Minimising wasteful computer power consumption
Qubic has developed a system to automatically power down PCs and their peripherals, and restart them at a specified time. The schedule for PC Power Down is set by a network administrator to reduce electricity consumption and associated carbon emissions. There are two elements to the system — server/client software to schedule computers to shut down each day and a surge-protected smart power block that senses when a computer has powered down and switches off the power to connected peripherals such as monitors, printers etc.
Networked computers are identified by the server software. Once identified, individual computers are allocated to user-created groups. Each group can then have a power-down and power-up scheduled to it. When powered down, computers consume minimal power, and all peripherals are switched off.
For network administration tasks, Open Windows can be scheduled at regular intervals or as a one-off event.
PC Power Down has been installed at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, where it is estimated to be saving £50 a year per PC — and associated carbon emissions of about 250 kg per PC.
