University of Liverpool - Software saves cash and planet

A piece of software designed to save universities money by shutting down unused computers in 24-hour libraries is helping the environment too. The PowerDown software was developed by a team at the University of Liverpool after it found that institutions with PC centres open throughout the night could be losing more than one million unused computer hours each month. Since the software was adopted, it has saved Liverpool about 24 million hours of PC inactivity. Lisa Nelson, senior systems analyst in the university's Computing Services Department, said: "An average PC left on for 24 hours a day but used for only 40 hours a week uses around 17kW of electricity, of which 13kW is wasted."