The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that computers account for about 7 percent of the electricity used in offices. Despite most computers' energy savings modes, an estimated 30 to 40 percent of them are still left fully powered outside of business hours. This whitepaper explains how organizations can reduce their energy bills by remotely regulating computers. Topics include typical workplace computer usage, how to calculate your potential energy savings, debunking power management myths, and how you can assign multiple power saving profiles to clients.
whitepaper
Absolute Manage: Client Management
Intelligent, Automated, Cross-Platform Management of All Your Computers
The Benefits of Power Management
Typical Workplace Computer Usage 2The Rising Cost of Electricity 2Reduce Costs by Conserving Energy 2Potential Barriers to Adoption of Power Management 3Energy Savings Plans Pay for Themselves 3Debunking Misconceptions About Power Management 4Lesser-Known Benefits of Green Power Saving Policies 4How Power Management Works 5Conclusion 5About Absolute Software 6
www.absolute.comAbsolute Software whitepaper
Typical Workplace Computer UsageOffice equipment including personal computers is one of the fastest growing consumers of electricity in the commercial sector. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that computers account for approximately 7% of the electricity used in offices1. Most PCs are often idle for much of the time that they are on. The average PC is only in active use 4 hours each work day and idle for another 5.5 hours. Even though most modern office computers are capable of down shifting into an energy saving mode when idle, only a small fraction of them are actually configured to do so. By some estimates 30-40% of office computers are left fully powered on outside of business hours2.
The Rising Cost of ElectricityWith the accelerating cost of electricity within recent years, can your organization afford to not implement a power management plan? Consider the many financial, social, and ecological reasons for doing so. The following are average electrical rates for the commercial sector within the last few years according to the Department of Energy.Recent electricity prices for the commercial sector3:Rate (cents/kWh) % Increase2006 9.46 9.1%2005 8.67 6.3%2004 8.16 2%2003 8 1.2%2002 7.9
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) points to a universal trend of significantly higher power prices for the foreseeable future due to increased fuel costs and increased costs for new construction4.
Reduce Costs by Conserving EnergyBy implementing an environmentally friendly energy saving plan your enterprise can greatly reduce its power usage. This reduces electrical costs on your corporate bottom line and allows your organization to realize significant savings on its energy bills. These savings are further maximized by enforcing an energy saving policy to reduce electricity usage by idle computers and their monitors during peak hours when utility rates are at their highest.Wondering how much your organization can cut its power usage? Here's a rough estimate: If between 30-40% of computers are left on outside of business hours, you could reduce your energy usage by 35% if these machines were off all of the time. However, there is most likely an end user using this machine during work hours. Assuming an 8-hour workday with an hour for lunch, these machines are left on unnecessarily for 123 out of 168 hours (73% of the time) in a normal week. According to the EPA, putting a computer and monitor to sleep can cut power usage from 270W to 60W (78% reduction). 1 http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/commercial/appliances.html 2 http://it.med.miami.edu/x1159.xml 3 http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/esr/backissues.html 4 http://www.ferc.gov/legal/staff-reports/06-19-08-cost-electric.pdf 2
www.absolute.comAbsolute Software whitepaper
On average, all of these energy usage reductions together (35% X 73% X 78%) result in a 20% decrease in energy usage by personal computers in your enterprise if you enforced a power management policy on just these machines that have no power management implemented. This doesn't even take into account the 5.5 hours they are likely idle during the workday or other savings from improved power management on other workstations that already have some powermanagement enabled.Calculate potential savings for your enterprise with one of the following calculators:. Energy Star Savings Calculator:http://www.energystar.gov/ia/products/power_mgt/LowCarbonITSavingsCalc.xls. Cadmus Group Savings Calculator:http://pmdb.cadmusdev.com/powermanagement/quickCalc.html
Potential Barriers to Adoption of Power ManagementWith the advent of Windows 2000 and Mac OS X, the energy saving features included in PCs and Macs have matured and become stable enough that anyone can... [download for more]
