Energy Committee, Business Continuity and Blackout Busters...
the following information may be of great interest to many of you.  Please
don't miss the following opportunities by disregarding this message.  Terry
was at our committee meeting yesterday as an observer and was very pleased.
He has programs that are free and that can be subsidized by different
groups.  His phone number and e-mail are below.  Thanks.  Laura

-----Original Message-----
From: Terry O'Sullivan [mailto:terry@energy-solution.com]
Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2001 3:54 AM
To: lgoldseth@svmg.org
Subject: EZ Star Software Tool and Office Equipment Efficiency Program


Laura Goldseth:

Thanks for offering to convey the attached materials about US DOE's EZ Star
software tool, and the Office Equipment Efficiency Program to members of the
Silicon Valley Manufacturers Group Energy Committee.  This email is in lieu
of squeezing onto the Committee's Monday 4/23 Agenda, and background for a
possible future agenda slot.

As we've discussed, EZ Star's developer, David Ensign, is in town 4/23 to
4/26 to do on-site demonstrations.
1) If it's possible, we would be very grateful if someone announced the San
Francisco and Oakland demos mentioned in the attached flyer - or pointed
people to the flyer on the web at
www.energy-solution.com/off-equip/demos.html - or even pointing people to
Monday's SF Chronicle technology column, where the program is expected to
get plugged.
2) David Ensign and I hope to attend Monday's meeting at EPRI as Lynn
Morrison (Wattstopper)'s guests.  Our intent is just to catch up with a few
of your members in the flesh (instead of just email), and to see your
process. If your format allows for Mr. Ensign to be acknowledged in some
way, it might make the program more tangible in our planned future
discussions about the program by your committee.
 I have attached the flyer for the upcoming software demonstrations, along
with a pdf of the State-funded Office Equipment Efficiency Program, and a
summary sheet about EZ STAR.  The rest of this email includes a brief
description of the EZ Star software tool, and a somewhat generic email about
the Office Equipment Efficiency Program.

EZ Star
 US Department of Energy has recently developed EZ Star, free software that
enables systems administrators to easily poll, then enable sleep mode for
all computer monitors on a LAN.  This software tool will be a key feature in
US EPA's upcoming national campaign to enable sleep mode for computer
monitors.  The software developer, David Ensign, is in town next week (April
23-26) to demonstrate the software.  He is teaming up with the State-funded
Office Equipment Efficiency Program, which can PAY organizations an
incentive if they enable sleep mode on monitors, either through EZ Star or
other means.
 This is a chance to see something new and potentially important. California
is at the leading edge of the national EPA campaign, and the SF Bay Area is
the first place the software is being significantly marketed.  All four
organizations who saw this demo 3 weeks ago are planning to use the
software:   East Bay Municipal Utility District (1500 computers); the
California Energy Commission (600 machines); Mills College (600 machines);
and East Bay Regional Parks (250 machines).

* * *

OFFICE EQUIPMENT EFFICIENCY PROGRAM - Highlights
Energy Solutions, State-funded Office Equipment Efficiency Program provides
an easy and environmentally friendly way to reduce energy use by computers
and other office equipment; this end use is the fastest growing part of most
organizations, energy bills.  Also, by being noticeable to nearly all staff
in the organization, the program demonstrates a commitment to conserve
energy to those inside and outside the organization.

State-Funded Program
Energy Solutions (www.energy-solution.com) has been funded by the State to
offer free office equipment efficiency services to businesses and
institutions in the PG&E service territory.   The State funded this program
to reduce peak electricity use and to help avert rolling blackouts in Summer
2001.

Enable ENERGY STAR Features ) FOR FREE
The Office Equipment Efficiency Program makes it easy to enable the built-in
energy savings features (i.e., &sleep8 settings) of ENERGY STAR office
equipment - especially computer monitors.  The program offers free enabling
services, incentive payments to the site, and support for using the US EPA,s
new network-based enabling tool.    We estimate that this NO COST measure
can save your organization $25 per year per computer monitor enabled. *
Further, since nearly every employee notices this change and receives a user
awareness brochure, this measure raises the energy-awareness of staff.
Blank computer screens at vacant desks can serve to remind staff that energy
costs are an issue that the organization is taking seriously.

Deep Discounts on &Smart8 Hardware
The program also offers energy saving hardware, bought down to
below-wholesale prices by using the State funding.  We can provide "smart"
power strips that turn off desk lights, personal printers, etc through a
desktop occupancy sensor.   This is a $68 item that we subsidize to $10
each.  And for private offices we offer wall-switches with occupancy sensors
to turn off overhead lighting (a $58 product sold for $20 through the
program).  Either of these items should save your organization more than $25
per year in energy costs.

User Awareness Campaign
Finally the program offers employee awareness literature to encourage
conservation and to dispel common myths.  Two common myths are that &screen
savers8 save energy, and that leaving your computer on all the time saves
money or makes computers last longer.

This program,s no-cost/ low-cost measures can provide an effective first
step toward reducing your organization,s rising energy costs; or they can
compliment a comprehensive energy strategy by addressing an often-overlooked
power use.  In either case, the services would be part of any organization,s
effort to take advantage of the Governor,s new incentives to reduce energy
use by 20% this summer!

The program expires June 30, and the program,s hardware offer may be gone
before then.

For more information (or to enable your own computer monitor now), please
check out the program,s web pages at: www.energy-solution.com/off-equip.  If
we can provide any further information on the program in the meantime,
please call me at 510-482-4420 ext.#223.

Thank you for your attention on this matter.

Terry O'Sullivan


* For computers, the program only enables ENERGY STAR sleep settings for the
computer monitor; this avoids the conflicts with local area networks that
have been a concern to some IT staff.

Terry O'Sullivan
Energy Solutions
terry@energy-solution.com
(510) 482-4420 ext.#223 (voice)
(510) 482-4421 (fax)


 - EZ_Star_Flyer_4.19.pdf
 - Program_1=19.pdf
 - EZSTAR2.doc