Energy Use in the Office PoC (phase 2)

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about Energy Use in the Office.  The small PoC we did early this summer had some pretty interesting results but due to the size of the PoC and time constraints, it’s was unclear as to how the data we obtained would scale up.  So, building on the results from the first phase, we are planning a second phase of this PoC on a much larger scale: We are involving about 1,000 users, and the second phase will not be subject to the limiting time constraints that characterized the first phase.  During this second phase, we will focus on user awareness and enforced energy profile settings. We are also building a real-time energy-awareness user interface that PoC participants will be able to access with web browsers, as well as view on large screens in the building’s lobby and cafeteria.  I’ll keep you up to date as the project progresses.

Making IT Real!

By the way, the second video in the “Making IT Real!” series has been released.  If you haven’t already seen it, you can see it here and in case you missed the first video, you can see it here.

-Mike Breton

IT Technology Evangelist

Back in April I told you about a small proof of concept we were planning to measure energy use in the office environment and then use that established baseline to test different energy saving methods.  I thought it would be good to give you a quick status update on the work done to date.

The PoC is currently underway, and in fact, is nearing completion.  Like I mentioned in April, it is pretty small with just 12 users, but we hope the results will help direct what we might later try on a larger scale.

We started the PoC on Friday May 15^th with meter loggers installed on 6 circuits monitoring energy use for the 12 users in the PoC every 3 minutes.  We ran the metering for 2 weeks before telling the PoC users to establish an uninfluenced baseline.

After setting the baseline, we split the 12 users in to 3 groups, each focusing on a different energy savings technique.

One group receives information on their energy use every 2 days showing how much energy they are using, what it is costing, and a few simple tips on how they might reduce their energy use.  Nothing is forced.  In this group, we are looking at how “Awareness” alone might change behavior.

The second group installed a 3^rd party agent on their systems which allows us to enforce more restrictive energy management profiles than they might normally use.  The software also allows us to record time in state on each system, thereby providing a degree of “soft” individual system metering.

The last group had USB triggered power strips installed in their offices, connected to their docking stations, which automatically power off all devices in their offices that do not need to be on when they are not there.  We connected devices such as; task lighting, displays, and chargers to these strips.

We are in the last week of data collecting now, so stay tuned for some high-level results to be posted soon and possibility a full paper published later.

Please let me know if you have any questions or if you are doing or have done anything similar in your enterprise.

-Mike

One of the areas I’m focusing on for Intel IT is Sustainability.  My specific area of focus is energy use in office spaces, including but not limited, to client systems.  As I got started, one of the first issues I discovered was a general lack of baseline data on how much energy is used in the office space today.  If you want to implement changes to save energy, you have to really understand where you are starting from.

So, before I can really try some proof of concept activities to reduce energy use in the office, I’ll first need to establish a solid baseline.  I hope to soon start a small proof of concept to physically meter energy use in the office space.  One the baseline is established, several additional phases will take place to see how energy use can be reduced via; awareness, software, and electrical controls in the office.

I’ll be back with more info as we get started but, in the meantime, I’d love to hear from you.  Have you already looked at energy saving in the office environment?  Is it something you are considering looking at in the near future?  What are your thoughts, concerns, focus areas?

-Mike