Energy saving program/savings initiative

[lsuacner]

I work for a big company (AGA).
We use allot of electricity, when we shut down operations RSA had no load shedding in January. One shaft has a power bill in the millions of rands.

So I want to roll out a small program, which users can run from our intranet which would automatically configure the registry to set the PC in to a power *savings* mode. If a user spends more than 30m away from his PC it should power down to the point where moving the mouse will bring everything back up again.
- We can't risk losing a spreadsheet or something of that sort.
- The PCs which control operations will not be set in to any sort of pwer savings mode, this program should be for user desktops.

Do anyone know of such a program or can anyone write such a program for me? The program should be simple.
- double click to run, should say success/failure and exit. I don't want any sort of eye-candy.
- the program will be audited to ensure it is safe to use.

[carderne]

I had a program like that a while ago. Worked very well. Think it was called cool - something.

Damnit. Cool-something. Try a google. I'll get back to my pc this weekend so I can tell u cus I still have the installer. Completely free btw.

[cyberarmy]

I run the Dynamic Energy Savings program provided by my Gigabyte MB when I am not gaming or require intensive processing powers.

[HavocXphere]

If you are just changing the power saving settings in the registry then a simple .reg file should do the trick.

Hybrid s3 under Vista sounds like the thing you need to avoid data loss.

The problem you'll run into is that power saving features depend heavily on hardware...so unless all your desktops are identical, their abilities will differ.

[.Froot.]

I saw an Asus motherboard the other day that can go into an almost dead state at the push of a button and run at minimal power whilst still running the CPU and maintaining the RAM contents. Nice for having everything as you left it.

[lsuacner]

If you are just changing the power saving settings in the registry then a simple .reg file should do the trick.

Hybrid s3 under Vista sounds like the thing you need to avoid data loss.

The problem you'll run into is that power saving features depend heavily on hardware...so unless all your desktops are identical, their abilities will differ.

Remember, 400 users just at one shaft. Rollout has to be very easy. How do I make a simple .reg file?

[HavocXphere]

I saw an Asus motherboard the other day that can go into an almost dead state at the push of a button and run at minimal power whilst still running the CPU and maintaining the RAM contents. Nice for having everything as you left it.

I think thats pretty standard on the asus boards nowadays. I think the CPU shuts down too cause all the fans shut down on my board. If you switch of the hybrid mode (vista) then its ~ instantaneous. Much better than hibernate.

How do I make a simple .reg file?

A reg file is a textfile which contains fragments of the registry that you can import. i.e. over write existing values in the registry.

Type regedt32 at the run box. Then select file export and export something. Then open that file in a text editor. It'll look something like this (compeletly random part of the registry):

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\FileSystem]
"Win31FileSystem"=dword:00000000
"Win95TruncatedExtensions"=dword:00000001
"SymlinkLocalToLocalEvaluation"=dword:00000001
"SymlinkLocalToRemoteEvaluation"=dword:0000000 1
"SymlinkRemoteToRemoteEvaluation"=dword:000000 00
"SymlinkRemoteToLocalEvaluation"=dword:0000000 0
"NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation"=dword:00000000
"NtfsDisableCompression"=dword:00000000
"NtfsDisableEncryption"=dword:00000000
"NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate"=dword:00000001
"NtfsEncryptPagingFile"=dword:00000000
"NtfsMemoryUsage"=dword:00000000
"NtfsMftZoneReservation"=dword:00000000
"NtfsQuotaNotifyRate"=dword:00000e10
"UdfsCloseSessionOnEject"=dword:00000001
"UdfsSoftwareDefectManagement"=dword:00000000
"NtfsAllowExtendedCharacter8dot3Rename"=dword:0000 0000
"NtfsBugcheckOnCorrupt"=dword:00000000
"NtfsDisableVolsnapHints"=dword:00000002

[dionb]

You guys use branded machines (Dell?) which probably do not have all the bios support options many clones offer.
Simplest would get users to at least let the screen saver power down the monitor after 30 min's - assume 300W for complete pc, monitor 50-75W of that. Good start. Then possibly try suspend after that.
These are all settings most users can be "taught" to do eg memo.
Interesting thing on screen saver - get those fancy/downloaded stuff of machines - use more resources. The simple/boring starfield, slowest etc just fine. Try screen saver after say 15 min, then monitor off at 30, then suspend/standby at 40.

Tampering with registry can potentially cause other problems although it sounds like an elegant solution.

For general interest:
If it is the AGA I think - 4 booster fans at 95 level and lower each draw over 330KW - the 400PC's possibly around 120KW. Cannot switch of fans though - workers will fry.

Off Topic:
I have controllers which we developed during last year - about 40 installed so far (The guys on the other side of the Potch rd). The first 4 resulted in a savings of appr 1.5million liters of water per day. Water that has to be filtered and pumped for re-use in drills = electricity savings.

[Asha'man X]

I downloaded a program written by the US Environmental Protection Agency, which could do a shut down/standby type of thing. There was also a Active Directory version I got but which I haven't used yet.

The website is http://www.terranovum.com/docs/energ...Z_GPO/doc.html for the AD group policy, the other program is called EZ Save, do a search for it and you should get it.

Hope this helps

[HavocXphere]

Tampering with registry can potentially cause other problems although it sounds like an elegant solution.

Yes, thats true.

Perhaps a memo is the best solution.