Campus Takes Part in Power Down for the Planet Pledge Drive
Ioana Patringenaru | March 30, 2009
Want to make a difference in fighting climate change? Use the power saving mode on your computer. That’s a pledge a group of six universities, including UC San Diego, want you to make.
Chancellor Marye Anne Fox is about to take an online pledge to use the power-saving mode on her computer.
The pledge drive, dubbed Power Down for the Planet, is part of the broader Climate Savers Computing Initiative, started by Google and Intel in 2007, of which UCSD is an affiliated member.
“There are so many things that we can do on a day-to-day basis that make a big difference,” said Maggie Souder, UCSD’s sustainability coordinator. “And they are so easy so do.”
The Power Down for the Planet drive kicked off March 23. It includes a monthlong competition between campuses, which ends April 17. The campus that gets the largest percentage of its community to pledge support to the Climate Savers Computing Initiative wins.
To take the pledge, simply go to: http://www.powerdownfortheplanet.org/pledge/
The goal of Climate Savers Computing is to reduce global CO2 emissions from the operation of computers by 54 million tons per year—the annual output of 11 million cars. This would lead to a 50 percent reduction in computer power consumption by 2010 and energy cost savings of $5.5 billion.
UCSD is one of the few universities to take part in the initiative, Souder said. As an affiliate member, the campus pledges to purchase energy-efficient computers and use energy-efficient computing tools.
According to Power Down for the Planet, about 1 billion computers will be in use by 2010. Almost all PCs support a power management mode, but only 5 to 10 percent of U.S. organizations use this feature.
By turning on the power-saving features of their PCs, U.S. college students could save more than 1.6 billion kilowatt hours per year and $150 million in energy costs. That’s a reduction of one million tons of CO2 or the equivalent of taking 200,000 cars off the road, according to Power Down for the Planet.
“There are lots of ways that individuals can help by doing small things every day,” Souder said.
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