Data centers have become the darlings of the green IT movement, but many IT departments haven't yet looked at the rest of the company's IT equipment, Computerworld reports.
The magazine has put together five tips that could help companies cut emissions and save money.
1. Do an energy audit
If you audit a device with a typical usage pattern - like a laser printer - you can multiply the results across the total population to estimate total power consumption. When Farmer's Almanac publisher Gieger Brothers did an initial power audit, it revealed computer equipment was consuming nearly as much power after hours as it was during the day.
2. Adopt and enforce power management
A laptop that uses 14 to 90 watts in full operation uses less than 1 watt in standby mode. Desktops consume even more, and a single CRT monitor may use upward of 90 watts. Unfortunately enhanced power management tools provided by system vendors aren't even installed in the baseline system image of many corporate PCs. But that's starting to change.
3. Dump those CRTs
Replacing CRTs with Energy Star-rated LCDs can save both energy and space - and the lower power consumption can significantly reduce cooling loads. Gwinnett Hospital System is already saving between $30,000 and $60,000 a year in electricity costs by replacing about 70 percent of its CRTs with LCD monitors and using automated power management tools.
4. Slim down the client
Many businesses, including Jenny Craig, are moving to a Terminal Services or Citrix Presentation Server setup, which enables them to use easily managed thin client PCs on the desktop. Jenny Craig's system uses 90 percent less energy than the PCs it replaced.
5. Print more efficiently
Printers tend to be kept longer than PCs, but replacing units a few generations old with new, Energy Star-labeled models can cut energy costs by as much as 25 percent. An individual copier, printer and fax machine can consume 1,400 kWh of power annually, while a multifunction printerconsumes half that.
