IT's Low-Hanging Fruit
PC power management software saves money, energy
Powering down PCs at night and during weekends could save $2.8 billion a year in the U.S.
Best Practice
RELATED LINKS
- Customer Snapshot: Verizon Communications' power management
- 1E CEO Sumir Karayi on the economics of PC power management
- Listen to an interview with Verdiem CEO Jeremy Jaech
MORE INFORMATION
- The average payback for power management software is six months.
- U.S. businesses waste $2.8 billion a year collectively by not shutting down PCs at night, according to the Alliance to Save Energy.
- The Climate Savers Computing Initiative, an IT industry group, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from computing by 50%, or 54 million tons per year, by 2010. Wide scale adoption of power management software, in addition to more efficient power supplies, will be key to achieving this goal.
2009 INNOVATIONS REVIEW
Companies find that environmental sustainability helps reduce costs and gain advantages.
Tens of millions of computers stay fully-powered 24/7. That's because most people disable the "sleep" setting so they don't waste any time powering up their machines. What's more, many companies advise employees never to turn off their computers so that IT can perform backups, install software or deal with security issues during the nights or weekends.
How wasteful are such practices? An independent report commissioned by power management software company 1E estimated that powering down PCs at night and during weekends could save $2.8 billion a year in the U.S., about £300 million in the U.K. and about €920million in Germany.
"If all the world's one billion PCs were powered down for just one night, it would save enough energy to light up New York City's Empire State Building – inside and out – for more than 30 years," the report says. The Alliance to Save Energy, a nonprofit group, sponsored the U.S. survey, which is available for download from the 1E website.
Software options with proven success
Power management software sold by 1E and by Verdiem, a software company based in Seattle, gives IT departments centralized control over all networked computers so that they can routinely power them down when they are not being used, but "awaken" them as needed. The U.S. EPA offers open-source power management software packages called EZ Wizard and EX GPO.
All the vendors tout customer success stories. The University of Wisconsin's Oshkosh branch told EPA that it saved $9,000 a year with the free software, which comes with technical assistance from the government.
Verizon Wireless deployed 1E WakeUp, which ensures that all PCs, whether on or off, can be patched immediately; and NightWatchman®, which significantly reduces the power consumed by PCs. These tools are now available on 63,000 desktops company-wide, resulting in a 24% reduction in both PC power consumption and CO2 emissions. The initiative reduces annual energy costs by $1.3 million and carbon emissions by an estimated 7,700 tons.
The chief information officer at Washington Mutual bank, which is now part of JP Morgan Chase, told Verdiem: "WaMu has cut its PC-related greenhouse gas emissions by 65% and is on track to save $3 million on electricity costs this year" by implementing Verdiem's SURVEYOR software.
Posted: 09-Apr-2009; Updated: 20-Apr-2009
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