Sustainable IT: Power Management

According to a recent report by Forrester titled "How Much Money Are Your Idle PCs Wasting?" PC power management is promoting businesses sustainability and saving companies money. In fact, General Electric has reported a saving $1.8 million per year and is seeing a substantial reduction in CO2 emissions.

Despite the payback presented by professional consulting firms and demonstrated by companies such as GE, there is still hesitancy by some organizations to implement PC power management. This skepticism could be partially due to some misconceptions about PC power management.

Forrester addresses some of these misconceptions by dispelling some of the “myths” of PC power management . Some of these “myths” include:

•    The power used turning my PC on negates any benefits of turning it off.
•    There are larger gains in the data center.
•    There isn’t a business case for PC Power Management.
•    I have to buy new, energy efficient hardware to reduce energy consumption.
•    Turning my PC on and off will reduce its performance and useful life.
•    I have no way of tracking and reporting the benefits.
•    I don't own my power bill so there's little incentive for me to reduce it.

Forrester recommends that businesses and individuals take a "time-based" approach to PC power management. They conclude that business and individuals can maximize gains by simply:

•    Powering down PCs during nights and weekends
•    Applying industry best practices (e.g., activate "standby" after 30 minutes)
•    Enabling power management on as many assets as possible

At Taiga Company, we believe conservation through proactive power management is essential for business sustainability. The application of this sustainability concept through standard businesses sustainability processes and individual participation will result in reduced energy consumption, lower electrical bills, and decreased emissions.

As an energy consultant, we work with clients to apply the sustainability concept of power management to not just IT but to all areas of a business’s operations. Power management can be applied to all non-essential idle devices.