Computer Power Management
Power management settings save energy by putting a computer and monitor to sleep after a certain period of inactivity.
When a computer is in a sleep state, it is like pausing a DVD player—the computer immediately stops what it’s doing, maintains all open documents and programs, and is ready to start again when you want to resume working. (Depending on operating system: just move the mouse or hit the power button.)
Office of Information Technology (OIT), in partnership with the Campus Sustainability Office (CSO) is currently phasing in power management settings for groups of network-attached computers and monitors.
Enabling power management settings on PSU network-attached computers saves significant amounts of energy. For example, a computer uses approximately 200 watts of energy when in use, and only around 20 watts when sleeping. These energy savings directly support the goals of our Climate Action Plan, save University funds to be spent elsewhere, and promote the sustainability mission that is central to PSU’s values.
The project team has developed 3 categories of computers related to power management settings: Normal, Monitor Only, and Public Display (see below for the settings that correspond with each). These categories are designed to be general enough to encompass nearly every one's situation, and most users will be in the ‘Normal’ category.
Categories and their settings
| Category | Monitor Sleeps | Computer Sleeps | Typical Use Members of this Category |
| Normal | 15 Minutes (5 for Auxs depts) |
20 Minutes | Normal office use computers |
| Monitor Only | 15 Minutes (5 for Auxs depts) |
Never | Computers that people Remote Desktop into, Computers that record/serve data from/to other machines. |
| Public Display * | Never | Never | Kiosks, Instructor stations, computers used to display information to passers-by while no one is actively using them. |
* When appropriate these computers and monitors should be turned off when not in use.
(Macintosh computers are not yet in the scope of this project.)
The plan for rolling out power management settings operates on groups of computers, typically organized by department. Our method allows us to place computers into the ‘Monitor Only’ and ‘Public Display’ groups based on their computer names.
Participating Departments
- Human Resources Department
- Oregon Center for Career Development in Childhood Care & Education
- National Policy Consensus Center
- Transportation & Parking Services
- Campus Planning Office
- Campus Sustainability Office
- Conference & Events: Smith Memorial Student Union Office
- Housing & Residence Life: University Housing Office
- Admissions
- New Student Programs
- Registration
- Financial Aid
- Academic and Career Services
- The Learning Center
- Disability Resource Center
- Student Health and Counseling
- Dean of Student Life Office
- Student Legal Services
- Student Activities and Leadership Programs
- Queer Resource Center
- Women's Resource Center
- Viking Information Center
- Resource Center for Students with Children
- Cultural Centers
- Native American Student and Community Center
- Diversity and Multicultural Student Services
- La Casa Latina
- Student Support Services
- Upward Bound/Educational Talent Search
- Campus Recreation
- Vice President of EMSA Office
- Enrollment Management Communication Technology
- Enrollment Management and Student Affairs IT
- Enrollment Management and Student Affairs Business Operations
- Oregon Volunteers
- Viking Vets
- ASPSU
- PSU Student Organizations
Contact greencampus+powermgmt@pdx.edu to participate. Department head/director approval required.
Testimonials
- National Policy Consensus Center: NPCC rolled out department wide power management settings almost a year ago with no disruptions to users.OIT was able to accommodate our request to exclude one computer from the implementation whose function requires us to keep it operational at all times. The transition went smoothly and was not noticed by staff although they were aware of the changes taking place.
