Turning Your PC Off at the End of the Work Day Can Save 14.4 Millions Tons of CO2 from Being Pumped into the Atmosphere
(CSRwire) US Businesses are Wasting $1.72 Billion a Year on PCs that are Not Shut Down at Night
Many US Employees Don't Even Know They Should Be Powering Down and Seem 'Not Concerned' about Their Company's Carbon Footprint
LONDON (BUSINESS WIRE) June 19, 2007 – According to a recent survey released today by 1E and the Alliance to Save Energy, nearly half of all corporate PCs in the US are not regularly switched off at night. This means a conservative estimate of 31.2 million work PCs are being left on overnight; wasting energy, spewing carbon emissions into the air, and costing US businesses $1.72 billion to supply power to machines that are not even in use.
All these PCs being left on overnight is also needlessly pumping 14.4 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into our atmosphere. According to recently released PC Energy Awareness report, preventing that amount of CO2 from reaching the atmosphere would have roughly the same impact as taking 2.58 million passenger cars entirely off the roadmore cars than exist in the entire State of Maryland (2.48 million cars).
The report released today combines statistics on energy usage and CO2 emissions, alongside research on behavior in the American workplacesuch as whether employees are turning their PCs off at the end of the day (why or why not).
1E, a provider of power management software, and the Alliance to Save Energy, a coalition of businesses, government, environmental and consumer leaders who promote the efficient and clean use of energy around the world, commissioned the survey with market research firm Harris Interactive, to examine PC power usage in the American workplace.
Wasting Energy While We Sleep
The data shows that American businesses are wasting energy while we sleep. A midsized company, which includes about 10,000 PCs, wastes more than $165,000 a year in electricity costs for computers left on overnight. In addition, by turning these computers off, an employer can keep more than 1,381 tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere.
"Few problems match an impact so large with a solution so simple," said Sumir Karayi, chief executive officer, 1E. "A computer uses energy even when it appears to be idle. Reducing that waste can help US businesses reduce costs and prevent tons of damaging greenhouse gases from being emitted into our atmosphere."
Karayi also added that it is evident from the findings of the report that worker apathy and insufficient business systems are part of the cause for wasting a tremendous amount of energy. Power savings of significant value can be achieved only when all the stakeholders involved are satisfied, namely PC users themselves, IT departmentswho need to keep computers uptodate and finally those tasked with managing their organizations' Corporate Social Responsibility credentials.
"Ideally, everyone would shut down their PCs at the end of the working day, but the research released shows that this just doesn't happen," he stated.
According to the report, some people assume their IT departments need their machines to be left on overnight in order to deploy security patches and software updates. Others believe an on board "sleep" or hibernation mode kicks inwhich isn't usually the case. And, an alarming number of respondents admitted that they just don't care.
"This is an easy way for businesses to reduce their environmental impact," said Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy." Turning off the country's PCs each evening would have an even larger energy savings than meets the eye by also reducing the load on other commercial building equipment such as air conditioners."
Savings for Business
No company likes to waste money. On the surface, the financial impact of 24hour computer use may seem insignificant compared to traditional concerns such as payroll, supply, and rentbut the waste is actually substantial. The study showed that:
Energy coststypically 10 percent of the corporate technology budgetcould rise to as much as 50 percent in the next few years.
Power management software can reduce a PC's power consumption by 80 percent, allowing companies to save $25 $75 per desktop PC. Beyond automated shutdown, power savings are derived during the day by automating monitor shutoff after a period of inactivity.
For more information on the PC Energy Report released today, and to see how much money and CO2 companies like Verizon Wireless are saving using 1E's power management software tools, please visit https://www.1e.com.
If you would like a full copy of the report please call or email the contacts below or click on the attached link https://www.1e.com/it-efficiency/about-1e/energy-awareness-campaign/
About the Alliance to Save Energy
The Alliance to Save Energy is a coalition of prominent business, government, environmental, and consumer leaders who promote the efficient and clean use of energy worldwide to benefit consumers, the environment, economy, and national security. To achieve this goal, the Alliance leads worldwide energyefficiency initiatives in research, policy advocacy, education, technology deployment, and communications that impact all sectors of the economy. It also provides vision and activism through its board of directors, which includes leaders from business, government, the public interest sector, and academia. More information is available at https://ase.org/.
