Visitors to the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin rely on kiosks for a variety of functions, including buying tickets with cash or cards, printing their tickets and for wayfinding and event information. Although the kiosks, made by Eco Tech Computers, work like many standard multifunctioning kiosks, they do it using just 40 watts of power, said Peter McManus, managing director of Eco Tech. (Standard kiosks, according to cnet and the EPA, use 180 watts at 110 volts for 7.0956 tons of co2 per annum. EcoKiosks use 40 watts at 12 volts for 1.5768 tons of co2 per annum.)
Also, because the EcoKiosk is a 12-volt system, it can run on a standard car battery or plug into a car's cigar lighter, McManus said.
"We have developed these indoor systems to be very power efficient at the same time to be more than capable of tackling all aspects of indoor kiosk use," he said. Besides ticket vending and way-finding capabilities, the machines can also serve as pop-up shops, virtual receptionists or as bill-pay kiosks.
The specs
Each kiosk, which costs about €5200 ($6,395 U.S.), has a 20-inch touchscreen and ruggedized 
keyboard with a Windows 7 Pro operating system controlled by the customer in a secure, locked-down browser. Deployers can order the kiosks in any color and brand messaging, McManus said.
Since the Aquatic Centre just rolled out the kiosks in July, it doesn't yet have any hard numbers about ROI, but Robbie Whelan, marketing and sales manager for the Aquatic Centre, said the guests' acceptance of them gives him confidence that they are worth the investment. (Whelan could not disclose this Centre's investment.)
"They are becoming more popular by the day as the queues get bigger," Whelan said.
Energy-saving kiosks are nothing new to Eco Tech; it first rolled out its outdoor version of the machines in March 2011. Those kiosks are powered by the user via a hand-crank generator. The gearing system is controlled by a software interface and solar panels.
Read more about custom kiosks.
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