Leaving Computers On At Night Costs U.S. Businesses $1.72 Billion A Year

June 19, 2007

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U.S. businesses are wasting $1.72 billion a year on PCs that are not shut down at night, according to a survey (PDF) released by 1E and the Alliance to Save Energy.

A mid-sized company, which includes about 10,000 PCs, wastes more than $165,000 a year in electricity costs for computers left on overnight.

According to Sumir Karayi, chief executive officer, 1E, it is evident from the findings of the report that worker apathy and insufficient business systems are part of the cause for wasting a tremendous amount of energy. Power savings of significant value can be achieved only when all the stakeholders involved are satisfied, namely PC users themselves, IT departments–who need to keep computers up-to-date– and finally those tasked with managing their organizations’ Corporate Social Responsibility credentials.

“Ideally, everyone would shut down their PCs at the end of the working day, but the research released shows that this just doesn’t happen,” he stated.

According to the report, some people assume their IT departments need their machines to be left on overnight in order to deploy security patches and software updates. Others believe an on-board “sleep” or hibernation mode kicks in–which isn’t usually the case. And, a number of respondents admitted that they just don’t care.

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Reader Comments

I wonder how much money would be lost due to security breeches, virus outbreaks, etc due to companies not being able to update their PCs during off hours? This is another case of wishful thinking. Perhaps it’s feasible for a small company (200 employees or less) but it is not at all realistic for a company of any size that is required by law to protect your personal information…

bob | June 29th, 2007

Bob, the point being made is that leaving systems on so you can update and patch, costs business money and has an environmental impact. Systems should be shut down after work, woken-up for patches and then shut down. This means systems are powered off for maybe 12 hours a days, and not on burning power. This is applicable to all larger organisations where the cost benefits are huge. See the Verizon announcement on this site. Powering off can save $ Millions and is the environmentally aware thing to do.

Chris | April 10th, 2008