Management tech cuts PC energy consumption

Power management systems can help reduce the amount of energy used by desktop computers by 43 per cent, saving thousands of pounds a year, according to analyst Gartner.

Gartner said that using power management features such automatically turning off machines overnight or suspending them could save a company with a 2,500 desktop estate over $40,000 (27,000) annually.

"Much attention on power consumption has focused on the data centre, but PC power consumption in an organisation can also be significant, especially given steadily rising electricity prices," said Federica Troni, principal analyst at Gartner, in a statement.

An additional $6,500 (4,393) could be saved by turning off and unplugging computers overnight, but Gartner warned software updates would need to be carried out during the day potentially leaving employees unable to use their computers.

"Undoubtedly with proper policies in place, substantial power and cost savings can be achieved without an impact on user productivity," said Troni.

"Unplugging machines brings further reductions in power and additional cost savings, compared with a well-managed environment; however, we believe that implementing such policies is impractical, and is likely to obstruct productivity because updates can't easily be performed after hours," she added.

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