for a set of features that is designed to be environmentally friendly, and to reduce the power consumption of a device. Green Ethernet is different from EEE in that Green Ethernet energy-detect is enabled on all devices whereas only Gigabyte ports are enable with EEE.

The Green Ethernet feature can reduce overall power usage in the following ways:

• Energy-Detect Mode—On an inactive link, the port moves into inactive mode, saving power while keeping the Administrative status of the port Up. Recovery from this mode to full operational mode is fast, transparent, and no frames are lost.

In addition to the above Green Ethernet features, the 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) is found on devices supporting GE ports. EEE reduces power consumption when there is no traffic on the port. EEE is enabled globally by default.

Power savings, current power consumption and cumulative energy saved can be monitored. The total amount of saved energy can be viewed as a percentage of the power that would have been consumed by the physical interfaces had they not been running in Green Ethernet mode. The saved energy displayed is only related to Green Ethernet. The amount of energy saved by EEE is not displayed.