When it comes to saving power across a huge business or enterprise, a small savings in power consumption can add up to a huge savings in electricity use. This is the big reason that many companies were updating to more power efficient data centers over the last few years.

Ford has been moving towards a much greener operation with new vehicles like the 2011 Ford Mustang that offer power and performance without sacrificing fuel economy. Ford is also looking at other methods of improving its green footprint and saving money internally. The carmaker has announced that it plans to start shutting down computers at night to save money and reduce its electricity use.

The new program is called PC Power management and it will set power saving settings on Windows laptops and desktop around the company to reduce wasted power. The program will shut down any computer not in use overnight and on the weekends. The program will also ensure that all of the computers that are shut down and connected to the Ford intranet can be woke up to receive software downloads during off work hours.

Ford has stated that it expects to save $1.2 million annually in reduced electricity use alone once the system is implemented fully. A reduction in the Ford carbon footprint is estimated to be in the 16,000 to 25,000 metric ton range each year.

"In the past, as many as 60 percent of Ford's PC users haven't shut their PCs off at the end of the business day, resulting in wasted energy," said Keith Forte, Ford IT project supervisor. "Going forward, we'll be able to manage PC power consumption more efficiently while minimizing interruptions during the working day as a result of software updates."

Ford is using software form a company called 1E known as NightWatchman to turn the machines off when not in use. 1E claims that about $2.8 billion per year in wasted electricity comes from computers that are not turned off.