Turn off, or set your computer to standby, will conserve up to $75 in electricity

If you ensure your computer is turned off when not in use, you can save anywhere between $25 and $75 per computer per year on your electricity bill, according to Energy Department estimates.

Although most computers and operating systems do come standard with programmable features that could power down a computer when it has not been used for an extended period, most people, as well as companies, do not use those options. And this failure to take such a simple step results in wasted energy and wasted dollars.

This government is now implementing this savings, using software tools. At an average savings of $50 per computer, by applying this way to conserve electricity to the government’s 5.6 million desktops and laptops, the government could generate annual savings of up to $280 million per year.

The General Services Administration, using help from BigFix Government Sales of Fairfax, are going to make it easy to conserve. They are going to offer BigFix’s power management software for just $3 per computer per year for the month of September. The software license will usually cost up to $30 per machine per year, so that’s a 90 percent reduction.

The acting deputy director of GSA’s Office of Infrastructure Optimization says that there is such a tremendous cost savings opportunity with this program. And it is so simple to turn off, or set your computer to standby, when not in use.

Some people still have concerns with shutting down their computer. Note that turning on and off the computer doesn’t shorten its life. As Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory states “The belief that frequent shutdowns of your personal computer is harmful comes from the days when hard disks didn’t automatically park their drive heads when shut off. Many studies, including the lab’s experts, reassure us that, “Shutting down computers on weekends, or at nighttime, conserves significant energy without affecting the performance, and is one very effective way how to conserve  electricity.”

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