VLAN auditing for preliminary assessment of after hours networked equipment electricity wastage

A. Schoofs, A.G. Ruzzelli and O’Hare, G.M.P.

Energy, 2011, vol. 36, issue 12, 6910-6921

Abstract: Powering networked equipment after business hours is a primary source of electricity wastage in office buildings. In situ surveys, deployment of software agents and power measurements are generally conducted to estimate how well an IT infrastructure performs before enforcing energy-efficient solutions. Those approaches have cost and deployment constraints, obstacles for companies unwilling to invest time and money if return on investment is uncertain. This work proposes a novel approach based on virtual local area network (VLAN) auditing, capable of producing at low-cost and non-invasively a preliminary assessment of after hours networked equipment electricity wastage, providing factual insights to support the deployment of more expensive solutions. Experimentation within a University department, comprising more than 450 unique networked machines, has shown that (1) 10% of client machines regularly used have been constantly powered on, 68% have had nighttime activity and 53% week-end daytime activity; (2) 38% of machines have exhibited clear patterns of electricity wastage at nighttime, representing 5–6% of the School total power consumption, and (3) 35% of machines have exhibited clear patterns of electricity wastage during week-end days, representing 12–15% of the School total power consumption.

Keywords: Electricity; Monitoring; Electricity wastage; Virtual local area network; Office (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544211006293
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:36:y:2011:i:12:p:6910-6921

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2011.09.032

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().