Brockenhurst College is installing the Microsoft Vista operating system to reduce energy consumption and save money.

Machines running Vista will automatically put themselves into sleep mode after an hour of being inactive.

‘We have an installed base of 1,200 PCs, 25 servers and supporting air-conditioning units, and fully understand the impact these have on power consumption,’ said Robin Gadd, head of information services at the Hampshire college.

‘Interestingly, a lot of our energy use and running costs stem from when the college is shut, which is where Windows Vista is going to be hugely beneficial.’

The system will also be able to ‘wake up’ machines that are asleep and require maintenance during off-peak hours, rather than having to activate the whole network.