How 3 Companies Saved Millions by Using Sustainability Solutions

As Corporate America continues to see the value in green computing both for the environment and their bottom line, more and more companies are searching for sustainability solutions to reduce energy costs and their companies’ carbon footprint. Here are three companies who saved millions using PC power management solutions.

AT&T

AT&T installed PC power management software on around 310,000 desktop computers in AT&T's U.S. facilities. As a result, AT&T expects to trim its electricity use by 135 million kilowatt hours every year.

That adds up to a lot of cash: if AT&T is paying around the U.S. average rate per kilowatt hour of electricity, it will save $13.6 million per year in electricity costs.

The move will also trim a huge amount of greenhouse gas emissions as well: AT&T estimates more than 120,000 tons of CO2 or CO2 equivalent avoided every year by saving all that electricity.

Cox Communications

As part of its larger Cox Conserves greenbiz initiative, Cox Communications installed PC power management software on 15,000 computers, cutting its energy use by 40 percent. This sustainability solution estimates savings of $60 per PC per year, Cox's potential savings arrive at around $900,000 annually.

Cox implemented this strategy across 14 of the company's operating centers across the U.S., and the company said it quickly measured a 40 percent drop in energy use from its PC fleet at those locations. As a result of the savings, Cox estimates that the power management project will have paid for itself in less than eight months.

The Surveyor project is one of this year's key steps in Cox's environmental goals, Peter West, Cox's VP of Information Technology and Operational Development said. The overall goal of Cox Conserves is to cut Cox Communications' overall greenhouse gas footprint by 20 percent in 2017.

In a study the company released last year, it was estimated that about half of all corporate PCs in the U.S. are not turned off at night, costing around $1.7 billion in wasted energy every year.

California Government Agencies

The state of California is saving an estimated $1.4 million or more per year in energy bills, thanks to a 2010 executive order from then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The order, signed in February 2010, has led to a number of state agencies and schools signing up with power management solutions. Approximately 70,000 computers from various state agencies now running PC energy saver software are each saving between $20 and $60 per machine in energy costs.

Among the agencies using similar sustainability solutions to make sure that idle computers are not drawing power, but remain available for upgrades and patches, are the state's departments of Transportation, Corrections and Rehabilitation, Health Care Services, and the state's Environmental Protection Agency.

Organizations that implement PC power management solutions are often eligible for rebates from their local utilities. Check Energy.gov for opportunities in savings.

A PC power management summit held several years ago showed the ways that companies are saving millions through the simple process of installing the software on their computer fleets.