Shut down your computer when you leave the office

Please spend 2 mins and read this article. This is intended to target users in India but I would say that this is applicable to worldwide. So, whenever you read the name India replace it with your country name.

Do you switch off your machine before you leave for the day?

You may be of the assumption that switching off the monitor alone should suffice and a complete shut down of the machine is really not necessary because it is the monitor which consumes more power than the CPU - you are 100 % correct. But let us view this in a slightly different way - just because CPU consumes lesser power, would you keep your personal PC @ home always switched ON and just the monitor alone switched off ? Naaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh. I am sure none of us would do that . we would not do that because 'we' are paying the electricity bill from 'our' pocket - but at office, we are really not bothered to save power as we don't bear the power cost.

It is high time we change our attitude towards this.

If you analyze the scenario well, you would find that our CPUs unnecessarily consume power for 14 to 16 hours in a day (assuming we work for an average of 10 hours a day). I am sure you would agree that though the CPU consumes lesser power than monitor, the cumulative power consumed by the hundreds and thousands of PCs in your office would definitely amount to a very huge power consumption.

A survey was conducted in different IT companies and it was found that a small sized IT company with 40 machines capacity was able to save more than Rs.10,000 per month on electricity bills by switching off their machines when they leave for the day. Then, imagine how much power your company can save with hundreds and thousands of employees.

Let us now spread our thought process wider. There are many hundred thousands of computers used by IT companies and IT end users (like banks, call centers etc) in India. If all of us ensure that we switch off our machines promptly before leaving for the day, then India's power requirement would drastically come down a lot and the available Lignite deposits and other sources of electricity can be utilized better and for longer duration. why should we deplete all the natural sources of power such as Lignite very quickly? Let us use the available resources wisely and let our future generations also use them. Let us not consume everything by ourselves :-)

There may be few circumstances when you may not want to switch off your machine before leaving for the day. For example, you might have started a job that would run through-out the night ; OR your on site counterpart may want to take a look at some of the issues in your machine etc. But, unless and otherwise it is extremely necessary to keep the machines ON, it is wise to switch off the machines. This way the power you save is really going to add value to nature in any one way. As well as the increase of power consumption charge will be in control too. There is no doubt this will benefit every individual.

It would hardly take you a minute or two to reboot the machine the next day! If you think the above idea makes sense, then please do the following :

1) Please switch off all machines under your custody before you leave for the day. Also find out other ways of saving power and help in reducing India's power requirements.
2) Inspire your friends to follow these simple steps to save power.

We, as responsible citizens of India, must definitely contribute in some way to the growth of our nation. There is no point in merely blaming the politicians alone for an under developed India. Let us ask ourselves what simple steps 'we' can take to help in India's development. Let us strive towards building a developed India.