Will the last one to leave please turn off the lights...

… and the printers, and the fax machines, and the PCs left on standby, and the photocopiers and the phone rechargers …

According to research by Canon (the office equipment company), six million PCs will be left on in the office over the Christmas holidays , consuming 40 million kilowatt hours of electricity. Add that to the other hardware (photocopiers, printers etc) left on over the festive period and that’s enough power to microwave 268 million mince pies (that’s four each for every man, woman and child in the UK!), pumping 19,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at a cost of £9m. Doesn’t sound great, does it?

In fact, whatever the time of year, switch off your kit before you head home. Perhaps you could remind your colleagues and even turn off their equipment if they have gone home and forgotten to do so. Come to think of it, you could even ask your head Finance honcho to send out a friendly email reminding staff to do this – after all, it will save your company money as well as reduce energy use. Wouldn’t it be good if there weren’t quite so many floors in all those office blocks blazing with light in the middle of the night ?

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  1. JeremyandLesley JeremyandLesley
    24 Dec 2006

    We also try and do this in the house, switching off at the mains any peices of electrical kit we are not using.

  2. Nicki Smith Nicki Smith
    24 Dec 2006

    Did this at 12.30 on 22nd Dec, and was pleasantly surprised by the positive reactions of other staff.

  3. Little Green Fee Little Green Fee
    Little Green Fee, GB , 06 May 2008

    I’m in a small office and always switch off lights behind myself. Have even persuaded a few others to switch off the kitchen & loo lights after themselves (which never used to be done).

  4. lisajmelia lisajmelia
    15 Jul 2009

    Go to the carbon trust website and order your FREE turn it off, turn it down and close it stickers to plaster around your workplace

  5. sacredriver sacredriver
    London, GB , 09 Aug 2009

    Having spent some time in a computer software office I know the extend of the problem. My comments fell on deaf ears then, but its now more important than ever that this type of waste is tackled and its needs employees with such concerns to be proactive in the office to bring about change. My days in offices are lone gone, but Good Luck!