Auto Shutdown Manager
Did you ever realize how much energy corporation and schools waste by leaving computer running or idle while not being attended? A software product called Auto Shutdown Manager (ASDM) created by EnviProt has helped many organizations already to drastically reduce their energy consumption.
Computer Energy Waste
We are all culprits of allowing our computers to run or go into idle, while still sucking up energy . It is estimated that 40% of all computers are not shut down properly or at all during nights and weekends. I detailed in my previous computer energy savings article that a single desktop computer can cost over $100 to run per year just off of electricity alone. Imagine the cost to universities and corporate settings who allow their computers to run idle instead of being shutdown or put into standby?
Auto Shutdown Manager
This is where Auto Shutdown Manager comes into play. Though a useful software tool for anybody to own, it is especially helpful to larger organizations where it is hard to ensure that every computer owned is being shutdown or put into standby when not in use. Unlike the built in Windows Power Management, this tool makes it easier for computers in networked environments to be better managed because of common enterprise tasks such as backups and updates.
To get an idea of the success of ASDM in a real life setting, University of Berkeley began using it to drastically reduce the energy consumption in one of their major buildings. The project is called Green Windows in which the school has estimated to save over 40,000 kWh by just using ASDM. That’s an over 80% reduction in energy consumption just by using this particular software tool. They tried using similar products, but found this tool to be the easiest to use, yet still powerful enough to get such a large energy savings. The hope with this project is to show how much money and energy can be saved by using this tool is smaller settings and then expanding it throughout campus.
Determine Your Savings
If you are part of an organization in which you know of computers being left on needlessly, try recommending Auto Shutdown Manager. Not only will you be helping reduce business energy waste, but also possibly be saving them some money. Check out their ROI Calculator to see how much you could be saving by switching to this tool.
For a household setting, this tool is free and can be used in your home or you can use Window’s Power Management tool. Check out their site for download information. For a academic and non-profit organizations, EnviProt is offering a lifetime license of their product for $499. They also offer licenses for corporate settings as well.
Comments
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January 5th, 2010Trackback from : Friday Green Links – 1/8/09 « Pragmatic Environmentalism
That’s such a great program! I’m sure many schools and universities will jump on this eco-friendly program as it helps to save them money and is great for our environment as well.
It would be interesting to hear how much money they’ve saved in a month with ASDM as opposed to not using it at all.
More companies and organizations need to be aware of how much energy their computers can be wasting. If every large network of computers was running software like this, just think of how much total energy could be saved.
Sounds great, I will have to download it for the office. We would save a fortune not to mention our environment.
My university takes advantage of these types of things, in fact I was in the computer lab, and I got frightened at one point because I was the only one in the room and I hadn’t made any movements in a while since I was watching a video, and the lights all of the sudden when off, lol. But then when I moved it went back on.
Till then,
Jean
Great tip! I usually just set my computer to go into stand-by mode if I have been inactive for ten minutes. I think that saves a lot of CO2 as well. Though now, thanks to you , I always try to shut it down if I am not going to use it for a while. Great post.
By the way… I just came along a project which can CO2 neutralize ones website, by acquiring EU cleared CO2 quotes. Anything you know of? It’s located here: CO2 Neutral Website
If you do, maybe you could share your opinions, as I seriously consider signing my website up. Every little bit helps to save the environment. Thanks in advance!
I think most people are a culprit of this one. But its another reminder that paying attention to small things, scaled up by millions of users can make a big difference.
More companies and organizations need to be aware of how much energy their computers can be wasting.