Simple Business Solutions Blog

Companies are looking for ways to cut costs. An area that is oftentimes overlooked is their energy bill. Electronics are one of the biggest drains on energy; fortunately, there are clever solutions that enable business owners to cut energy costs while reducing their impact on the environment.

Kill the Vampire

The U.S. Department of Energy reports that 3 billion dollars are wasted every year on what’s called ‘vampire energy,’ the energy that your office electronics are consuming without you being aware of. Even after you shut down all monitors, printers and other electronics for the day, your equipment is still consuming energy because it’s plugged into surge protectors, which are left on. For a small office, this energy-drain is easy enough to correct with the purchase of a remote control designed to turn off your surge protectors. Unknown to most people, the surge protectors will still protect your electronic equipment even when powered off.

Enterprise Solutions

If you really want to make your company energy conscious, one thing you may want to consider is hiring an enterprise solutions company. These tech companies specialize in assisting companies with a variety of solutions that can include energy-saving software and hardware changes. An enterprise solution firm that specializes in IT energy savings can perform an assessment of your computers and network, and provide you with valuable information that alerts you to unnecessary energy consumption. This information will educate you on what changes you can make in your business environment so your electronics cost less to operate. For more information about enterprise solutions visit dell.com.

Energy-efficient Equipment

Using electronics with an energy star rating is another way businesses can reduce their energy consumption. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, computers that fall under this category have been shown to save anywhere between 30 and 60 percent over units that are not rated.

Employee Education

Educating your employees about how they can reduce the energy their computers and other equipment use can also be effective. Some companies have even launched initiatives to encourage employees to be more proactive in their office habits. For example, asking employees to put their computer into a sleep mode rather than letting the screen saver take over will contribute to energy savings. Another thing you can teach your employees is that computers should not be left on 24 hours a day.

Virtualized Workstations

Many large corporations are switching from traditional workstations to those that utilize virtualization. This has been proven to be extremely effective in lowering energy costs. Virtual workstations use thin clients in place of computer towers as these small boxes consume a lot less energy. Dave Affleck, CEO of Vucci Technology Solutions, said, “It [virtualization] allows you to use less power and space. It can consolidate your data service center to fewer servers and virtualized storage.”

Blade Servers

Blade servers are much smaller than traditional servers and slide into brackets. They use less energy than the big servers and store a lot more data, making them a win-win solution for businesses looking for ways to save money on their energy bill.

Contributing Author

David Malmborg works with Dell. When he isn’t working he enjoys hiking, spending time with his family and researching new technologies. He is currently learning more about virtual desktops and recommends following this link for more information.