Power IT Down Day encourages government, industry to unplug

Microsoft Corp. will join Citrix, Hewlett-Packard and Intel to encourage government and industry to be responsible with energy consumption on the second annual Power IT Down Day. The companies will promote a series of activities and educational events on Aug.  27.

"Last year, over 2,800 government and industry employees pledged to power down their computers, printers and monitors when they left their offices for the evening, which resulted in over 37,000 kilowatt-hours saved," said Tom Simmons, area vice president for Citrix Federal.

"Imagine the number of kilowatt-hours we could save this year if just half of the 1.8 million civilian employees registered for Power IT Down Day," he said.

Personal action, combined with new computer settings, can make significant impacts, company officials said. For instance, built-in power-saving settings and automatic shut-down capabilities in Microsoft's Windows Vista and the upcoming Windows 7 operating system highlight advances in power savings, they said.

"Power IT Down Day creates the perfect opportunity to highlight the collective impact of individual and enterprise power-saving actions in government and industry," said Teresa Carlson, vice president of Microsoft Federal.

A schedule of events, along with additional information about Power IT Down Day and green IT, can be found on Hewlett-Packard’s Power IT Down Web page.

Anyone interested in participating can register on the site. Officials involved with the event will calculate the number of people who Power IT Down, and post the results on this page. A portion of the cost savings will be donated to the Wounded Warrior Project.