Culture Change = Climate Change

In early July, the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE) IT team gathered a baseline measurement of energy usage for approximately 50 computers in the Dana building. Initial metrics revealed the average computer used a continuous average of 32.3 watts over 24 hours, or 283 kilowatts a year, accounting for approximately 5 percent of building electricity. Data indicated that staff use anywhere from four to 144 watts per hour.

The Climate Savers Computing Initiative @ U-M bestowed its first Unit Funding grant to the School of Natural Resources (SNRE) to buy the Kill-A-Watt meters to measure energy usage. SNRE IT manager, Phil Ray, is using the measurements in a study and plans to implement Desktop Best Practices for Faculty and Staff. He hopes the findings will help influence all University units through leading by example.

Kill-A-Watt meters, like shown above, are plugged into electrical outlets. Then you can plug your computer equipment into the meter.

“We expect to see significant energy savings by enacting the best practices at SNRE,” Ray said. “After we have these best practices in place, we will re-measure all the computers to record an ‘after’ snapshot.”

By implementing desktop best practices, Ray expects SNRE staff energy usage to drop. Staff will be encouraged to adopt simple habits, including turning off their computers at night and setting automatic sleep settings.

“Once people learn about the best practices and the impact that they can have, many will want to make these easy computing changes,” he said. “We hope our case study will help the campus community realize the difference they can make by following green computing practices.”

The Kill-A-Watt meters influence smart purchasing decisions by showing which appliances cost the most to power.