[tt] CHE: Turn That Computer Off When You Leave

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What say you? I leave mine on as long as I can.

Turn That Computer Off When You Leave
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/3329/turn-that-computer-off-when-you-leave?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
September 19, 2008

A recent Boston Globe story says that the state of Massachusetts is asking 
its employees to turn off their computers when the machines are not in use
--a move that could save the state $2-million a year and prevent the 
release of 5,000 tons of carbon emissions. The story notes that state 
officials would like to see Massachusetts colleges participate in the 
program. ($2-million a year in a state like Massachusetts is a small 
amount to fuss about, but the effort seems honorable.)

The policy will require offices to set computers to shut down after a 
period of inactivity. It’s difficult to imagine whether a program like 
this would work if it relied entirely on education and volunteer effort. 
Sustainability advocates will tell you that changing behaviors is usually 
the hardest part of their jobs. The “think before you print” campaigns 
probably had some effect, but paper still seemed to pile up, unread, near 
printers everywhere. Charging people for paper seems to be more effective.

In any case, there are precedents for managing energy use among office 
machines. Perhaps some readers have heard of the “traffic-light system:” 
Green stickers go on items that can be shut off when not in use, like 
computers; yellow stickers go on items that take time to warm up, like 
copiers; and red stickers go on items that should never be turned off. 
—Scott Carlson
Posted on Friday September 19, 2008 | Permalink |

Comments

1. You know, shutting off computers at night always sounds great in 
theory, but how are sys admins suppose to push out updates during off 
hours if everything is turned off? Some machines support a sleep mode from 
which the computer can be woken up remotely, but not all of them. I wonder 
if folks would be OK with an 11am reboot of their machines?

--Kyle Johnson    Sep 19, 12:28 PM

2. by scheduling regular update windows on some evenings, when the 
computers are not powered down.
--umm    Sep 19, 02:13 PM

3. $2 million is not enough to fuss about? 5,000 tons of carbon emission 
don’t matter? Come on – as others have said, a few million here, a few 
million there, pretty soon you’re talking about real money!  Turning 1 
light out might not matter, but 1,000,000 people each turning off 1 light 
or 1 computer every night matters a lot!

--S Shea    Sep 19, 04:56 PM

4. @ Scott: Really like the simplicity of the traffic light approach
it’s 
working in the U.K. w/nutrition, why not for corp. America in eco?
I think I’ll blog it, esp. since I just covered our coalition mini-victory 
re: the NCLI Act being passed in Congress yesterday to get some 
eco-literacy instilled early on at the grade school level. Now if we can 
just push it through appropriations
  sigh.(talk about a game of red 
light/green light! eesh)
Here’s our eco-education post re: NCLI on Shaping Youth:
http://www.shapingyouth.org/blog/?p=2296
@S Shea: wholeheartedly agree, that’s the spirit! :-)

--Amy Jussel    Sep 19, 06:00 PM

5. You could also just do what my institution’s IT department has done – 
push out a blanket power settings profile to all campus machines during an 
upgrade. Frankly, I don’t appreciate having their penny-pinching power 
profile on my laptop when I’m working from home, as sleep mode seems to 
botch my wireless connection – but hey, at least it also takes my machine 
twice as long to boot up now, since it sees fit to remind me about the new 
power settings each time I turn on my laptop!

--Christopher    Sep 19, 08:52 PM

6. We’ve got one of these environmentalist morons on our campus. . .she’s 
running around trying to force IT to set the printer defaults at 
substantially reduced margins and on duplex printers to print on both 
sides. As with so many other things, the first thing that comes to mind is 
not how this faculty member is saving the planet, rather when everyone 
else is so busy, why does she have so much liesure time.
--Bill    Sep 22, 06:53 AM

7. The IT Division can push updates to dispersed computers with a user 
option to install the updates on shutdown. That way the computer will not 
power down until the update is installed, but the power down does occur, 
thus the energy savings. Additionally, by giving the user the option, a 
mid-day power down need not take time out of one’s work to install 
updates. Commenters are correct that $2 million in savings is not much, 
but facing a $200 million budget shortfall, we will take anything we can 
get. Additionally, I am reminded of the sotry about the boy on a beach 
with thousands of stranded starfish. A man approached as the boy threw 
first one, then another, then another into the water. The man said, “There 
are thousands of starfish here. You cannot possibly throw enough back to 
make a difference.” The boy threw another into the water, looked at the 
man, and said, “It made a difference to that one.” This is actually a 
basic principle for solving large, complex problems – break them up into 
manageable chunks. As was noted earler, $2 million here, $2 million there, 
and soon we are talking about real money.
--Mac    Sep 22, 07:29 AM

8. My institution recently made a campus-wide request for faculty to turn 
off computers each evening and lights that aren’t in use. All the while 
ignoring the space heaters, microwaves, refrigerators and ice makers 
(yes!) in faculty offices.
--Dr. RingDing    Sep 22, 08:35 AM

9. Why all the hostility to a common sense approach? Do you leave lights 
on all the time at your home? Why leave unnecessary appliances on at work? 
Maybe because it doesn’t seem to come directly out of your paycheck? 
Keeping mainframe computers up for system-wide tasks is a separate item; 
wasting resources through laziness is something else.
--Ecofriendly    Sep 22, 09:24 AM

10. It’s people like Bill, who think environmentalists are “morons” that 
make behavioral changes so tough. Griping about putting the computer to 
sleep or widening margins on articles to save a few million bucks is so 
illogical it makes my head spin. Get with the program, Bill.
--rich    Sep 22, 10:11 AM

11. I’m all for this type of thing. I used to shut my computer down (home 
and work) every night, until I heard from various computer experts that 
you should basically never shut down a computer unless you’re moving it 
because starting up is so hard on the computer. (That may not include 
starting from sleep mode.)
Also, we have the ability here to remote into our work desktop from home, 
but only if the computer is on.
--Rich    Sep 22, 11:16 AM

12. Maybe you workaholics should shut down your computers and chill, save 
some energy, do some yoga

--mk    Sep 22, 01:04 PM

13. People who don’t turn off their computers every night are lazy. People 
who rely on IT people to do their software updates for them are ignorant. 
I’m a junior professor, and I somehow find the time to do these basic 
things.  I fix my own computer, do my own backups, and don’t need software 
or some education campaign or whatever to tell me the goddamn 
obvious—which is, TURN OFF YOUR COMPUTER WHEN YOU’RE NOT USING IT! 
sheesh.  Whatever happened to good old fashioned American 
self-reliance??!!  We’ve become a nation of helpless children.  Prove 
you’re not pathetic: become environmentally responsible.
--d    Sep 22, 04:10 PM

14. For several years now I have been allowing BOINC, out of Berkeley, to 
use my office computer during down times to run data for various studies 
which, to quote from their site, seek “to cure diseases, study global 
warming, discover pulsars, and do many other types of scientific 
research.” In other words, I hope I help to control global warming before 
I contribute to it too much.
--Miriam Jones    Sep 23, 08:59 PM