Looking to cap the power tap: Energy costs rise: PCs can account for 40% of office power consumed.

(From Financial Post)

When people speak about power in computing, they are often thinking of processing power. However, things are changing. Historically, as computer chips have become more powerful, they have consumed more electricity. And for the first time this year, the number of PCs shipped globally on an annual basis surpassed 200 million. Larger numbers of more powerful PCs mean high energy bills, and at a time when energy prices are soaring, computer power consumption is becoming a pain point for many companies.

Not that many of them realize this. The problem lies in a disconnect between the IT department and the department in charge of the building, says Richard Barrington, head of government affairs for computer vendor Sun Microsystems in the U.K. "Most CIOs don't pay for their own energy. It's wrapped into the facilities charge on their profit and loss," he says. "So they don't see it. Until they have an outage or a major problem it doesn't matter to them." But it still matters to shareholders and bosses.

Traditionally, power consumption has been an issue with notebook PCs that often had to run on batteries when away from a main supply. But historically, people have paid little attention to desktop PCs, argues Stephen Sperry, CEO of Seattle-based power management software company Verdiem. For years, desktop computers have shipped with power-saving technology based on the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI), a joint technology developed by companies, including Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and Microsoft. The technology provides various sleep modes that can save power when a PC is not being used. The problem is that such power-saving technology is not used in practice, warns Mr. Sperry. "Most users disable their low power settings or they don't configure them in a way to minimize waste," he says.

According to a study by Arthur D. Little carried out in 2002, PCs and displays accounted for approximately 40% of the power consumed by office equipment. Debates rage about how many kilowatt hours per year are consumed by the average PC, but much will depend on whether people are using LCD or CRT monitors, for example, and on the type of processor and how often the computers are used. One thing is clear: Putting computers into sleep mode will save power, and the more computers you have, the more power and the more money you will save.

No one knows this better than Edwin Hood, energy management coordinator at Abbotsford School district 34 in British Columbia. Mr. Hood identified a need to manage power among the 7,000 desktop computers across the school district.

The district used Verdiem's Surveyor software, which enables IT departments to manage desktop PCs remotely over the network. PCs can be put to sleep or shut ...