U.S. organizations waste approximately $2.8 billion annually and emit 20 million tons of carbon dioxide by not powering down idle PCs, according to the PC Energy Report 2009, issued by the Alliance to Save Energy, together with 1E, an energy management software company. For a company with 1,000 PCs, it means wasting $26,000 yearly, whereas an enterprise with 10,000 PCs would waste $260,000 and emit 1,871 tons of CO2 annually.
PC power management software can reduce the energy consumption of PCs as well as attached monitors during periods of inactivity. Using this software, IT can manage PC power settings over a network to drastically reduce power consumption, energy costs and carbon dioxide emissions.
Consider the following five business and technology best practices to slash your desktop power bill for greater operational efficiency and environmental impact:
1. Understand the business case.
“The first step is to create a business case and understand how much money you are spending,” says Doug Washburn, an analyst with Forrester Research. He recommends running scenarios by using Microsoft® Excel and performing simple modeling to determine potential cost savings.
Available tools include Forrester’s Online Green IT Baseline Calculator
and EnergyStar’s online calculator.
2. Understand your users.
“Users won’t tolerate downtime,” says Washburn. “It’s important to be smart about when to enforce power management.”
A successful program incorporates people and processes as well as technology. Map power management savings to user business requirements and the amount of downtime the specific business function requires. For instance, during the workday, power management may not be suitable for front-line employees, whereas in back-office locations, turning off monitors or placing PCs in standby mode after 30 minutes of inactivity may not be a problem.
3. Implement EnergyStar-standard Windows and Macintosh OS power management features.
Today’s desktops and notebooks incorporate many built-in power-saving capabilities such as “sleep” and “hibernate” modes that can significantly reduce the amount of energy consumed during inactive states.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends placing monitors and computers into a low-power “sleep mode” after a period of inactivity. Simply touching the mouse or keyboard awakens the computer and monitor in seconds. Activating sleep features saves energy and money and helps protect the environment.
To maximize power savings, the EPA recommends setting computers to enter system standby or hibernate after 30 to 60 minutes of inactivity. The lower the setting, the more energy is saved: Set monitors to enter “sleep mode” after 5 to 20 minutes of inactivity; on laptops, activate these settings in the AC power profile, not just the DC (battery power) profile.
The average desktop PC wastes half of the energy it consumes,” says Pat Tiernan, executive director of the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. “By turning on a single computer’s energy-saving features, you can save up to $75 per year in energy costs and reduce your CO2 emissions by nearly half a ton.”
4. Evaluate PC power management software.
Evaluate power management software from vendors such as 1E, Symantec’s Altiris, BigFix, Avocent’s LANDesk, ScriptLogic and Verdiem. Determine pricing structure, features and functionality, including administration, reporting functionality and support for advanced power management such as “scheduled” or “always on.”
5. Communicate to the business.
A well-designed PC power management program provides an opportunity for IT to showcase its value to the business. Because 55 percent of IT energy consumption comes from outside of the data center, enterprise IT organizations are expected to turn to PC power management software, according to Forrester Research findings. [Source: Doug Washburn, “TechRadar for I&O Professionals: Green IT 1.0 Technologies,” Q2 2009, Forrester Research, June 12, 2009]
By Paula Jacobs
[via accelerateresults]
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
0 comments:
Post a Comment