Energy-savings switch for university

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.