‘Last out? Lights out!’ says AIIA

By Greg McNevin

December 21, 2007: As the Christmas break approaches the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) has sent out a reminder that being green over the holiday period should begin before leaving work.

The association says that while there is strong focus environmentally friendliness in the media this holiday season, one thing that is usually overlooked in the mad rush up to Christmas is the empty office.

“There is usually an overwhelming amount of information to process during the holiday season, and becoming environmentally friendly is just one more thing on the list” said AIIA CEO Sheryle Moon.

“However, there are some quick and easy things that can be done on the way out the office door that will make a big difference. The bottom line is that if it won’t be used, unplug it. Most modern technology must be unplugged before it stops using power,” said Moon.

The association has some recommendations for skeleton staff or the last person out the office, which it says can make a real difference.

Firstly, it says workers should switch off PCs at the wall as ‘sleep’ mode or just logging off is not enough, as these machines will continue to draw power, even if hibernated. Even shutting down will not stop a PCs power consumption entirely, so it is best to switch off at the wall.

The same goes for monitors and PC peripherals, as monitors in standby mode use a continuous supply of low-level power, while peripherals such as modems, printers and photocopiers all continue to draw power unless switched off at the wall.

Media equipment such as televisions, video players and radios also continue to consume power when plugged in, with stand-by mode in electrical appliances consuming up to 15 percent of their total power consumption. Again, these need to be switched off at the wall or unplugged.

Finally the AIIA recommends switching automated building systems such as air-conditioning and lighting over to manual so they are only used as required.

Of course some of these suggestions should be run past IT first just in case there is system work planned for the break, but otherwise throwing a few switches before walking out the door for the break is a fantastic way of reducing both cost to ones organisation and the burden on the environment.

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