Coeur D'Alene School District (ID) was looking for ways to save money on its energy bill. With over 10,000 students and 1,300 staff members, the district had about 4,000 workstations operating on Microsoft Windows XP.
Bryan Martin, the district's Director of Maintenance, knew that implementing new technologies and practices would help reduce the Coeur D'Alene's "energy waste" and costs. One problem was that classroom computers and monitors weren't always shut down at the end of the day. Past attempts to introduce power management on classroom computers were unsuccessful, and Martin was told that computer power management was disruptive to students and IT staff. Martin heard of new solutions that would overcome this obstacle and provide IT with a way to centrally manage computer power-- the district turned to the ENERGY STAR Web site, which led them to use Faronics Power Save.
Power Save can determine when computers are truly inactive so they can be powered down, and came in on top of its competitors in the district's search for a solution due to its features and cost-effectiveness. The district has configured Power Save to turn off all monitors after five minutes of inactivity, and then to set the computer on standby mode after 90 minutes. All computers shut down at 10 p.m., until users restart them in the morning.
The switch has helped Coeur d'Alene be more "environmentally friendly" and has helped raise awareness among computer users. The district was able to recover the cost of the software through Avista and Kootenai Power grants, and expects to save up to $300,000 over the course of three years.
