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Green Computing

Last updated: October 29, 2009

Note: This story may not be current. It is part of the IT News Archive, and exists as a historical document.

Personal computers at the University of Houston consume a lot of energy - more than most probably imagine. According to an earlier study done by Information Technology, the energy costs of UH computers and computer peripherals amount to over $1,500,000 per year.

Anything we can do to reduce these costs translates to significant savings to the university.

What Can YOU do?

  1. Configure your Power Options/Energy Saver preferences with the following settings as appropriate:
    1. Put the monitor to sleep after no more than 20 minutes of inactivity
    2. Don't use a screensaver instead of sleep (you can still use a screensaver for those 20 minutes). If the screensaver is running there are no power savings.
    3. Put the hard drive(s) to sleep after no more than 30 minutes of inactivity.
    4. Put the system in standby or hibernation mode after no more than 90 minutes of inactivity.
  2. Sleep your computer at the end of the day on nights when your computer is not being backed up or being updated, or if you leave your workstation for longer than two hours.
  3. For Windows customers, put your computer in hibernate mode when not in use. Hibernate mode results in greater energy savings than standby mode.
  4. Use a laptop instead of a desktop. Laptops use less than 20% (and sometimes even more than that) of the power consumed by a desktop.
  5. If you're still using a CRT monitor, purchase a LCD monitor as a replacement. LCD's require considerably less power and provide better images.

What is IT doing?

Information Technology has a number of initiatives in place to make better use of the resources we have:

  1. We are actively working to "Green the Data Center" by optimizing our environment and reducing overall power consumption at the computing center.
  2. We're evaluating desktop management tools that could automate and refine power management of university desktop and laptop computers.
  3. We have information about configuring your computer to maximize power savings on AskShasta and will be publishing more information about what you can do and even putting up an online self-evaluation tool.
  4. And finally, with our partners in the Technology Partners Program, we've formed a team tasked with educating the campus community about IT conservation choices. The "green team" can come to visit your office to talk about green IT issues or to do an assessment of your choices to contribute to this initiative.