Energy-savings switch for university
Thursday, 15 November, 2012
Monash University Clayton Campus in Victoria recently conducted a two-month pilot study to determine the financial benefits of installing the Australian-designed EcoSwitch throughout the university’s office workstations. The EcoSwitch is an energy-saving device that cuts out standby power used by equipment and appliances.
A statistically representative mix of office staff workstations was selected that typically employed a Compaq desktop or a Dell notebook computer, a monitor and a standard Cisco IP Phone.
Post-installation surveys were conducted after two months in which an 87% average utilisation rate was achieved. With this utilisation rate, based on 12c/kWh, the estimated annual energy savings by installing 1200 EcoSwitches at the university is projected to be around 53 MWh, representing a return on investment in around 18 months.
“Even if we had a utilisation rate of only 50% we would see a return on investment in just 2.7 years, which we are more than happy with,” said Raqibul Hassan, Office of Environmental Sustainability, Monash University.
Other outcomes from the pilot study were:
- An 87% utilisation of the EcoSwitch reduced total energy consumption measured against BAU (business as usual) by around 30%.
- 100% of the study respondents were using the product at least “most days”.
- Feedback responses from the study group were positive and the majority of staff used the EcoSwitch because they held a positive attitude towards its implementation and ability to save power.
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