***Daily Habits using your computer: Log off & Shut Down

According to “Clean up the World” by National Geography, “there are an estimated 55 million office computers in the U.S. and many of them never get switched off, needlessly consuming energy overnight and on weekends. Apparently computers and monitors use more electricity than all other office equipment combined. Computers left on all day, every day on average uses nearly 1,000 Kilowatts of electricity over the course of a year, producing more than a ton of carbon emissions. In contrast, a computer switched off at the end of the day uses less than 250 kilowatts—and significantly lowers energy bills. Turn off equipment at night, on weekends, and when it is not being used for extended periods of time during the day. If you are away from your computer for shorter periods, put it in sleep mode or enable your PC’s power management features, which will reduce energy use to about 5 percent of full operating power. The article states that we should “buy Energy Star®-compliant office equipment for even more savings.”

We would help ourselves and the earth implementing these practices to: • Lower energy bills • Lower carbon emissions