PC Power Management
The Problem - How Manage Computer Power Use
Because we are so reliant on computers for business purposes, most companies have a habit of leaving the computers on outside of office hours to avoid lengthy boot up times or to allow staff to access their work desktop remotely out side of office hours. But have you ever considered that the actual time the computer is in use is only a fraction of the working week.
One simple way to save money and reduce green house gas emissions is through proper energy management of your office computers. Computers are a vital part of every office’s operations. The typical office has at least one PC per employee. Often these computers are left on far longer than they need to, using energy and costing you money.
Research has shown that desktop computers are the single biggest users of electricity in any office - and that 30% to 60% of this energy is wasted. Both Windows and Mac PCs have power saving modes which you can easily use to set your computers to go to “sleep” after a specified amount of idle time. You can also set PCs to turn off completely. Look on your Help system for detailed instructions on how to set this up. It is quite simple.
Easy & Simple Power Management
Using these software tools, you set the policy and your staff does not have to think about it. If you are interested in this type of power management software, click here for a free trial. However If you are skeptical about the impact that power management can have on your bottom line, consider these two case studies:
Many people believe that the start-up of PCs in the morning uses more energy than is saved by shutting down every night. This is not true. The energy saved by having a PC off for 12 to 16 hours every evening (plus weekends) far outstrips the energy used during start-up.
If you cannot get your staff to set their computers to use these power savings modes, all is not lost. If your system is networked to a central server, you can automate the process through power management software.
This type of software can be configured to enforce power saving settings across your entire network.
• Customer 1 - has reduced energy consumption on its computers by an average of 44% since it started using PC power management software.
• Customer 2 - has cut its PC-related greenhouse gas emissions by 65% and saved about £3 million on electricity costs in 2008 by installing networked power management software to manage 44,000 desktop PCs.
Our Software
Our power management software automatically shuts down PCs and peripherals (monitors etc) according to a daily schedule set by your network administrator; this saves your electricity, your money and helps save our planet through reducing your carbon footprint.
Our power management software consists of two elements, server/client based software to schedule the computers to power down each day and a hardware element - a surge protected smart power block. The block senses when a computer has powered down and switches off power to any connected peripherals such as monitors, speakers, printers or routers. Once powered down, computers use next to no electricity, cutting electricity bills and reducing levels of harmful carbon emissions associated with generating electricity.
Networked computers are identified by the server software; once identified, individual machines are allocated to user created groups. Each group can then have a power down and up schedule attached to it. Typically, power down is scheduled for shortly after the end of the normal work day. When powered down, all computers draw minimal power - all monitors, printers, scanner, speakers and USB peripherals are switched off. At a time you choose before the start of the day, the computers are reactivated and power is returned to the peripherals. Users simply log on to return their workstation to the state they left it in at the end of the previous day.
In addition to the daily schedule of morning and evening, Open Windows can be set for each group. An Open Window is created to allow for network administration tasks, updates, polling data, etc. The Open Windows can be scheduled to take place regularly (e.g. every Friday from 02:00 hours 'til 04:00 hours) or as a one-off event.
Power Demand
With 24/7 broadband, the always-available culture, 'instant' this and 'always-on’ that, we have a load of gizmos and gadgets at home and at work and we seem to have forgotten how to use the ‘off’ button. Computers and computer peripherals are some of the biggest offenders being left on in homes, offices and schools all day and night.
So What?
A typical mid-range office workstation comprising a PC and a monitor uses 200 Watts of electricity when switched on. According to research conducted by the computer manufacturer, Dell, over 90% of corporate PCs are left on all the time. The pattern is repeated in schools and public sector organisations throughout the UK. Leaving a single PC consuming 200W on all the time consumes nearly £200 of electricity a year and is responsible for half a tonne of CO2 emissions.
If you only needed a 200W business computer 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, switching it off for the other 118 hours a week would save you around £135 a year and reduce CO2 emissions by half a tonne and that’s for each computer. A diesel Peugeot 407 Saloon 1.6 HDi FAP car driven 10,000 miles in a year emits 2.2 tonnes: leaving four corporate PCs switched on when not needed results in the same level of CO2 emissions.
The Bigger Picture
Gartner, the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company, announced in April 2007 that ICT is responsible for 2% of the world’s emissions of the principle greenhouse gas, CO2 – roughly equivalent to that of the airline industry. Further, 40% of those emissions come from PCs and monitors.
According to WWF, unless we stop average global temperatures from rising more than 2°C above the level recorded in pre-industrial times, we face a high risk of severe and irreversible changes in the planet’s natural systems. The consequences of changing weather patterns, warming seas and melting ice will be devastating for people and nature. To stay below 2°C, global greenhouse gas emissions must peak within the next 10 years and then fall by at least 80% by 2050.
What can you do?
The best solution would be to switch equipment off when not needed – the problem is that most people don’t. There are many reasons why equipment is not switched off; lack of knowledge, lack of awareness and lack of accountability to name but a few. In the mid to longer term, education, incentive, disciplinary action or a combination of all three may lead to an attitudinal shift; in the meantime however, PC Power Down offers a technological solution.
PC Power Down Network - System Requirements
PC Power Down Network Edition is a product that exists in two parts. There is a server component which controls the behaviour of all the clients and a client component which controls the power down of each PC. The server component is installed on one computer in your network, which will usually be a server, the clients are installed on each PC to be controlled. There are different requirements for the server and clients.