Computers
« Back to What We DidIn a school where the number of computers is well over 300, our electricity bill is high! Although it is true that computers consume relatively low amounts of energy, we still would like to bring this figure down!
Our main method for this is to impose policies on the computers themselves. If a computer is not logged on or there is no activity for a period of 10 minutes then, after a 30 second warning (if the computer is logged on) it automatically shuts down. We've found this to be a great balance of convenience and power saving.
All of the computers in the ICT department can be turned off with two master throw switches (per room) located in the ICT office. This saves power as it is now easy to turn off the power to all the computers. As a result they are not drawing power overnight or when the computer rooms are not in use.
The EcoLearning team spoke to the person responsible for purchasing computers and persuaded him to start buying with more energy efficiency in mind. Computers that have been bought recently have 80 PLUS certified power supplies that are certified to have at least 80% efficiency at all power loads.
In addition, we have been buying computers with TFT monitors (flat-screens) which require less power than CRT monitors.
- Ecos. (2008). 80 Plus Programme. Retrieved March 01, 2008, from 80 Plus Programme Web site: http://www.80plus.org/index.htm
- Original Content, created from the experiences of the EcoLearning team.