JISC

The Green Gown Award for ICT, co-sponsored by JISC and UCISA has been won by the University of Liverpool’s innovative PowerDown project.

PowerDown switches off idle student PCs when no one is logged in, saving over a million hours of unnecessary energy per month.

The University of Liverpool has made PowerDown freely available, and the fact that other universities and colleges have already implemented it was a key factor in Liverpool’s success.

PowerDown uses simple scripts which are based on existing Microsoft Windows features and freeware utilities.

JISC Executive Secretary Dr Malcolm Read said, "This award for the University of Liverpool recognises the best aspects of collaboration and sharing that is such a strong feature of UK colleges and universities. It is an approach that JISC warmly supports and seeks to foster in its own work. By its willingness to share its approach to PC PowerDown, the University of Liverpool has provided other institutions with a good way to start saving considerable amounts of carbon from energy used by desktop PCs."

UCISA Chair, Dr Chris Sexton commented, “It’s exciting to see how a quickly one IT solution has brought solid cost savings to an institution whilst at the same time significantly reducing their environmental impact. I am delighted that others in the sector are already benefiting from the University of Liverpool’s initiative.”

Out of the other entries, Warrington Collegiate College were highly commended for the range of activities that had been implemented across their campus including their use of virtual servers and greener printing.

The Green Gown awards are run by the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC) with 12 award categories.