Pitt saves energy with new software

In an effort to conserve energy, Pitt administrators are prescribing more sleep, particularly… In an effort to conserve energy, Pitt administrators are prescribing more sleep, particularly for computers.

Pitt’s Division of Facilities Management and its Computer Services and Systems Development are collaborating to promote software that puts monitors into “sleep mode.”

This software, which can be downloaded for free through the federal government’s Energy Star Program Web site, puts monitors into a state of low level, or “sleep” activity when they are not in use. However, it does not interfere with computer performance or network connections, and monitors can be re-awakened by pressing a key or touching the mouse.

“Sleep mode differs from screen saver programs, which merely prevent images from burning into a monitor screen while doing nothing to conserve energy,” Jinx Walton, director of Computer Services and Systems Development said. “In fact, screen savers that display moving images cause a computer to use as much power as when it is in use.”

Researchers tested the sleep mode program in a Posvar Hall computer lab and found it decreased the amount of energy idling computers use down by half when used 24 hours a day for seven days. Since Pitt is home to roughly 26,000 computers, Facilities Management estimates that if everyone on campus using a computer were to install the software, Pitt could save as much as $500,000 a year. Though Pitt is putting the software in all the computers on campus, Walton added that the campaign is also directed toward helping Pitt community members conserve energy on their home computers.

Ana Maria Guzman, associate vice chancellor of Facilities Management, said the program would allow the University to both save money and help protect the environment. She explained that the production of electricity causes pollution, and as the government tightens regulations on pollution control for power plants, the plants must drive up the costs of electricity in order to meet environmental standards. However, by finding ways to manage power, it is possible to reduce electricity costs, conserve natural resources and reduce air pollution.

“It is estimated that every 43 computers programmed with the software would save the equivalent of one acre of trees,” Guzman said. “The one place where we’re downright wasting energy is in computer monitors. There’s really no reason why that should happen.”

In this campaign, which begins Jan. 23, Pitt will join other universities nationwide, including Tulane University and University of Michigan, in working to save energy through computers.

Pitt’s program is running in conjunction with Energy Star, a partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency that rates appliances and electronics for how efficiently they use power and promotes ways for people to conserve energy in their homes and workplaces.

“This campaign is just one of many efforts the University is making to conserve energy, among them equipping buildings with motion sensor lighting, better electric metering, and sophisticated controls and energy management systems that allow us to adjust temperatures in buildings at night and on weekends,” Guzman said.

She added that the need to conserve power is growing in importance as the University adds more computers, purchases more scientific research equipment, and provides air conditioning in more buildings.

Students, faculty and staff can visit www.pitt.edu/sleepnow to find the sleep mode software and can contact sleepnow@fm.pitt.edu to learn more about the program. Pitt’s Technology Help Desk is available for technical assistance at (412) 624-4357.