Posted by: kurtsh | June 11, 2008

HOWTO: Earn $7 per corporate desktop using Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007

(or “A Quick Guide to Obtaining Electrical Rebates from SoCal Edison using Microsoft SCCM2007”)

UNITED STATES ELECTRICAL REBATE PROGRAMS
Many utility companies throughout the US have rebate programs for companies that reduce the power they use per desktop. (Here’s a list in case you’re interested in seeing other geographies other than Southern California)

sce_logoFor example, in Southern California, Southern California Edison (SCE) specifically has an initiative called the “Express Efficiency Program” that offers energy efficiency-related incentives for non-residential customers regardless of size and energy usage. Of importance is the fact that rebates for office technologies such as desktop computers are available.

Applicants need to complete the necessary forms on the SCE website – see below link. The rebate specifically for PC Network Software is $15 – however my understanding is that this requires centralized measurement per machine of how much power is saved. (i.e. guesstimates and averages per PC don’t cut it – the software has to be designed for this explicit purpose & reporting) In any case, these rebates are available on a first-come-first-served basis because apparently only a certain amount of cash is set aside for this at SCE.

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Page 6 of the rebate form has the entry for a $15 per PC Network Software rebate

POWER MANAGEMENT & INSTRUMENTATION SOFTWARE
There are a number of products that integrate with SMS/SCCM to provide automated power management to minimize power utilization of systems.

For example, SCCMExpert’s product “Novaprise SMS Companion 3.0” not only integrates with your existing SCCM2007 infrastructure and provides power management capabilities (not to mention solving the Magic Packet relay problem) but it also produces reports on power utilization that are necessary to report back to SCE to maintain your rebate. “SMS Companion” is around $7-$8/desktop.

1e’s products Nightwatchman & WakeUp does a similar group of responsibilities and 1e certainly has been one of the longest standing SMS partners with Microsoft, however I know less information about their technologies.

WARNING: The customer will need to contact SCE and schedule an appointment to verify that your implementation of Power Management qualifies and is in compliance with their requirements for the rebate. They’ll also need to make sure that there’s money left for the rebate because it is, like I said before, first-come-first-served and there’s a limited amount of rebate distributed to customers.

THE DISPARITY BETWEEN $15 REBATES vs $7 COSTS?
You will notice that there is a disparity between the cost associated with the software and the actual rebate attained. If you recognized this as a positive monetary return on investment at day 1, you’d be correct.

In addition to:

  • The corporate PR benefits of the company “going green” & reducing the organizations carbon footprint
  • The hard cost savings of using less electricity
  • The exposure & recognition of IT as a strategic asset for the company
  • The good feeling of knowing the company’s being environmentally friendly & “doing the right thing”

…there is effectively a profit of $7-$8 per desktop to be had making this project a ‘profit center’ for the company.  Yes, I realize that there are soft costs associated with a project like this however if the architecture for SMS/SCCM is already in place, most of that work has already been done making this project “ready to go”.

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