Power company offers rebate for Mac energy-saving utility

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 05 August 2008 11:33

Science - Energy

BC Hydro customers can purchase Power Manager through Macinhome Consulting, a specialist Mac consulting firm operating in British Columbia. Everyone else can download the software from DssW's web site on a 30-day free trial. After that, the price is €20 ($US28.95/$C32.36/$A33.61).

Most of the products included in BC Hydro's PIP are related to lighting, heating, cooling and cooking. For approved computer power management software, the scheme allows for rebates of $C6 per license with a maximum of 75 percent of the actual cost. Products must reduce the on-time of the computer and its monitor, they must not be free, and it must be possible to prevent end users from altering power save features.

Power Manager meets that last requirement as it provides varying rights for different groups of users. Some may be able to adjust the schedule, some may be able to cancel or delay an event (eg, an employee that sometimes needs to work back after hours), and other can be forced to accept events (eg, ordinary users in a lab or cafe style situation).

DssW quotes research showing that for every kilowatt-hour of power used by office equipment, between 0.2 and 0.5 kilowatt-hours of power are needed for air conditioning to compensate for the heat generated by the devices.

BC Hydro customers can also get a $C7 rebate on the purchase of an "efficient power bar for computers." Such devices can be timer based, or use current sensors to automatically power down peripherals when the computer is switched off.