CSUEB signs on for green computing initiative
- April 7, 2009
California State University, East Bay is teaming up with the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing computer power consumption by 50 percent by 2010.
Cal State East Bay is the only Northern California university participating in Climate Savers’ “Power Down for the Planet” challenge, a nationwide effort to promote green computing awareness and practices among university students, faculty and staff members.
To pledge their support for green computing, students, faculty, and staff agree (online at ) to use the power management features on their personal computers and purchase energy efficient computers when it’s time to replace their old computers, a practice CSUEB has already adopted. The “Power Down for the Planet” challenge began March 23 and runs through April 17. The university with the most pledges will be recognized for its accomplishment by the Climate Savers Computing Initiative.
Because green computing is so important to Cal State East Bay, the university is taking additional steps to reduce its carbon footprint. A pop-up, power management request will be sent to all faculty and staff computers through the CSUEB’s Central Power Patch Management (CPPM) system during the week of April 6. The power management request will give faculty and staff members five power management options for their work computers:
* Super Green 6 – Computer monitors and hard drives go into standby mode after 15 minutes of non-use, system goes into sleep mode after 30 minutes, and computer shuts down daily at 6:00 p.m.
* Super Green 11 – Same as Super Green 6, except computer shuts down daily at 11:00 p.m.
* Green – Same as Super Green 11, except computer does not shut down daily.
* Yellow – Monitors and hard drives go into standby mode after 15 minutes of non-use
* Red – Monitors go into standby mode after 15 minutes of non-use.
Since desktop computers waste as much as half of the power they receive, effective power management can “save nearly half a ton of CO2 and over $60 a year in energy costs,” on average, according to the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. With over 3,000 computers currently in use at Cal State East Bay, the savings is expected to be significant.