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New York Energy $martSM Offices ProjectStep Three: Gather Detailed Equipment DataAs Step Two indicates, there are increasing levels of analysis that can be completed as more detailed data are collected on the types and numbers of equipment, status of enabling or power management, hours of use, and opportunities for shutdown of equipment at night. In Step Three, you should conduct an after hours walk through audit, and in a networked setting, use software tools to poll the current status of monitors and determine power management opportunities. The resulting information will help you refine savings estimates and set a realistic energy savings goal. Equipment Energy AuditVisually inspect a sample of equipment (one or two staff members can audit 100 to 200 computers and monitors in an hour or two). The audit should include printers, faxes, copiers, and multi-function devices that cannot be polled through the network. Personal computers, monitors, and laptops may be added if the network polling is not conducted. If possible, the audit should cover a good cross section of offices and different types of departments to ensure a representative sample. It is important to conduct the audit without alerting staff that you are doing so to ensure you are collecting data on the typical power status of the equipment. You should schedule the audit after business hours, preferably on a weekday in the middle of the week and during a time that is not affected by a holiday or a high number of vacations. Additional audits may be useful to check weekend status of equipment. You should also note any departments that are required to leave their monitors or other equipment on all the time. Audit protocols and a sample audit form are available to assist you in conducting a walk-through audit of computers, monitors, copiers, fax machines and printers. The audit will note the numbers of each type of equipment left on in full power mode, in low or standby mode, and turned off. Use multiple copies of the audit form for data by each department and then total the department data by equipment type. If only a sample of the office equipment is used, the sample data will be applied to the total office equipment by category for the entire building to estimate overall savings. For college campuses, it is useful to collect data and analyze plug-load equipment use separately for administrative staff, faculty, computer labs, and residence halls. The data collected during the equipment energy audit will provide information to refine your calculations of plug-load equipment use as shown in Table 2.
Poll the POWER SETTINGSFor your networked information system, you may be able to use U.S. EPA's EZ Save (Administration module) Program to quickly determine the power management status of all ENERGY STAR® monitors. This software allows the network administrator to collect and view information on current ENERGY STAR settings. The resulting polling report will determine how many monitors need to be enabled and provide data to estimate the potential energy and cost savings associated with enabling all appropriate monitors. EZ Save can then be used in subsequent steps to enable the power management features of the monitors on your network. EZ Save does not enable power management on WindowsNT 4 workstations but other tools and technical support are available to facilitate power management of monitors. For more information and to obtain a copy of the EZ Save software, visit www.energystar.gov/powermanagement or contact U.S. EPA's contractor for this project, Robert Huang, The Cadmus Group, 617-673-7117. To estimate the percentage of monitors and computers that have power management setting enabled, you may want to include a survey while computers are powered On. The settings for personal computers can usually be found in “power options” of the “control panel.” COPIERS and PrintersMost copiers and printers are ENERGY STAR but the power saver settings may not be optimally set. The power saver settings for copiers and printers can usually be checked by scrolling through the menus. You may have to refer to the operating manual or ask the maintenance person to help you check for settings that indicate wait time before going into low power or sleep mode. Copiers may also include an “auto off” function. Ideally, you will maintain an inventory of copiers and printers with model numbers that allow you to check for specifications and power saver capabilities including the wattages for various stages of usage and sleep mode. Water CoolersWater coolers—particularly those with hot and cold water taps—offer savings opportunities. The savings can be estimated if you provide an inventory of stand-alone water coolers and indicate if they include hot and cold water taps and whether they are labeled as ENERGY STAR. COLD BEVERAGE Vending MachinesYour supplier can usually provide a list of cold beverage machines with locations and model numbers that can be checked against the ENERGY STAR list of qualifying vending machines at www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=vending_machines.pr_vending_machines. You may also inventory the vending machines and copy the model numbers directly from the machines. Other Plug-Load EquipmentA comprehensive plug-load equipment survey will identify quantities of other equipment commonly found in offices and on campus that can be replaced with more efficient options:
Business equipment left ON after hours such as scanners and shredders
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