Power Down When the Workday’s Done

Friday is green:work day, when we give you tips for greening up your work life, whether you work from a cubicle or your own home office.

Millions of office workers leave their computers on, even after they’ve gone home for the day. According to Kiplinger’s, a mid-size company spends about $165,000 per year in electricity costs for computers and peripherals that have been left on overnight. Besides the obvious economic cost, the environmental cost is equally grim: across the nation, approximately 15 million tons of CO2 are released into the atmosphere. Not good, to put it mildly.

So why don’t the computers get turned off? Excuses ranged from “so software updates can be installed overnight” to “it takes too long to start up in the morning.” Really, people. Are we in that much of a hurry to start working that we can’t wait a few minutes for a computer to boot up? Have a cup of coffee or something.

Maybe the most depressing stat from the polling done by Kiplinger’s is this: 53% of those polled didn’t care what their company’s carbon footprint was. This level of apathy is the biggest hurdle in making positive change for the environment.

So, what’s today’s tip? Turn off the computer when you’re done working, man! And while you’re at it, shut off the printer, copier, and monitor, too!