Don’t get annoyed if your destop throws a question at you: “At what time can I retire for the day? Some 56,000 desktops in Wipro have been asking this question for a couple of months daily at around 4.30 pm. The company has developed a special software programme and installed it on these workstations.
It pops up like a menu every day at 4.30 pm and asks computer users at what time they want to switch off the systems for the day. Anurag Behar, chief executive, Wipro Infrastructur Engineering, said another 30,000 desktops will be brought under this power saving mode within a few months.
“The idea is not to allow any desktop to lie idle with power on. It gets switched off at the chosen time after saving everything on it automatically. In case an employee wants to work longer, even after he opts to wind up at 5.30 pm, he simply has to reboot his computer and start working.’’
Behar says this has helped the company to save over 20% of power used in running computers, an annual saving of around Rs 30 lakh in the power bill. Wipro recently released its first sustainability report.
The idea is to focus not just on profits, but also on people and the planet. Businesses focussing solely on profits reduce their scope for long term survival by ignoring the ecology and social costs. Wipro has adopted a range of measures to improve energy efficiency in buildings and campuses.
This has resulted in a decrease in per employee power consumption from 338 units (kwh) per month in 2001-02 to 275 units in 07-2008, a decrease of 18.8%. “Our target is to bring the per capita power consumption considerably lower,’’ said Behar. As per the sustainability report, nearly 63% of the company’s greenhouse gas footprint came from electricity consumption while the rest 37% came from business travel and employee commute.
