Not switching off costs £123m a year
Those who forget to switch off their computers at night should probably think twice.
The simple action of pressing the off button could save British industry £123.2m every year. Research by Fujitsu Siemens Computers shows that 78 per cent of employees claim to be more environmentally friendly today than they were five years ago, yet more than one third of those interviewed said they did not turn off their computers when they left the office.
Head of product marketing Garry Owen said: “It was surprising to see that so many workers claimed to have ‘gone green’ in the workplace and yet they still overlook the most basic way to save energy — which is to turn their PC off when it’s not in use.
“So many employees think it’s sufficient to leave their PCs on standby, but this still wastes valuable energy resources.”
The worst offender in Britain was the north-east and Yorkshire region, in which 42 per cent of workers failed to turn off their PCs. Scotland, where only 31 per cent of employees forgot to flick the off button, was the most environmentally-friendly area.
On a positive note, the research showed that more than a quarter of employees said that they had actively lobbied their employer to implement more environmentally friendly policies, such as the procurement of green IT systems, energy saving and recycling.
Fujitsu Siemens Computers commissioned the research as part of Energy Saving Week, which starts today, to launch its “Big Turn Off” campaign. It has developed a calculator on its British website to help businesses estimate how much this problem costs them.