Η climatic change can sometimes be a controversial topic, but even skeptics should admit that there is no reason to waste energy needlessly.
Whether we work in the office or at home, many of us tend to turn on sleep on laptops and other devices.
Many of us, for example, before leaving the office, remove the laptop from the docking station or disconnect it from the monitor, place it on the case of our bag and we are ready for the ride home or… just the next room for those who work from home. The screen stays in place and we often let her “sleep” on her own – no lullaby, no good night, nothing… we just walk away.
“Usually, we choose the sleep mode for convenience, to quickly restartmovement of the device and to get back to work without delay by rebooting the operating system,” says Tony Anscombe, head of public security information at cybersecurity firm ESET.
"But the standby mode that a monitor returns to means that it usually consumes about 0,5 W, 4 kWh per year. And of course, the older the device, the more energy it is likely to use, as it may not comply with regulations such as the European Union's EcoDesign directive.
“Now suppose that the equipment used by a couple at home and in the office includes two displays, two laptops, two phone chargers and a docking station and that these remain in standby mode,” says Tony Anscombe.
"Suppose, also, that in a region with a population of just under eight million like the Bay Area in the US where I live with my wife, 30% of the population puts the 4 4 kWh appliances on standby, then 38,4 million kWh are wasted. Considering a typical energy mix, this creates a carbon footprint of 15 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. Can you calculate what this means for an entire country, continent or even worldwide?” concludes the ESET expert.
All of these devices could be unplugged when we leave the workplace at the end of the day.
Therefore, this Christmas as you move away from your workplace, whether at home or in the office, in order to return after the holiday season, unplug the appliances - it is both cost-effective and better for the environment.
