Power Down for the Planet

I just read on the Official Google Blog about Power Down for the Planet, "a challenge program designed to encourage universities and their campus communities to reduce their own IT power consumption and get their students, faculty, and staff involved in the fight against climate change." Through YouTube, participants may submit a video showing how they are powering down for the planet for a chance to win $5,000 cash or other prizes. The Video Challenge starts March 2nd and runs through April 17, 2009. The challenge winner and the collective results of all participants will be announced on Earth Day, April 22, 2009.

According to the Power Down for the Planet website, "The challenge is to develop original and creative videos that educate, entertain, and/or inform others about the importance of energy efficient computing to the global environment."

• How do we spread the word about slowing climate change through energy efficient computing?
• How do poor computing practices waste energy?
• What will the impact of better power management have on our environment?
• What does sustainable computing mean to you?

The Power Down for the Planet program is sponsored by the Climate Savers Computing Initiative (CSCI) in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program. Launched in 2007 by Google and Intel, the CSCI "is a nonprofit group of eco-conscious consumers, businesses and conservation organizations. The Initiative was started in the spirit of the World Wildlife Fund’s Climate Savers program that was created to cut carbon dioxide emissions and demonstrate that reducing emissions by saving energy is good business." CSCI's "goal is to promote the development, deployment and adoption of smart technologies that can both improve the overall energy efficiency of a computer as well as reduce the energy consumed when the computer not in use through effective power management."

Lastly, I want to mention the IT Power Management Summit, which is scheduled for March 30, 2009. This free educational webinar is sponsored by the CSCI and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designed to raise awareness of the benefits and savings associated with enterprise power management. According Harris Interactive® study fielded from February 29-March 4, 2008, virtually all PCs support power management, but only 5 to 10 percent of U.S. organizations use this feature. Register now for this free session to get the information you need to begin deploying power management within your organization.