Wow. That's also equal to 14.4 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. Some 30% of corporate computers are left on overnight says whatcanonepersondo. Perhaps if companies realized how much they'd save, they'd turn them off.
Any good idea--this time, good for the pocket book and good for the earth--takes people doing it on their own and passing the word to their friends and encouraging them to do the same. Then, it builds momentum and a world-scale dent is made.
You gotta start somewhere. Turn your computers off when they're not in use and save yourself some money at the same time.
- Statistics and image via the whatcanonepersondo blog.
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Comments (5)
using stand by or hibernate mode is a good first step in developing the turn off habit.
Well, the big problem is that yes, companies can save on energy costs if they shut down computers, but they would lose much more money by having them off.
Most companies have internal servers, etc. that MUST be on and are critical to a company's operations. At my company, someone decided to turn off the server because it was on and no one was using it. This was on a weekend. What happened? Backups and regular maintenance that is scheduled on weekends did not occur. Field employees couldn't send in their reports, not could anyone access their email.
If we're talking about client computers in workstations that are not being used to supply information companywide, then yes, by all means, shut them off. But if they're critical to the flow of operations, they're best left on.
Don't people turn off their home computers when not in use? My laptop would melt the crust of the earth halfway to China if I left it on overnight.
Perhaps I'm showing my age -- as a child during the 1970s energy crisis and drought (connected in California's Central Valley, where hydropower is king), it was drummed into me to always turn off anything electrical not immediately in use, don't run water unnecessarily, don't run the AC if it's possible to open the windows, don't turn on the oven if it's hot enough to run AC, don't turn up the heat if a sweater will solve the problem, and so on.
If you're really concerned about power usage, computers and gadgets aren't the worst offenders. Target big things like your clothes dryer, your fridge, space heaters, hair dryers, microwaves and coffee makers. Anything with a heating coil or chiller that's designed to heat water is almost by definition wasteful. After we deal with that, then let's worry about computers and gadgets.
There are a number of reasonable ways to cut down on electricity use. Just because AT is reminding you to turn off your personal computers when not in use, doesn't mean that they are advocating energy waste in other arenas. :)
There's also the energy drain of devices left on "standby".