We rely on energy to power the computers and equipment in our businesses. It is critical to run these systems as efficiently as possible while making sure that the power source is reliable, with minimal interruptions.

In today's post we have collected some resources to help you with various aspects of energy management and power protection.

A long-term energy management strategy will save your business money and reduce energy use. The SBA has a list of energy management steps for small- to medium-sized businesses here.

Computer Power Management features — standard in Windows and Macintosh operating systems — automatically place monitors and computers into a low-power "sleep mode" after a period of inactivity. ENERGY STAR has an informative FAQ document here with lots of information on power management for computers.

In an ideal world, electrical utilities would deliver clean, reliable power to business critical
systems. Unfortunately, this is not the reality. It is imperative to have a power protection system for your key servers and other equipment. Emerson Network Power has written a useful white paper with five questions to ask before selecting power protection for critical systems.

On this blog we have written before about backup power sources for small businesses. Click here to read our blog article.

Spiceworks is a free network management software package used by IT professionals to inventory, monitor, troubleshoot, report on and run a help desk for their IT networks. Spiceworks has recently teamed with Eaton Corporation to provide free power management software that allows users to remotely monitor and manage your uninterruptible power systems (UPSs).