World Wildlife Fund-UK, the conservation organisation, is supporting a new Green solution that could take the industry by storm. PC Power Down has already secured a channel deal with Mitel, and there are more gains in the pipeline.

PC Power Down automatically shuts down PCs and other equipment when not needed saving both money and CO2 emissions. According to founder Gary Shepherd, the potential for this product is almost limitless. Unlike other green products, he says, because of the energy savings payback is just a few months, not years. Kelly MacMillan, environmental champion at Mitel, enthused: "The development of PC Power Down demonstrates genuine entrepreneurial spirit. It clearly fills a gap in the market."

"We noticed a problem with Microsoft Windows XP"

It took Shepherd a year to swing the World Wildlife Fund's attention onto the potential of PC Power Down and gain its staunch support. Colin Butfield, Head of Campaigns at WWF-UK, said: "There are simple steps we can all take at home or at work to help reduce our impacts on the environment. The PC Power Down device is a great example of this as it helps to reduce the amount of energy used, cuts energy bills and most importantly helps reduces the impact on climate change."

The fact that the IT industry is responsible for two per cent of the planet's carbon dioxide emissions is a much cited statistic, but less well known is the fact that around 40 per cent of the output comes from desktop PCs. Perhaps more surprising is that desktop PCs are not being used for around 70 per cent of the time they are powered up. Even worse, many bosses falsely believe that their staff turn off PCs at the end of the working day. Research by Dell suggests that 90 per cent of corporate PCs are left on 24/7.

Mitel's MacMillan commented: "From a cost perspective and from environmental sustainability viewpoint energy consumption is a thorny issue for many organisations. Rather than trying to change people's behaviour, PC Power Down automates the process of shutting off equipment at the desktop. The cumulative impact of shutting down equipment on the energy bill is significant and is attractive to organisations looking to cut down operational costs."
She added that the development of such products and services aimed at energy efficiency are a ‘sure-fire' way of differentiating in a competitive market. "We are working to put PC Power Down into our third party catalogue. It perfectly complements our low carbon technology ethos and provides us with the means to address the desktop in its entirety, not just the telephone," said MacMillan.

Shepherd explained the problem that sparked the idea for PC Power Down: "Three years ago we first noticed a problem with Microsoft Windows XP - the hibernation facility designed to schedule the computer to power down had a fatal flaw. Any software application such as Outlook checking for emails, or an anti-virus program looking for updates, or a web page refreshing itself, just about anything would override the hibernation facility meaning that the computer stays on all of the time. PC Power Down is different. It ignores all other programs and elegantly puts the computer into hibernation."

According to Shepherd, the potential savings from implementing PC Power Down are substantial. For a typical corporate desktop PC, it could save £135 per year per PC on electricity bills, reduce CO2 emissions by half a tonne a year per PC, improve computer security, extend the life of an organisation's computers and peripherals, cut the risk of fire as well as offering surge protection.

"We came up with the idea to use hardware and software to switch off PCs that have been left on when not in use," added Shepherd. "This includes switching off the power to the computer's peripherals, including the monitor, at a scheduled time each day saving electricity and unnecessary carbon dioxide emissions. We can also switch PCs back on again so they are ready for the start of the working day. We can even switch them on and off again through the night if the administrator needs to perform maintenance tasks or updates."