Turn that PC off! You have been warned

Although powering down PCs has regularly been mentioned by the green lobby over the last few months, analyst firm Gartner has now come up with some substantive figures about how much energy enterprises can save. Gartner reckons that around 31% of worldwide ICT energy usage can be attributed to PCs and associated peripherals and advocates a seven-point plan to manage their energy usage more effectively.

Stephen Kleynhans, research vice president at the firm, says enterprises can no longer view environmental performance of their PC fleets as optional and advocates establishing a plan now to reap the advantages.

It's not just Gartner that is pushing the issue. In a recent blog, Doug Washburn at analyst firm Forrester put forward his own five-point plan which references Energy Star estimates that firms can save between US$25 And US$75 per year by doing so. Washburn also cites the example of AT&T which reckons its will save more than 135m kilowatt hours of electricity by powering down its 300,000 PCs out of work hours.

However, in spite of powering down technology being freely available for most PCs, more than half of enterprises that claim to have green PC programmes in place rely on users powering down their machines or activating power management settings.

Stewart Baines
Stewart Baines

I've been writing about technology for nearly 20 years, including editing industry magazines Connect and Communications International. In 2002 I co-founded Futurity Media with Anthony Plewes. My focus in Futurity Media is in emerging technologies, social media and future gazing. As a graduate of philosophy & science, I have studied futurology & foresight to the post-grad level.