The third annual Power IT Down Day is right around the corner, taking place Friday, August 27. In preparation for the event, during which thousands of IT managers have committed to make sure their companies' PC fleets are turned off for the weekend, PC power management software firm JouleX has created a list of 10 tips for power management that companies can use on Power IT Down Day and every other day of the year.

"Power IT Down Day presents a great opportunity for large enterprises to make a conscious effort to put energy conservation into practice," Tim McCormick, vice president of marketing and sales for JouleX, said in a statement. "In helping companies identify and control the most serious IP-enabled power consumers, companies can come to realize how reducing energy waste presents a significant environmental and cost-savings opportunity."

The event is held in August to highlight how summer heatwaves boost demand for electricity, and turning computers off before leaving work can lighten the load on the electrical grid.

"Power IT Down Day 2009 saved about 73,000 kWh in a single night – enough energy to power the homes of 77 U.S. families for an entire month," reads an FAQ on the group's website. "This year, because Power IT Down Day falls on a Friday, we have the opportunity to dramatically increase the energy saved by the simple, individual act of powering down at the end of the day and before the weekend."

JouleX's list of 10 things IT managers can do to cut energy use is as follows:

1. Ascertain Power Consumption. Identify and pinpoint the top enterprise network power consumers and then accelerate a hardware refresh program based on the energy savings.
2. Implement Energy Automation. Automatically power down all end-user devices such as PCs, IP phones, and monitors.
3. Reduce Carbon Footprint of Printers. By using a carbon footprint calculator for printing, estimate printer energy, paper usage, consolidation opportunities and estimate carbon and cost implications. Hewlett-Packard offers a free calculator on their website.
4. Identify Under-utilized Equipment. Identify under-utilized PCs and servers consuming the most power. These PCs and servers represent an excellent opportunity for virtualization.
5. Boost LEED Certification. Increase LEED certification by actively monitoring energy usage on the current IT infrastructure.
6. Decrease Power Usage in Embedded Systems. Work to design systems, such as those with Intel's latest embedded processors and chipsets, to automatically adjust the power state to use only the energy required by the workload.
7. Implement Location-based Policies. Automatically power up and down all end-user devices using location-based policies such as by GPS location or via a building's security badge management system.
8. Power Down Idle Presentation Servers During Off Business Hours. Simply powering off these servers during "off business hours" can save 30 to 50 percent of server farm power consumption. Companies can take advantage of a free Citrix PowerSmart Utility to do this.
9. Set Carbon Reduction Goals. As a company, identify a goal for reducing energy costs and carbon footprint within a certain time period.
10. Take the JouleX Energy Challenge. Take the first step in understanding toward responsible energy consumption by gaining real-time understanding of energy usage and wasted costs.

Though the last item in the list may be self-promotional, the company is trying hoping that habits adopted for Power IT Down Day expand beyond August 27. JouleX's Energy Challenge is offering a free power-management software license to large enterprises that sign up before September 10.

To commit to Power IT Down Day's event, and for videos and white papers on IT energy efficiency, visit http://poweritdown.org/. Also be sure to read GreenBiz.com's list of 10 Things to Know About PC Power Management.

_{Plug photo CC-licensed by darrenhester.}