Citrix has promised to make a donation to the of at least $20,000 depending on how much electricity savings are generated by Power IT Down Day. Last year, Citrix donated $20,000 to the American Red Cross.

As altruistic as it sounds, Citrix does have a business objective for promoting Power IT Down Day. The software vendor sells systems that reduce desktop power consumption even more than turning off PCs overnight.

"The IT community could look to virtual desktops for 40% to 60% of its user population. Then instead of having machines to power up, they'd have virtual desktops in their data centers. That would not only save energy but give them additional management insight," Simmons says.