I wanted to pass on the following tip from Emily Norton who works as an ENERGY STAR Technical Support Contractor helping promote the US EPA ENERGY STAR Program.

"For those campuses looking for an additional energy saving initiative to implement, the US EPA ENERGY STAR program offers free software and free technical assistance to help college and university network administrators activate power management features.

Computer Power Management (CPM) simply means placing monitors and computers into a low-power "sleep mode" after a period of inactivity. Moving the mouse or tapping the keyboard "wakes" the computer and monitor in seconds. While CPM features are built into almost every modern operating system, they must be activated.

Activating power management on computers and monitors saves up to $75 per year per machine, which when multiplied by hundreds or thousands of computers can mean serious savings".

In addition, colleges and universities that pledge to activate power management features and to purchase ENERGY STAR computers can be listed as participants in the ENERGY STAR Low Carbon IT Campaign. Over 40 colleges and universities are currently signed up.

For more information, please visit www.energystar.gov/lowcarbonit or contact Emily Norton.