Now, software to save organizations œ13,000 in electricity bills monthly

Washington, Feb 6 (ANI): Large organisations can now save up to 13,000 pounds in electricity costs each month, all thanks to PowerDown, a computer programme that automatically shuts down systems after usage.

Systems experts at University of Liverpool embarked upon the idea of developing the software after realising that universities with PC centres in 24-hour libraries could be losing more than one million hours of unused computer power each month.

They found that 1,600 library-based PC's alone were using 20,000 kW each week unnecessarily, which make up for approximately 2,400 pounds in current electricity prices.

And, to date, PowerDown has recovered 24 million hours of PC inactivity within the University.

"PowerDown is simple to install and staff can chose to opt out if, for example, they are running particular software on a machine overnight without a user being logged in. PowerDown is a simple design and has been developed with no cost to the institution," said Lisa Nelson, from the University's Computing Services Department, who designed the software.

She added: "An average PC, left on for 24 hours a day but used for only 40 hours a week, uses around 17kW of electricity, of which 13kW is wasted. That figure does not take into consideration other costs such as in air-conditioned buildings, where additional cooling is required to remove the heat created by active computers."

PowerDown is now in use at several academic institutions across the world. (ANI)