Ford to save over a million$ – turning off computers at night
Last one out the door at night – turn out the lights!
When a corporation as large as Ford decides to do something as simple as shutting down its computers at night, the savings can be astronomical. In the case of Ford, powering down computers can save the company $1.2 million each year.
The new program called PC Power Management, utilizes energy saving settings provided by Microsoft Windows. The energy settings will be used on company laptops and desktops to reduce energy waste. A managed shutdown will occur each night and during the weekend period. Additionally, computers will be awake to receive updates during pre-selected non-business hours, freeing up time previously used for updates throughout the working day.
According to Ford, an estimated 60 percent of the company’s computers remained on after business hours resulting in wasted energy. The new managed shutdown will eliminate waste to the tune of over a million dollars in savings for the company and reduce its carbon footprint by an estimated 16,000-25,000 metric tons per year.
The folks at autobloggreen have the whole press release at their site.
Rock on, Mulally!
“…powering down computers can save the company $1.2 million each year.”
Am I to infer they never did this previously because previously, they never cared about blowing $1.2 million a year – or saving the planet?
Cinaedh
March 29, 2010 at 9:08 am
I imagine – like most human critters – infrastructure admin at Ford just never switched on the part of their brains that actually thinks.
god
March 29, 2010 at 9:14 am
They must have an awful lot of computers to realize those savings.
Almost all of that “wasted” energy is heat. During the cooler months that heat is no different that the furnace produced heat, so I guess it isn’t wasted energy. Also, if the unused time is used for installation of up grades, virus scans, defrags, and other utilities, then the wasted heat gets even cheaper. If these utilities have to be run during normal hours, that seriously degrades the productivity of the user.
So how much are they saving overall again?
Mr. Fusion
March 29, 2010 at 11:33 am