Earlier this year, we conducted an energy audit for our office to compile information about the type and amount of electrical plug loads we have. 

By far, computers and monitors comprised the majority of plug loads. As part of our green initiative, we have encouraged everyone to switch off their monitors when they are not in use for long periods of time and especially at the end of the day before one leaves the office.

Here is an interesting conversion to put things into perspective. If all our LCD monitors (about 74 of them at the time of the study) are left on after hours and weekends, we would be creating about 135 kg of CO2 per month. This is equivalent to burning about 58 litres of petrol.  Now, that is quite a lot of petrol!  Turning them off would not only benefit the environment but also save up to $110 on monthly electricity bills.

Here are some facts and tips to help make us be more energy savvy (these are equally useful for your home):

• Contrary to what some may believe, displaying a screen saver on your monitor when your computer is not in use actually does not save any energy.  When not in use, always turn off your monitor.  An LCD monitor, when turned off, consumes only about 1 – 3% of its normal operating wattage.
• Did you know that chargers (phone, iPod and laptop) which are plugged in but not charging still use electricity?  When not in use, always unplug your chargers.
• There are several free software tools which can be used to manage the power consumption of a PC.  Verdiem (verdiem.com) makes such software and there are two versions available – a buy-to-use version for organizations and a free version for individual users. Even Google has come up with a nifty desktop energy saver gadget

By selecting the appropriate settings from a range of criteria to suit each individual’s usage pattern, the software user has the benefit of a somewhat ‘automated’ way of ensuring that their PC is used in the most efficient manner possible.

With the Verdiem software, one has the ability to set the software to put the computer in a “deep sleep” mode after several minutes of inactivity, in which the PC hard drive would be turned off and energy consumption would be reduced by up to 95% of its normal energy usage [1].  No doubt, this would be quite handy for those days when you have just arrived home and realized that you had forgotten to switch off your computer at work or vice versa!

Reference:

[1]  www.nytimes.com