What is Sydney University doing?

• Planning for an energy efficient University
• Reducing energy usage from personal computers
• Energy usage - Data Centre

Planning for an energy efficient University

In October 2005 the NSW State Government mandated that the University audit its energy use on the Camperdown and Darlington campuses, review energy management, and develop a 4 year Energy Savings Action Plan (ESAP) to reduce energy use. As a result, 72 projects are being rolled out to the end of 2009 to install energy savings fixtures and equipment and upgrade electrical and mechanical assets. Since 1994, the University has also installed an extensive network of meters that constantly monitor consumption. If you have a UniKey you can view how your building compares online.

During the development phase of the ESAP information has been compiled on how energy is used on campus by: lights, air conditioning, water heating, office and computer equipment. Buildings have been benchmarked against expected consumption patterns and opportunities for savings have identified and costed. Implementation of the plan began in 2008, with actions being rolled out through to 2009 and further audit cycles being planned for the next round of actions.

Reducing energy usage from personal computers

Using the standby feature within your computer's power settings can make a big difference to your energy consumption.

By setting your computer to automatically enter standby mode your power usage and the associated greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by roughly 70%. This is a great way to reduce your impact on the environment and save unnecessary costs.

Will this really make any difference?

Did you know that for every three computers and monitors that adopt the stand by setting recommendations instead of being left powered on 24 hours a day, we achieve the same prevention of greenhouse gas emissions as taking one car off the road each year?

For our estimated computer fleet of 18,000 we could achieve the same prevention in greenhouse gas emissions as removing 4,788 cars from the road each year.

Do you have special requirements for your computer

If you are using your computer for research based activities please read the FAQ BEFORE adopting these standby settings.

Click here to read the Frequently Asked Questions.

To view instructions on how to change your computer energy settings please click the green arrow above.

Using standby settings on your computer can reduce the annual emissions you create by around 1,500kg.

This is the equivalent of 30,000 black balloons of greenhouse gas being prevented.

Recommended ‘Power Options’ timeframes

* We are not recommending any settings for ‘System hibernates’ as our measurements have shown no real advantage over the standby mode.

Apple Mac computers only have three settings which relate to the top three settings as above.

Energy consumption figures

Rappaport, A., Creighton, S.H. (2007), Degrees That Matter: Climate Change and the University, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, (pg. 252).

Energy usage - Data Centre

One of the initiatives the University has undertaken to achieve a more sustainable IT practice has been to minimise the power consumption within our Data Centre.

Where appropriate, the University has adopted the practice of using ‘virtual servers’ in place of standalone physical servers. Having fewer physical servers reduces the cost of powering and the subsequent cooling of what would otherwise have been a far greater number of servers.

This reduces the amount of greenhouse gasses emitted from the overall power consumption of the University’s data centre.

If you require a server please click the green arrow above to register your request with ICT.

What difference does this really make?

	By adopting virtual servers where possible the yearly prevention of greenhouse gas emissions is the equivalent of;
	Black balloons - Just under 50 million(1) - Enough to fill over 500 Olympic swimming pools(2)
	Cars - Removing almost 600 cars(3) from the road
	Trees- The amount of CO2 absorbed by over 650,000 trees(4). This is the same amount that would occupy 300 hectares or 400 football fields.
	Individuals- The amount that over 100 individuals produce(5) from all sources per year.

(1) A balloon can hold 50 grams of greenhouse gas. (2) The amount of CO2 that an Olympic Swimming Pool can hold is equivalent to that held in 89,950 Black Balloons. (3) The average car in Australia produces 4,300kg of greenhouse gas in a year. (4) One hectare of Eucalypt trees will absorb 10 tonnes of Carbon per year, with 2,197 trees per hectare. (5) The Average NSW resident creates 23,000 kg (from all sources) of greenhouse gas emissions per year.

Data Centre - power consumption and greenhouse gasses

Without the use of virtual servers, the University would be required to power and maintain over one thousand physical servers. However, the adoption of virtual servers has enabled us to reduce this to approximately 335 physical servers.

Annual power consumption
The following graph provides a comparison of the difference in power consumption for the Data Centre based on our current usage of virtual servers where possible versus the potential power consumption if we did not use any virtual servers.

Annual greenhouse gas emissions
The following graph provides a comparison of the difference in greenhouse gas emissions from power usage for the Data Centre based on our current usage of virtual servers where possible versus the potential emissions if we did not use any virtual servers.

What is a virtual server?

A ‘virtual server’ is a computer that shares space on a single physical unit with other ‘virtual servers’.

Instead of requiring a separate computer for each server, dozens of virtual servers can co-reside on the same physical unit.

Virtual servers can make a significant reduction in power requirements as a single unit consumes much less power than many stand alone units would do, even with the additional processing requirements of multiple virtual servers.