What is it and how does it all work?
The future office environment will be expected to plan, employ & monitor energy saving schemes to reduce energy costs & carbon emissions. Desktop computers & other office equipment such as printers contribute significantly to energy usage and so savings can be made if this equipment is efficiently managed. Most modern PCs have some form of power saving facility, but users often disable them and so potential savings are not achieved. Worse still, one study shows that up to 60% of PCs are left powered on overnight, leading to much higher energy usage than necessary. Elsave from Office Electrics provides Facilities Managers with the most comprehensive set of tools to monitor & manage power consumption in the office environment.
Our Entry-level offering comprises a master switch fitted into the on-desk power module. All the sockets both on-desk and under-desk are routed through this switch, making it easier for the user to switch off all devices from a single point when they leave their desk at the end of the day. This helps prevent the situation where the user remembers to shut down their PC but forgets to switch off the monitor & other peripherals, or they can’t find all the separate power switches.
The large master switch incorporates a bright neon indicator, so desks that have been left powered out of hours can easily be seen.
If individual users can’t be relied upon to switch off the power to their desk at the end of the day, Elsave Bronze may be the answer. The technology can be built in to one of our standard Power Box under-desk modules or an on-desk module such as the Poco. The first power socket is dedicated to the PC, and the peripherals, such as monitor, speakers & chargers are plugged in to the remaining sockets.
Elsave Bronze monitors the power consumption of the PC and detects when it has entered a low-power state or been shut down. When this happens, it automatically switches off the power to all the peripherals, thus saving energy. The power to the peripherals is restored instantly when the PC wakes up or restarts.
In many cases the user does not shut down their PC before they go home at the end of the day, so we have developed Elsave Silver to overcome this problem.
Power to the peripherals is controlled in the same way as Elsave Bronze, but Elsave Silver includes scheduling software from our technology partners at PC Power Down to start the PC at the start of each working day and shut it down again at the end. As a result, the desk is fully automated & energy savings can be made without relying on the user to shut equipment down. Furthermore, the PC is always ready for use when the user arrives for work. Additional features allow for holidays, maintenance schedules etc.
Elsave Gold offers two significant refinements that make it our most powerful and comprehensive package: It can optionally be linked to your existing access control system to provide precisely controlled desktop power; and it monitors energy consumption down to individual desk level.
By using the access control option the user’s desk & PC are powered up as they enter the building, and shut down again as they leave. The main benefit of this method is that power is applied to each desk precisely when it is needed. Elsave Gold also offers a scheduling system like Elsave Silver if a connection to the access control system is not possible or desirable.
Elsave Gold records energy consumption at each desk and collates the information wirelessly for central display and analysis. The information can be used in a variety of ways, but, most importantly, it can prove how much energy you are saving by implementing Elsave.