HP promotes PC switch-off with Power To Change campaign

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 03 June 2009 08:04

IT Industry - Strategy

HP's encouraging people to turn off their PCs at the end of the day to save energy. But is the Power To Change campaign as energy-efficient as it could be?

HP's Power To Change campaign aims to save energy by persuading people to switch off their computers when they aren't in use.

Having already achieved its own goal of slicing 25 percent from its volume desktop and notebook energy consumption by 2010, HP wants to save another 1 billion kilowatt-hours by 2011 with further design changes.

But users can help too, and that's where Power To Change comes in.

"Power To Change is the manifestation of HP's long-held philosophy that industry leadership is about an ongoing contribution to society," said John Frey, Americas sustainability executive at HP.

"With Power To Change, individuals and organizations can make a small environmental commitment that has the potential for a large impact on addressing sustainability challenges today.

And Peter Ekstedt, global citizenship manager for HP Asia Pacific and Japan was on the same page. "HP Power To Change is about people making a small environmental commitment each day that has the potential to have a much greater impact on the environment in the long term," he said.

If you sign up for the program, you can download a desktop widget that will remind you to turn off the PC at the end of the day as well as contributing your data to the global tally of energy saved.

There are also 'badges' to display the current worldwide results on a web page or to publicise the project via your email signature.

So, a worthy aim - but is the project as green as it could be?