Switching off computers can help fund the Digital Education Revolution

The environmental computing proponent group Computers Off Australia has developed a funding solution for the federal government's Digital Education Revolution.

The group has suggested that states help fund the revolution by implementing power saving measures at every school.

The group has developed a series of power-saving methods that can help save states and territories upwards of 50-70 percent off their PC power consumption, with the added benefit of reducing CO2 emissions.

According to the organisers of the Computers Off campaign, a quick peek at the numbers shows how necessary this sort of planning can become:

In round one of the revolution alone, NSW has been allocated nearly 75,000 new PCs. This could translate to an extra $4.6 million added to the state's annual electricity bill. But by simply turning off PCs within schools when they are not being used, states can save $3.8 million in power consumption, which the group says will go a long way towards funding the Revolution.

"The states can then use these savings to fund the installation of the new PC's being allocated to them through the Digital Education Revolution," said Mark Winter, founder of Computers Off Australia.

"The NSW Education Minister has the ability to self fund the shortfall and can save $3.8 million in power consumption by mandating simple measures that all PCs within schools are centrally shut down when not in use.

"This will not only have substantial savings for the states, allowing them to use these savings to fund the ongoing costs, it will also assist with reducing Australia's carbon footprint."

The Australian Computing Society (ACS) is endorsing Winter's message through the ACS Green IT Special Interest Group, a not-for-profit ICT industry initiative to support IT-enabled sustainable business.