1. Make sure current agency hardware standards include the current ENERGY STAR standards.
Energy Star is an international program for encouraging and recognizing the most energy efficient products in the marketplace. ENERGY STAR qualified computers and other ICT equipment use energy efficient power supplies, operate efficiently in multiple modes of operation, and come equipped with power management features. According to the EPA, in 2012, energy use in the U.S. associated with ENERGY STAR computers and monitors is 32 billion kWh per year less than it might have been without ENERGY STAR.
ENERGY STAR’s Low Carbon IT Campaign is a comprehensive, nationwide effort to help organizations take advantage of all the programs resources to significantly lower energy consumed by ICT equipment. It promotes three key strategies to reduce energy consumption and GHG from enterprise ICT equipment:
● Choose Energy Efficient ICT Equipment: Organizations should require all products be certified to the current Energy Star standards. The program provides guidance on specifications and purchasing for computers, displays, small networking equipment, servers, VOIP phones, televisions, and uninterruptedly power supplies (UPS).When developing bid language, reference the language in the ENERGY STAR Product Purchasing & Procurement template letter.
● Enable power management systems that monitor and control activity levels of individual PC hardware components such as processors, batteries, AC adapters, fans, monitors and hard disk.The program provides a spreadsheet to estimate your PC power management savings. Check out how to Power Manage Computers, which covers how to activate sleep settings, the business case for power management, and how to calculate potential savings.
● Reduce peripheral energy consumption: Encourage your ICT department to take the Low Carbon ICT Pledge. According to Energy Star, agencies have pledged over 7 million computers to power management, saving 2,786,806,470 lbs of GHGs avoided annually, and 1,815,509,101 kWh saved annually.