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 were 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 per cent average utilisation rate was achieved.
With this utilisation rate, based on 12c/kWhr, the estimated annual energy savings by installing 1200 EcoSwitches at the university is projected to be around 53MWhr, representing a return on investment in around 18 months.
Raqibul Hassan, of the the university's office of environmental sustainability, said even with a utilisation rate of only 50 per cent, there would be a return on investment in just 2.7 years.
EcoSwitch inventor and managing director of Carbon Reduction Industries, Rod Sheppard, said businesses are becoming increasingly aware that reducing standby power will reduce electricity bills and have less impact on the environment.
"Upcoming price hikes are likely to put a serious dent in a lot of budgets, so it makes sense to start reducing electricity use now. Using the EcoSwitch is an easy and inexpensive way to do this," he said.
EcoSwitch eliminates standby power used by appliances and equipment when they are plugged in, but not in use.
It is expected to help businesses reduce average expected price hikes of around 37 per cent over the next two years.
