Government to Conserve Energy on ‘Power IT Down Day’

In an effort to reduce the government’s energy consumption, federal employees, as well as the private sector corporations serving them, will power down all electronics Aug. 27 as part of “Power IT Down Day.”

The day of conservation comes as part of last February’s GreenGov Final Report, which encouraged ideas from more than 14,000 federal employees. The report, which resulted from President Barack Obama’s GreenGov Challenge, lists “powering down all desktop computers, locally connected printers, and other non-networked peripherals” as one of the top three ways to conserve energy. Those partaking in “Power IT Down Day” are encouraged to turn off their electronic devices before leaving for the weekend.

“Participation doubled during last year’s Power IT Down Day, and we hope to reach even more individuals in 2010,” said Citrix U.S. Public Sector VP Tom Simmons. “Because Power IT Down Day falls on a Friday this year, government and industry have the chance to save even more energy – not only on one night, but for the entire weekend. That’s a potential savings of 55 kilowatt hours per person, which can quickly add up to a significant impact on responsible energy consumption.”

Last month, the Government Accountability Office issued a report that named the federal government is the nation’s largest energy consumer.

“HP encourages our employees to exercise healthy energy savings habits, and Power IT Down Day is one way we can help our customers do the same,” said Tom Hempfield, U.S. Federal vice president at HP. “Every individual makes a difference.”

Citrix Systems, Inc., HP, Intel and the newly added GTSI are all sponsors of the event.

“Each year, Intel helps drive federal energy efficiency awareness through Power IT Down Day, and each year the response from people wanting to get involved becomes more enthusiastic,” said Nigel Ballard, director of federal marketing for Intel. “Individuals clearly want to do their bit to be part of the solution as opposed to part of the problem. We’re clearly onto something good here!”

The day is not limited to federal agencies, however. The organization’s website, poweritdown.org, encourages anyone to partake in the cause.