Climate Savers Computing Initiative(SM) Says 'Click on, Then Click Off' During Earth Hour.

Reduce CO2 Emissions by Turning on Power Management, Then Turning off Computers During World Wildlife Fund's Earth Hour on Sat., March 29

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Climate Savers Computing Initiative(SM) invites computer users to "click on, then click off" during the World Wildlife Fund's Earth Hour event on Sat., March 29.

During Earth Hour, participants in cities around the world will turn off their lights for one hour between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. local time. Individuals can sign up to participate and make a commitment to reducing energy consumption in the year ahead at EarthHour.org. During Earth Hour, the Climate Savers Computing Initiative is encouraging individuals to "click on" computer power management features, then "click off" (power down) their computers for the remainder of the hour.

Power management features can automatically place monitors, hard drives and computers into a low-power "sleep" mode after a period of inactivity to reduce wasted energy and lower energy costs. A simple touch of the mouse or keyboard "wakes" the computer, hard drive and monitor in seconds. Using computer power management can save more than 600 KWh of electricity per year - more than lowering your home thermostat by two degrees Fahrenheit in the winter or replacing six standard light bulbs with compact fluorescents.1

Virtually all PCs in use today support power management, but a study conducted by Harris Interactive([R]) on behalf of Climate Savers Computing among U.S. adults 18+ who use a computer at home and/or at work found that only 74 percent of those surveyed were aware of computer power management.2Another survey found that 40 percent incorrectly identified what power management is or said they don't know.3 Computer power management is simple to activate and can save nearly half a ton of CO2 and more than $60 a year in energy costs.4

For instructions on how to turn on power management, visit www.climatesaverscomputing.org/tools/pwr_mgmt.html.

About Climate Savers Computing

The Climate Savers Computing Initiative is a nonprofit group of eco-conscious consumers, businesses and conservation organizations dedicated to improving the power efficiency and reducing the energy consumption of computers. The Initiative is led by Dell, EDS, Google, HP, IBM, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, Pacific Gas & Electric and World Wildlife Fund. Sponsors include AMD, Delta Electronics, eBay, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Marvell Semiconductor, NEC, Sun and Supermicro. For more information, visit www.climatesaverscomputing.org.

About World Wildlife Fund's Earth Hour

Earth Hour has grown from a single event held by WWF Australia in Sydney to a global phenomenon that will track across six continents. On March 31, 2007, tens of thousands of homes and businesses all across Sydney switched off their lights. And for one entire hour on that Saturday night, much of the city, including such landmarks as the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge, went dark. The result was a 10 percent drop in energy usage and a dramatic increase in awareness of climate change. An estimated 2.2 million Sydney residents participated, including actresses Cate Blanchett and Nicole Kidman, and the event gained international media coverage. This success prompted WWF to take the event to a global audience in 2008.

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research. With a long and rich history in multimodal research, powered by our science and technology, we assist clients in achieving business results. Harris Interactive serves clients globally through our North American, European and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

Climate Savers[R] is a trademark or registered trademark of WWF, the international conservation organization. Used under license.

1 Rocky Mountain Institute, "Cool Citizens: Everyday Solutions to Climate Change," http://www.rmi.org/images/PDFs/Climate/C02-12a_CoolCitizens.pdf.

2 Harris Interactive[R] fielded the study on behalf of Climate Savers from February 29 - March 4, 2008 via its QuickQuery(SM) online omnibus service, interviewing a nationwide sample of 3,008 U.S. adults aged 18 years and older, of which 2,975 use computer(s) at home and/or work. Data were weighted using computer user weighting to be representative of the total U.S. adult population on the basis of region, age within gender, education, household income, race/ethnicity, and computer usage. No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated; a full methodology is available.

3 Harris Interactive[R] fielded the study on behalf of Climate Savers from March 6 - 10, 2008 via its QuickQuery(SM) online omnibus service, interviewing a nationwide sample of 2,897 U.S. adults aged 18 years and older. Data were weighted using computer user weighting to be representative of the total U.S. adult population on the basis of region, age within gender, education, household income, race/ethnicity, and computer usage. No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated; a full methodology is available.

4 When enabled, power management on a typical PC in use today can save an average of 603 KWh of energy per year, which equals over $60 in energy savings at an energy rate of $0.106 per KWh.