Leaving Computers on Overnight Costs $2.8 Billion a Year in US Alone
by Green Living on March 31, 2009
in Eco-Friendly, Environment, Reuse, Reduce, Recycle
A new study estimates the cost of leaving computers on overnight at a staggering $2.8 billion a year, and that’s in the U.S. alone. Considering it takes less than a minute to shut down a computer (that’s if you have a dozen applications to close first), and a few minutes to boot up the next morning (which the computer can be doing while you’re preparing your favorite morning beverage), it’s utterly irresponsible to not shut your computer down each night.
The 2009 PC Energy Report reveals some staggering findings. In terms of savings alone, it’s possible to save over $2.8 billion in the US alone through turning off your PC while in the UK it’s nearer £300 million and €918 million in Germany.
“For example, if all the world’s 1 billion PC’s were powered down for just one night – it would save enough energy to light up New York City’s Empire State Building – inside and out – for more than 30 years”
- Read more and download the full reports here: PC Energy Report US 2009. Scroll down to find separate reports for the U.S., U.K. and Germany
Of course, there are computers that can’t be shut down overnight – for instance web servers or computers doing necessary processing tasks that run overnight. But the majority of user’s personal or work computers can be shut down when the work day is over, when you’re asleep, when they are not being used for any length of time. Remember the 3 R’s? Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. In that order for environmental friendliness. First you reduce your environmental impact. Then you reuse what you can, or pass it on to someone who can use things you no longer need or want. Finally, because it has the greatest environmental impact, usually in the form of energy consumption – recycle. That’s a digression of the topic that started this article, but I just thought I’d mention it… it’s worth reminding ourselves every now and again.
Having worked in IT and Universities, places with lots of computers, it was commonplace to leave computers on overnight. In fact, it was often encouraged by pressure to avoid the downtime it took to boot a computer up in the morning. Yeah right, as if anyone can be productive 100% of their day. Especially considering the ridiculous management decisions and other distractions and disruptions caused by the company’s adopted (or poorly thought out default) business practices. It always bothered me that all these computers were left on overnight, without a second thought. Sure they consume less power than when they are actively being used, but they consume power nonetheless.
What people too often don’t stop to consider is the cumulative effect of what they are doing. I remember as a child if I threw my gum wrapper on the sidewalk, or spit out my chewing gum on the street, my parents would reprimand me. If I came back with something like, “it’s just a gum wrapper!” they would always reply, “it might not seem like much, but imagine if everyone did it.” The logic of that sunk in and I’m sure it has been influential in the way I think about my environmental impact to this day.
Imagine the impact we could have if everyone thought this way about every thing they do throughout their day? Whether it be turn off their computer, or their lights when they are not being used, or drop rubbish on the street. You’re not a lemming, you don’t have to run off the cliff just because everyone else is. Don’t wait for someone else to do it, or to be told you should do something to help the environment… just do it. And inspire others by example.
I always used to turn off my desktop, until a computer repairman told me not to. He came out to fix a broken “on” switch” and told me that booting up put extra strain on the machine, and it was really fine to just leave it on all the time.
Now I’m turning it off again, because I’ve heard tv commercials urging us to turn off all electrical appliances when not in use. It isn’t that hard to boot up, and lately my computers are frying the hard drive before the start button can break.
What is inconvenient, though, is turning off the tv and accessories. I have everything plugged into a power strip, so it’s just a one-step unplug, but all the dates and times are lost on the VCR and DVD then. Annoying, to reset it every day. Anyone have a good suggestion for that?
Thanks!
@Lorelei ah yes, with regard to the VCR and DVD that would be annoying, especially if you program them to record shows unattended. The only thing I could suggest, which may not be feasible for you, is to get a TV tuner card for your computer. You can then use it in place of the VCR and DVD (the one hooked up to your TV) for recording TV shows. Burn the shows to DVD and you can watch them later on your TV through your existing DVD player.
Geez- now, there’s a scary thought. I leave my laptop on all the time as well as my desktop computer and never even think twice about it. What about setting your computer so that it is on sleep mode versus just being on all night? Would that make a difference?
