“Office Communications Server 2007 really fits with our ‘green’ initiative.”
Philip Krenc, Vice President, Information Technology, MidAmerican Energy Company
MidAmerican Energy Company is highly focused on environmental responsibility, including energy generation from renewable resources. The company also promotes this responsibility within IT, relying on Microsoft® products and technologies to help reduce its energy usage and lower costs. With its “green IT” strategies, the company has reduced power consumption, minimized travel, and is working to generate energy more efficiently.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published May 2009
Business Needs
MidAmerican Energy Company is the largest utility in Iowa, providing service to more than 723,000 electric customers and 704,000 natural gas customers from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to the Quad Cities area of Iowa and Illinois. MidAmerican Energy is a subsidiary of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, a leading producer of energy from diversified fuel sources including natural gas, geothermal, hydroelectric, nuclear, coal, and wind.
MidAmerican Energy takes pride in its efforts to advance the production and use of renewable energy. A growing portion of the energy the company produces comes from wind, an environmentally clean source. The company also promotes Save some green® consumer programs that encourage energy awareness and the use of high-efficiency appliances through home assessments, incentives, and training. “We are very cognizant of managing our resources and making appropriate investments to reduce emissions, and we want to empower our customers to do the same,” says Philip Krenc, Vice President of Information Technology at MidAmerican Energy.
To this end, MidAmerican Energy also focuses on reducing its own carbon footprint. For example, the company operates out of three major cities in Iowa, and employees often traveled to meet with colleagues at different locations. “There was a lot of driving up and down the interstate,” says Krenc. “Because of this, we challenged our staff to reduce travel by 50 percent.”
Solution
With the help of Microsoft® products and technologies, MidAmerican Energy is working to reduce PC power consumption, minimize travel, and generate energy more efficiently.
PC Power-Saving Initiative
In 2008, MidAmerican Energy began to deploy the Windows Vista®Enterprise operating system to its employees’ computers. By default, computers running Windows Vista use the Windows Vista Balanced power plan, a built-in power management setting that offers full performance when needed and saves power during periods of system inactivity through functions such as turning off the display or putting the computer to sleep. For higher energy savings, MidAmerican Energy is currently testing a modified version of the Windows Vista Power Saver plan, which it can manage centrally through the Group Policy Management Console. The company is also evaluating Group Policy to automatically put PCs into hibernate mode during off-hours.
Web-Based Meetings, Collaboration
With its gas and electric business units located in different cities throughout Iowa, interstate travel is common. In August 2008, in an effort to reduce travel, MidAmerican Energy implemented Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and the Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 client application to encourage employees to conduct Web-based meetings. “We are taking extra steps to remind people to use Office Communications Server 2007 for as many meetings as possible,” says Krenc.
The company also relies on Microsoft Office SharePoint® Portal Server 2003 to promote online, team collaboration through 135 departmental and project-oriented SharePoint sites. More than 1,900 MidAmerican Energy employees use the portal to share documents and information. And, to encourage external collaboration, approximately 10 percent of these sites are accessible to MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company employees. The company is currently planning to upgrade to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
Predictive Wind Analysis
Wind generation levels can be difficult to predict at times. MidAmerican Energy is using an integrated set of Microsoft products and technologies to improve forecast accuracy. For instance, the company connects to its OSIsoft plant information system software through SharePoint Portal Server, where it can display and share real-time wind turbine performance information.In addition, the company is employing the Microsoft .NET Framework to transform data from the plant information system’s advanced calculation engine into calculations of hourly energy output from each wind facility. This data is exported into Microsoft Office Excel® 2007 spreadsheets for analysis and forecasting.
Benefits
MidAmerican Energy is using Microsoft products and technologies to reduce power consumption, minimize travel, and generate power more efficiently. These measures are helping the company operate in a more environmentally responsible manner, lower costs, and maximize business opportunities.
Expected $30,000in Annual Power Savings
With Windows Vista, MidAmerican Energy has greater control over its PCs and can more carefully manage power consumption. “Windows Vista offers precise and easier-to-manage settings to help us fine-tune our power consumption,” says Krenc. With nearly 5,000 PCs in its environment, MidAmerican expects to save U.S.$30,000 annually by entering PCs into hibernate mode during off-hours.
“Green” Meetings
Tasked with reducing travel by 50 percent, MidAmerican Energy employees rely heavily on Office Communications Server 2007 to conduct Web-based meetings rather than driving cars or flying to meet colleagues in person. “Office Communications Server 2007 really fits with our ‘green’ initiative,” says Krenc.
The company’s use of Office Communications Server 2007 has skyrocketed since implementation, with all 3,562 employees enjoying access to the service. In its first month of usage, the company conducted 23 Web-based meetings. Six months later, the number of Web-based monthly meetings grew to 857, roughly 37 times the original number. Office SharePoint Portal Server also has been instrumental in helping employees collaborate remotely without needing to meet in-person.
Increased Energy-Generation Efficiency
With the help of Microsoft products and technologies, MidAmerican Energy is working to improve its capabilities to perform predictive wind analysis so that it can capitalize on wind as a renewable energy source. “We are aggressively working to make better predictions and improve our ability to utilize wind resources together with conventional generation to meet energy requirements in the most efficient manner,” says Krenc. “Our use of Microsoft toolsand technologies is helping us maximize our opportunities to sell wind energy.”
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published May 2009