While this may seem like old news, a whole month ago, it is actually pretty relevant. The main point of everything below? Put your computer on sleep mode when you leave work/home and save serious cash and energy while cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Not a difficult thing to do and you will reap the benefits in your electric bill!
In an April 3 press release, EPA officials said that if the nation’s businesses would put their computers and monitors on sleep mode, we could save 44 billion kWh of electricity or roughly $4 billion worth of electricity a year. It also would cut greenhouse gas emissions by a quantity equivalent to the emissions of nearly 5 million cars annually. Seriously it ain’t that hard. You go to work, you plug away on the computer, then just put that baby to bed before you head out. All the documents you want to stay open will still be open when you get in the next day and wake it up! It’s just so easy; it kills me to see people NOT do it. And PS—a screen saver is not sleep mode!
American Headline News (AHN), which reported the above, also noted on April 3 that the EPA’s Energy Star program is launching the “Low Carbon IT Campaign,” which aims to encourage organizations to get their employees to use the power management mode.
EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson notes that, “by joining the Low Carbon IT Campaign, our partners are taking steps that are not only good for their bottom line, they’re good for the environment.” Although enabling power management could save money, only 5 percent to 10 percent of U.S. organizations use those settings on computers, according to Lawrence Berkeley National Labs.
Thus far, charter program participants include: Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., Association of Bay Area Governments Energy Watch, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Dell Inc., Fox Entertainment Group Inc., HP, Microsoft, OfficeMax, City of Portland (Oregon) Public Schools, City of San Jose (California), and Snohomish (Washington) County Public Utility District.
AHN notes that “Any organization can join the Energy Star Low Carbon IT Campaign. At the Energy Star website, (energystar.gov/lowcarbonit), there is an online pledge to activate power management features on monitors and computers to save energy and reduce their carbon footprint.”
Want to do more? Look for Energy Star qualified computers, monitors and other electrical devices and appliances that use much less energy. Also, the EPA offers free assistance to help organizations estimate energy and carbon savings and implement power management.
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