@lawyer Good question, sorry it’s taken me a while to reply. I had to do some research to make sure I was giving you the correct answer. Basically, sleep mode is going to save you a lot over the course of a year vs. just leaving your computer fully on. Here’s an interesting quote from the Climate Savers Smart Computing site:
Check out their site, they have some really good advice and instructions on how to set your computers up to take advantage of sleep mode under various operating systems.On your desktop computer, turning off AND unplugging the monitor is also going to save you. The monitors draw a large amount of power, even when they are in sleep mode. But by far the best is to turn them off and actually unplug them. The easy way to do this is exactly what Lorelei explains above, by using a power strip, then you just have the one power strip to unplug or turn off. Any time you see an LED on an appliance, it’s drawing power, and it may not seem like much, but it ads up to this shocking fact:
I also happened to find some information while researching this site about leaving adapters plugged in. If you have your adapters plugged in, even when you don’t have the appliance attached they not only draw power when the appliance isn’t attached, but they draw the FULL POWER, because they don’t have an off switch, if they are plugged in they are drawing power. So if you have your cellphone charger plugged in the outlet all the time, your power adapter for your playstation or xbox, or for your external hard drives or modem, you’re drawing the full power load!
I used to always leave our computers on.
We watched Oprah one day and she had a lady on who not only shut down but unplugged her major appliances and said it really was reducing her hydro bill.
So we’ve started doing that too – the computer, tv and other things that we had plugged in and didn’t even use.
It’s hard to say for sure how much of a difference it is making in our bill because we fluctuate a bit by season, but I think that it has made some.
Thanks for a great reminder on a common issue that is good for the environment and our wallet!
@Jan hey good on ya! It does make a difference. I’ve just been doing all this research on it, and over the course of a year it makes a really big difference. It’s one of those trickle feed things that you may not notice each bill because they can be so variable, but it adds up.
I’ve gone into more detail in the response to the comment above. But I was shocked especially to find out about power adapters… I had suspected they drew some energy, but the full load, wow! I’ll be making extra sure they are unplugged now… in fact I unplugged my adapters for my external hard drives that I only use occasionally as soon as I found out. I’ll also be sure to turn the power strip off that my wireless internet box and router plug into every night. I often stay up late then turn my computer off when I go to bed, but leave the router and stuff on because it’s in the lounge, and I don’t want to disturb the dogs and make the trip out there. But I’m going to make the effort to start doing it starting tonight!
Geez- now, there’s a scary thought. I leave my laptop on all the time as well as my desktop computer and never even think twice about it. What about setting your computer so that it is on sleep mode versus just being on all night? Would that make a difference?
The little things like that really add up. And considering they are not necessities it’s really worth the effort to turn things off at the wall. The statistics for the energy used by appliances in standby (like your TV too) is staggering! Here’s one I came across just a couple days ago from WWF Take Action:
That’s a massive impact!
Turning off your computer every night is a strain on the system in more ways than simply the off switch. Ever heard of vulcanization? That is what happens when you heat something up and cool it down repeatedly. That is what happens when you shut down your computer which is actually designed to be left on full time (at the optimal temperature for the system) repeatedly. It causes the circuitry to become brittle and damaged over not too long a time (it might even be why your hard drives are frying at an increased rate.) I know that for some people the only important thing is the so called three r’s (and recycling is waaaaayyyyy down the list in terms of effectiness…see Penn and Teller’ Bullshit, season two if you doubt this…a single landfill 10 miles by 10 miles would serve us for 10,000 years, and produce power as well through methane funneling) but really folks, let’s get some perspective here. I question your use of the terms massive and such as well. This may look like a massive impact on the Earth to you, but as we all know, relativity is everything. Being green just for the sake of being able to call oneself green in spite of the numbers is illogical. Recycling simply is not the be all and end all that it has been portrayed to be. I suspect that no one here on this site will believe what I am saying here, but on the off chance that there might be a few free thinkers left in the world, I submit my comments. Don’t believe me though, I wouldn’t (skeptics are like that, y’know) Check out the show for yourself and see what the boys have dug up on the issue of recycling, you might be surprised. Then try to prove them wrong! If you can’t, then their claims stand up to scrutiny. If you can, I would like to hear it. They may well be wrong, but I have as yet, not been able to prove it. I try to submit what I hear to that simple test…before belief comes aggressive disbelief, if the information is still standing after I have done all I can to tear it down…it just MIGHT be true. ps….I’ll take on any one in terms of reusing and reducing….with the sole exception of leaving my computer on all the time, I reuse and reduce in every area that I can find….recycling though?…not so sure I see the point unless it is to keep people working. Of course, I am open to new information and my view on this may well change if any compelling FACTUAL information arises. A skeptic who say’s “you’ll never convince me” is no skeptic, simply a true believer. And they come in all flavors.
^Who said anything about recycling?
we always use power adapters at home because of our different voltage applications’-`
power adapters make it so convenient to plug in your appliance on different voltages ,,