Simple step could save billions in energy
October 6, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Solutions
What’s the step businesses can take that could have the biggest impact on energy costs? Hint: It’s also one of the easiest.
Answer: Turn off computers when employees leave.
Nearly half of employees who use a computer at work don’t shut down the machine when they leave for the night, according to a recent study of over 2,000 employees by 1E and the Alliance to Save Energy.
Across the U.S. and the U.K., businesses waste a total of $2.8 billion a year by powering those unused PCs. In environmental terms, the computers generate the same carbon emissions as approximately 46 million cars.
How should IT go about preventing that waste? Changing users’ attitudes might be difficult. The employees surveyed gave varying reasons as to why they keep their computers turned on, such as “It takes too long,” and “I forget.”
Instead, experts recommend using desktop power management tools to automatically shut down the machines at the end of the day — and keep them on when IT needs them to run overnight (such as to administer updates).
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Tags: 1E, Alliance to Save Energy, desktop power management, energy, green
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October 8th, 2009 at 11:36 am
…but then, how would the night cleaning crew play solitaire?
October 14th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Isn’t there a cost in damage done to the components by powering down and up everyday?