Switch Off Your Computers When You're Not Using It, Here's Why

A standard desktop computer and monitor burn about the same electricity as a 100-watt light bulb. It might not sound much, but over a year that’s about one tonne of CO2.

Back in the 1980s, we were told not to keep turning our computers on and off because it put stress on the hard drive. All big computer manufacturers now recommend that you turn off your machine when you’re not using it. Today some manufacturers test-run their hard drives to cope with 40,000 on/off cycles — that's equivalent of switching on and off your machine thirty times every day for five years. And if you doing that in the office, you should really be rethinking your work practices!