'Coffee mug holder' to save power

60 pc of IT workers forget to switch off monitors when they take break

On an average, nearly 60 per cent of the industry workers in such times forget to switch off the monitor.

With 700,000 people employed in the IT and ITES industry, the amount of power consumed while at work is quite huge. Apart from the the impact on the environment, there is the constant emission of carbon from the continuous use of the computer.

Eco drive

Here is an interesting solution to the problem. “Eco Drive”, a coffee mug holder which switches the monitor to standby mode, when the mug is dissociated from the holder. A simple program runs with the mouse, which has only one of its clicks working and connected to the computer by a USB cord.

The holder, made of e-waste, a dysfunctional computer mouse, is developed by principal software engineer Pravesh Verma and senior software engineer Rajender Rawal with SAP Labs, Gurgaon.

Impact on environment

A study has demonstrated the advantage of this gadget. “The device can save as much as 1.36 KWH of power per day per person. Multiply this with a company with 1,000 employees and the management can save up to Rs 2 lakh at the present power tariff,” said Rajender. The two software engineers won an internal competition held by SAP labs by developing this program. “We arrived at this design after a discussion among ourselves with the thrust on saving power and reducing carbon emission,” said Pravesh.

The instrument is accompanied with a program written in Java that is platform-independent. “You can use the program on any platform or Operating System (OS),” said Pravesh. The duo took only a week in developing the program and coming out with the prototype. 

Long way to go

While the first step towards the implementation of this project is being contemplated by the two inventors within the premises of SAP Labs, Gurgaon, they are nonetheless open to marketing the product at a later stage for public use. “We still have to allay apprehensions in our own office. Currently, we are the only two using the prototype in the office,” said a laughing Pravesh.

According to the engineers, the program could also support other things such as chairs etc which have pressure points.