According to a survey released this week by 1E (a provider of power management software) and the Alliance to Save Energy (a coalition of businesses, government, environmental and consumer leaders), nearly half of all corporate computers in the US are not regularly switched off at night. This means a conservative estimate of 31.2 million work computers are being left on overnight; wasting energy, spewing carbon emissions into the air, and costing US businesses $1.72 billion to supply power to machines that aren't even in use.

The folks at [url=http://www.1E.com]1E[/url] and the Alliance to Save Energy say that all these computers being left on overnight are also needlessly pumping 14.4 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. According to recently released PC Energy Awareness report, preventing that amount of CO2 from reaching the atmosphere would have roughly the same impact as taking 2.58 million passenger cars entirely off the road -- more cars than exist in the entire state of Maryland (2.48 million cars).

The data shows that American businesses are wasting energy while we sleep. A mid-sized company, which includes about 10,000 computers, wastes more than $165,000 a year in electricity costs for computers left on overnight, according to Sumir Karayi, chief executive officer, 1E. In addition, by turning these computers off, an employer can keep more than 1,381 tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere, he says.

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, an alarming number of respondents admitted that they just don't care. The study says that:

° Energy costs -- typically 10 percent of the corporate technology budget -- could rise to as much as 50 percent in the next few years.

° Power management software can reduce a computer's power consumption by 80 percent, allowing companies to save $25-$75 per desktop computer. Beyond automated shut-down, power savings are derived during the day by automating monitor shut-off after a period of inactivity.

The Macsimum News headquarters hardly has 10,000 computers. But we have a few, and I'm certainly interested in helping the environment. So maybe I should consider powering those Macs down at night.

Thoughts? Write me at daseller@earthlink.net