Power IT Down Day - Aug, 27, 2010

ZDNET has an article on Power IT Down Day.

Can you power down for a day? Intel, HP and Citrix make the case

By Melanie D.G. Kaplan | August 24, 2010, 2:00am PDT

Summary

Power IT Down Day challenges the industry to shut off its IT equipment after work on August 27. If we can do it for one night, we can do it for two. Or 10. Or 365. Right?

Other than restarting my MacBook now and then for software updates, I don’t think I’ve turned it off since 2008.

But while I may be on the green police’s most wanted list, it’s never too late to start good habits. (I’ll be starting mine this week.)

Friday, Aug. 27 is the third annual Power IT Down Day. Last year 5,600 people pledged to turn off their computers, printers and monitors overnight, which saved more than 73,000 kilowatt-hours, which translated into $45,000, which was in turn donated to the Wounded Warrior Project.

Considering how many of us can survive the night without our hardware, 5,600 seems like a pretty small number. Can’t we do better this year? (To make your own power-down pledge, click here.)

The count of volunteers is at 4850.

Here is one little fact  I found.

It’s something everyone can do. “Standby” does not mean off. Lots of people in America seem to think when you put something on standby, it’s all good because it’s not consuming anything. But it’s still consuming 10 percent of the energy. That’s why the European community is outlawing the standby function.