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1E provides software and services solutions for large information technology infrastructures that help clients operate highly automated server and desktop deployment and management systems. 1E is a specialist provider of power management and energy savings solutions that are in use in 850 enterprises in 36 countries, including Allstate Insurance, Blue Cross, British Airways, HSBC, Microsoft and Nestle.
The Alliance to Save Energy is a coalition of prominent business, government, environmental and consumer leaders who promote the efficient and clean use of energy worldwide to benefit consumers, the environment, economy and national security. To achieve this goal, the Alliance leads worldwide energy-efficiency initiatives in research, policy advocacy, education, technology deployment and communications that impact all sectors of the economy.You wouldn't leave your television on all day while you are at the office, and yet, across the country, millions of work PCs are left on all night -- wasting energy, costing owners millions in utility costs and contributing to global climate change.
A mid-sized company wastes more than $165,000 a year in electricity costs for computers that have been left on overnight. By turning these computers off, an employer can keep more than 1,381 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere. Across the nation, this adds up to more than $1.72 billion dollars and almost 15 million tons of CO2. Few problems match an impact so large with a solution so simple.
Software solutions and service provider 1E teamed up with the Alliance to Save Energy (ASE) and market research firm Harris Interactive to examine PC power usage and behavior in American workplaces (i.e. whether employees are shutting their PCs off at the end of the day, why and why not.)
It is evident from the findings of this report that worker apathy and insufficient business systems are the cause for wasting a tremendous amount of energy, and that government programs to address this waste are still in their infancy.
Fortunately, there are tools available to make a difference right now.
Summary of Key Findings
• 104 million office PCs: As of April 2007, 145,800,000 Americans have full-time jobs. According to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of 1E, 72% of all employed adults regularly use a PC for work purposes at their jobs. Combining these findings suggests that more than 104 million workers reach the end of the workday with a PC to shut off -- or to not to.
• On all night: Of those 104 million employed adults who regularly use a PC at work, as many as 60% (62.4 million) doesn’t always shut them down at the end of the day. Twenty percent (20.8 million) "never" shut down.
• Millions in the balance: Assuming that 50% of PC users have "hibernation" or "sleep" mode enabled, companies across the country are wasting $1.72 billion to supply power to PCs that are not always shut down. This figure is based on a conservative estimate of 14.5 hours for the overnight period with the assumption that computers have no power management features enacted. Under this scenario, a single company with 10,000 PCs wastes more than $165,000 a year. One large financial institution that worked with 1E determined that shutting PCs down every night saves $3 million a year in electricity costs alone.
• More power, more CO2: Over the course of a year, generating the power to leave a computer on overnight creates 920 pounds of CO2. If 60% of the country's work PCs are used this way -- and 50% use "hibernation" or "sleep" mode -- then 14.4 million tons of carbon dioxide is being pumped into the atmosphere each year, needlessly. Preventing that amount of CO2 from reaching the atmosphere would have roughly the same impact as taking 2.58 million passenger cars -- more than exist in the entire state of Maryland (2.48 million) -- off the road entirely.
• Into the woods: It takes between 60 and 300 trees to absorb the yearly CO2 emissions generated by a single PC left on 24 hours a day. That means it would take between 1.24 and 6.24 billion trees to absorb the emissions caused by the nation’s office computers that are never shut down.
Worker Attitudes Behind the Waste
A centrally controlled system for PC shut-down wouldn't be necessary if workers shut down every computer, every night. The survey Harris Interactive conducted for 1E found this isn't happening in most of today’s offices. Among employed adults who regularly use a PC at work:
• 49% "never" "rarely", or "sometimes" shut down their PCs
• at the end of the day.
• 11% "often" do.
• 40% "always" do.
Asked whose responsibility it should be to save energy in the workplace, 28% of PC users said it should be up to management or the IT department. More than half (53%) said they were not at all concerned about their companies' carbon footprints, indicating that effecting change in "shut down" practices at the behavioral level might yield disappointing results.
The survey asked those who don't always shut down their PCs, why they don't. The answers, often mistaken, and the correct information are below:
Reason for leaving PC on overnight: "To enable overnight software updates from the main server" (31%). In fact: Advances in power management software let network administrators perform software and security updates whenever they’re necessary.
Reason for leaving PC on overnight: "It's company or IT policy to leave it on" (23%). In fact: People who believe this may be misinformed -- few companies have this policy, and ones who do are reevaluating it.
Reason for leaving PC on overnight: "My computer goes into hibernation or sleep mode" (31%). In fact: Hibernation modes aren’t active as often as people think.
Reason for leaving PC on overnight: "It takes too long" (20%). In fact: A PC shut down with power management software can be up and ready to go the next morning with companion "wake up" applications.
Reason for leaving PC on overnight: "I don’t think it’s important" (10%). In fact: Wasted energy, higher utility bills and extra pollution make it important.
Savings for Business
No company likes to waste money. On the surface, the financial impact of 24-hour computer power consumption may seem insignificant compared to traditional concerns such as payroll, supply and rent -- but the waste is actually substantial.
• Energy costs -- typically 10% of the corporate technology budget -- could rise to as much as 50% in the next few years.
• Power management software can reduce a PC’s power consumption by 80%, allowing companies to save between $25-$75 per desktop PC. Beyond automated "shut down," power savings are derived during the day by automating monitor shut-down after a period of inactivity.
• At 8.68 cents per kWh, a typical PC left on overnight wastes $55.13 a year. That's more than $165,000 for a 10,000-PC enterprise that leaves 60% of its machines on, and $1.72 billion for the 60% of work computers that may be running across the country each night unnecessarily.
• Turning off PCs, with their heat-intensive power supplies, will also reduce the load on air conditioning equipment, leading to even more energy savings.
Of course, there is no such thing as a "typical" company. Utility rates, work hours, equipment types, makes and models and use patterns all vary from one workplace to another. To find out how much energy a specific enterprise can save using power management software, use 1E's online energy savings calculator .
To read the entire report, click here
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