The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) estimates it can save between $750,000 and $50 million annually if a majority of government agencies implement power management software that would enable IT to program computers to automatically shut down during non-business hours.

Private companies such as Partners HealthCare are reaping the rewards of power management features in software from asset management vendors such as Altiris. And now the GSA is offering the personal computer power conservation software at an annual license fee of $3 per computer through its SmartBUY program, which is a federal government procurement plan designed to promote "effective enterprise-level software management." The $3 license fee remains in effect through fiscal 2008.

Tom Kirelis, Acting Deputy Director of the Office of Infrastructure Optimization, Federal Acquisition Service at GSA, says the potential savings justify the investment in BigFix's Power Management software. He explains the software became part of the SmartBUY program via the Department of the Army, which had a blanket purchase agreement for asset management and asset discovery -- two features of BigFix's broader product portfolio. He says the Power Management application is well suited to government agency's infrastructure needs and could reap big savings, based on energy statistics around power savings.

"We estimate that an agency with 50,000 endpoints could save up to $50 per endpoint, which would translate into about $750,000 on energy savings," Kirelis says. "The power management component is a viable and very attractive business model for the government, which has initiatives around green IT as well."

Industry data shows there’s money to be saved by switching off machines. According to data from the U.S. Department of Energy, the average PC wastes up to 400 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, and that can cost up to $50 per PC, depending on energy prices. Separately, the Environmental Protection Agency ha reported reports that computers and monitors in the United States are responsible for the unnecessary production of millions of tons of greenhouse gases every year, and more than $1 billion per year is wasted on electricity for computer monitors that are turned on when they shouldn’t be.

Denise Dubie is senior editor with Network World.