April 2010
Switch Off That PC and Green-Light Your Business
A growing awareness of Green IT has helped to drive technological improvements and unearth a change in corporate behaviour. Environmental initiatives may often be cost led, but the important green implications are there all the same.
Results from a glut of research has shown that energy-efficient IT operations not only lengthen the life of existing hardware, therefore reducing capital costs, they minimise power usage, which is more expensive than you may think. And, it is this that is driving the current interest in Power Management software. With the right consultation and software suite, businesses will not only cut their carbon emissions, they could save up to 43% in their power consumption costs1.
No doubt like you, I paused when I read the following research from the Alliance to Save Energy2. It suggests there are 17 million employees in the UK who use a PC at work and, if Business Britain were to invest in power management software, there would be a collective saving of 55, 723 tonnes in carbon emissions and up to £10.2 million per annum. These are big savings both for the environment and for us as businesses. So let's drill down and find out just what Power Management is.
Power management: how it works
Fundamentally, Power Management allows companies to easily apply power policies and profiles across all their desktops to reduce power usage. This includes setting alerts to place all office PCs into hibernation, standby and shutdown, as well as automatic start-up for maintenance during out of office hours. Like all good ideas, it is a simple concept - and a good solution provider will provide thorough consultation and will be able to do all the hard work behind the scenes - so you can focus on the benefits. But what are they?
- A staggering 33% of UK workers leave their PCs on overnight3 and at the weekend; so think how much electrical power - and money - is wasted by your company.
- Putting machines on standby considerably lengthens their lifespan by reducing the wear and tear of manually powering them off and on.
- Placing computers into hibernation or standby reduces the threat of confidential data being viewed by unauthorised people passing unattended PCs.
- Enhanced software saves working documents before running any automatic policy, meaning you can help to minimise employee frustration from 'lost' documents.
Green Shoots
At Certero, we work with RAF Falklands, Leicestershire County Council, Wiltshire PCT NHS, Diodes, Gentoo Group, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, to name a few. They are all actively addressing the issue of wasted power consumption and have seen a high level of ROI already. Our research indicates that you could save between £45 - £95 per PC per year (depending on what PCs you have) and over a 100 computers, that's an impressive saving of £4,500 in your annual electricity bill.
No doubt they, as you too, have been spurred on by the April introduction of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (formerly known as the Carbon Reduction Commitment). It is the UK's mandatory climate change and energy saving practice designed to raise awareness in large organisations and encourage changes in behaviour and infrastructure. There are many initiatives that support businesses financially and encourage them to get involved in implementing a power management plan and they are worth investigating.
I believe that now is the time to act by working towards a low carbon Britain. We, as businesses need to consider the environment and create green targets as well as provide end-user satisfaction. It's time to green-light your business and actively contribute to the green agenda.
For more information about how power management can help your business, please visit www.certero.co.uk
