Provincial Health Services Authority

Print This Page

Desktop energy savings mean more money for patient care

Like many organizations, the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) had a policy of asking staff to leave their computers on when they left work, so that the IT department could do routine maintenance or install security patches after hours.

But this meant the machines – and usually all of their peripherals, such as monitors and printers – were left on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, even when no IT access was required for days or weeks at a time.

The challenge: find a better way to manage 6,600 computers

"A year or so ago, we embarked on a project to streamline our work and be more efficient in the way we manage our 6,600 computers," says Jurgen Figura, PHSA's Corporate Director, Technology Services, "so we deployed a software tool to make changes to our desktop computers more quickly and easily. A welcome side effect, we discovered, is that better computer management is also greener computer management."

The solution: new desktop energy management software

PHSA plans, manages and evaluates selected specialty and province-wide health care services, working with B.C.'s five geographic health authorities to meet local and regional needs. This includes operating eight provincial health care agencies, including BC Children's Hospital and Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children, the BC Cancer Agency and BC Transplant.

"Because our facilities and services are not all in one location," says Jurgen, "it's a challenge for us to support our network of computers: we don't have service people in every location. But we found a new desktop energy management system that gives us the control we need to provide proper technology support, while at the same time saving a tremendous amount of energy."

How it works

All computers now come with built-in power-management software. This allows the individual user to set a time – say, five minutes of inactivity – after which the computer and its monitor will automatically go into energy saving "sleep" mode.

This built-in software is useful, but it does have some limitations. For example, individual employees can change the settings at any time and may ask their computers to go into a "light" sleep only, which means they may each still be using as much as 40 watts of power.

Desktop energy management software, on the other hand, can force a computer into a much deeper sleep where it will draw at most about three watts of power. And it allows IT departments to control, at the network level, exactly when all the organization's computers will go to sleep, shut down completely, or stay awake for patching.

The benefits

"The new software puts our desktops to sleep when they're not in use, so they drop from using 115 watts of power to only 2.5 watts," says the PHSA's Jurgen Figura. "Based on that reduction, we estimate that we're going to be able to save as much as $203,000 on our energy bills.

"It's also helping to reduce our carbon footprint and lower our carbon tax. Plus, this project qualified for BC Hydro's Product Incentive Program, which means we received nearly $40,000 back on the cost of the software licences – making it even easier for us to get support for further green initiatives, such as server virtualization."

You can save, too

Discover just how much your organization can benefit from energy-efficient lighting and other technologies – right now and for years to come. Under the Power Smart Product Incentive Program, products that qualify for incentives that will lower your payback time and make upgrade projects even more attractive include desktop energy management software as well as:

• Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). CFLs are ideal for areas where lights are left on for long periods, such as hallways, because they use up to 75% less energy than regular light bulbs and can last up to 10 years.
• Energy saver T8 fluorescent tubes. These tubes are 50% more energy efficient than older models and work well in common spaces or meeting areas.
• LED exit signs. LED signs use only 10% of the energy old-fashioned incandescent signs do and last anywhere from 10 to 25 years – which means you will save about $12 per sign, per year.
• Lighting occupancy sensors. With these sensors, the lights will go on only when someone is in the area, so you stop wasting energy.