In the office building, the most common devices were computers, computer displays and other peripherals. Most computers are in the “on” mode almost all the time.
I read some very interesting research from the Department of Energy last week, published on the news site EarthTechling.
The research suggests that in homes and commercial buildings, about one-third of electricity consumption is attributed to miscellaneous and electronic loads (MELs) — appliances like toasters, PCs, printers, fans and clocks, etc. Their energy use is not understood very well. The research will review which devices use the most energy and what their energy load profiles look like to help people understand how to better manage their energy use.
Firstly, I always welcome any efforts for the research / academic and efficiency communities to work more closely, as the article suggests.
Second, in support of the research findings, when it comes to computers and monitors there is already much evidence to suggest that employees leave computers in the ‘on mode’ almost all of the time. We also know that asking employees that never turn off their computers to enable their energy-saving low power mode, only really appeals to this most environmentally motivated or cost-conscious employees.
In this example, what’s really needed to support business leaders, energy managers and staff is low cost, quick-to-deploy PC power management technology such as our own Verismic Power Manager. On-premise or cloud based, PC power management technology can provide a detailed insight into PC devices on the network and the power usage behaviour of those devices. Companies can collect metrics and position power policies just hours after the technology has been installed.
Completely invisible to the user, through clever artificial intelligence, the technology can also learn user behaviour and throttle back PC power consumption when the device is not in use, such as when an employee is in a meeting or has left work for the day. Read the original article here
